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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: DUCKS VS PREDATORS

May 13, 2017

Peter Laviolette

Anaheim, California - Practice Day

Q. This is the third straight series that you've won Game 1 on the road, and it seems like the team has always put it behind them and come out and played really well in Game 2, no letdown. How do you keep that attitude to be selfish in Game 2?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I thought we were better at it in the first series than the second series. I thought St. Louis had a little bit more zip than us in Game 2, although I don't think we played a bad game. But you know, right now I think it's just about trying to stay consistent with your effort, both mentally and physically. Our guys know -- I think it's a lot of respect for our opponent, as well, in all three rounds, and just the teams that we've had to go through and understanding that if you probably let your guard down, you're not going to like the way the game ends, so that's a choice at that point, and our guys have done a pretty good job of staying focused.

Q. Where has Austin Watson reinvented his game the most this season?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: I'm not sure he reinvented it. If you had asked him before he became a regular in the National Hockey League and on our team, he probably would give you a fairly accurate description of what you're seeing right now. I think that a player has -- then gets an opportunity to go in in a really good league against really good players, and then show that he can play that type of a game, that's where the process, I think, takes a little bit of time sometimes. He's not the only player that has gone through that. We have a few players.

But he got sent down early in the year, he came back, and it's almost like really a switch flipped for him at that point that he was going to show every game who he was as a player, that he was going to be fast, he was going to be physical, he was going to be courageous. He was going to be hard to play against. He was going to chip in offensively, and he's been very consistent with it throughout the entire year.

What you're seeing in the Playoffs, I don't think that's necessarily something that got reinvented or that we can't believe that he's doing this. I think it's him getting better every day at what he's trying to do with his game.

Q. How high of a priority is discipline? I'm not sure there's any playoff series where it's not a factor, but this one seems to have a bit of history and some emotion. How high a priority is that for you?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, we talk about it all the time. We're trying to stay out of the penalty box as much as possible. Sometimes it's difficult, there's a lot of emotion on the ice out there, both teams, and typically the team that can keep it together the most has the best chance of being successful, so it's something that gets talked about, I would think not only in our locker room but in any room at this point of the year, the stakes are too high.

Q. With the point production that PK has had throughout his career, we know that he's an offensively gifted defenseman, but I think that may work against him in that sometimes his defensive ability can go overlooked. Now that you've had a chance to coach him, what has impressed you about the way that he handles the game defensively?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, I mentioned it before about PK that he's got an unbelievable shot. He sees the game offensively very well. He's dynamic with his game offensively. But I think he's just a terrific defensive player. There's so many times where he goes back under pressure, could have one or two guys draped all over him, and makes a quick turn, a sharp pass, and we're out of our zone. His reads defensively have been very good.

I think that he and Mattias Ekholm have really formed a chemistry together, and that takes time. But they've formed a chemistry together that makes them just a real difficult pair to play against.

Q. What happens when a goal scorer gets rolling or gets hot, and are you seeing that right now from James?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, that's -- at the right time of the year, you need that. We've gotten contributions from everybody, but I know that James is a guy that can be a difference maker, like he has been, and starting to chip in points. That's a good thing. Sometimes that comes and goes or goes in cycles, and it's -- when somebody can get hot, they can stay hot for a little bit. But I liked his game last night. He was physical. He was trying to play that power forward game. I think he did a good job at it. He had looks and opportunities, and he's the guy that you want to get that pass at that particular moment in the game.

Q. What are you hoping for, and what did you see with that life with moving Sissons over to the wing?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, Colton has played great. I mean, I think we're just trying to continue to look at the lines. A lot of it is -- a lot of it has to do with internally what we're seeing. A lot of it has to do with the opponent that we're playing, and those are the decisions that we make on a daily basis.

Q. Are there going to be certain players that the opposition tries to get under their skin a little bit more than others, usually a top player, a player that can affect the game? Ryan Johansen has become that player, I know that the Ducks were throwing everything they had at him and his line. How do you feel like he's handled that in terms of maybe he's taking the beating but not necessarily reacting?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, it goes back to the discipline question. There's not a lot of room for your own personal assault on somebody because you don't like the way you got played. You've really got to try and keep everything in check, and I think he's done an excellent job, even inside of that game last night. I thought he did a pretty good job. We know that they're a big, strong team. They can skate, they can hit, and we know it can be physical. We've got to do our best to stay composed.

Q. Can you point to something that you really liked about yesterday or something maybe you'd like to see improved for tomorrow?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: We're working on it. I think there's things that we did well. I think there's things that we can do better. We tried to go over those things inside the locker room, but honestly, we'll probably keep those things inside the locker room.

Q. Penalty kill has been excellent lately --
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, really good.

Q. Anything in particular you can point to on that?
PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I'll probably keep that inside the locker room, too, but they were very good last night.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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