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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 16, 2017

Guy Boucher

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. (No microphone)?
GUY BOUCHER: Very much so. We came here to win at least one game, and we did the job. We played 5 out of 6 periods really well, and we know we didn't play as good in the third period. We didn't manage the puck like we did the previous five. We gave away the puck way too many times, and we didn't go to their net as much as we could. So we didn't do enough in the third, and that's where we lost the game.

But overall, if you'd have told me we'd be in the conference final and it's 1-1 against Pittsburgh, you can't be more positive than that.

Q. What adjustments do you have -- let's start with what happened between Game 1 and Game 2, and what adjustments do you need to make for Game 3?
GUY BOUCHER: Between two periods, nothing happened. There was no difference between the first game and the first two periods of yesterday's game. It's just we didn't manage the third period well, period. It's just plain and simple. We didn't -- you know, when the same fore-check came at us, we didn't manage it like we did in the second or in the first period. We're normally a good crash-the-net team and usually are good around the net, and we didn't do a good job there.

Q. You have talked a lot, Guy, about resilience, and you showed resilience in the Rangers series. Do you need to show that same kind of resilience in Game 3?
GUY BOUCHER: We need to show it every game. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs. Every game is difficult. We're playing the best double-team in the league. We're playing the Stanley Cup champions. Every game is going to be a hard fought game, and we're giving it everything we've got to win another game.

I mean, right now, when nobody thought we'd be here and we're still fighting and it's 1-1, I can't be more proud of our guys.

Q. Did you like the idea that they seemed frustrated at times?
GUY BOUCHER: I'm sorry?

Q. The Penguins seemed to have shown some frustration.
GUY BOUCHER: I don't know. I can't talk for them. You can ask them how they feel. We know how we feel. We know that we came here to at least get one game, and we fought for two. So getting the first game was big, and like I said, you know, of course, you want to get six good periods, but you're not going to get six good periods against the Stanley Cup champions. I mean, that's almost impossible to do.

So we're real happy about our 5 of the 6 periods, which is extremely positive for us. We're going back to our fans. They've been unbelievable atmosphere. I'm expecting it even more crazy than it was the first two series, and it was crazy. So, yeah, it's great to go back home and go back to our fans after having done the job.

Q. Is the bad blood starting to build here?
GUY BOUCHER: What do you mean?

Q. Between these two teams. There was no physical play -- like there wasn't much against the Rangers. There wasn't really --
GUY BOUCHER: No, I disagree with that. There was a lot with the Rangers, the second, the third game, the fifth game. Maybe the sixth game, there wasn't against the Rangers, but the third, fourth, and fifth game, there was a lot of that.

And it was the same against Boston. I thought against Boston it was starting the first game until the very end, there was a lot of that, and that's just what the playoffs are.

I wouldn't call it bad blood, it's just playoff emotion. Every game, it mounts up to more and more. That's how it is. It's an emotional game with guys that are fighting with everything they've got and a lot of pride, and there's just going to be more and more of that. That's just the nature of the game.

Q. You see the push-back that you guys showed after they scored towards the end in the offensive zone. Do you kind of wonder why that urgency isn't there a little more often? I know you guys play the way you do, but is there a time when maybe you could push -- you know, push the pedal a little harder in the offensive zone?
GUY BOUCHER: No, I think we've kept it steady. I mean, when you're trailing, whether it's us or the opponent -- I mean, you saw the same thing from them the first game. We outshot them 32-17 five-on-five in the first game. I think that's a pretty big push. So we were pushing all game the first game.

And there's an opponent out there. I want to push, but the Stanley Cup champion is on the other side there. We're not going to stomp all over them. And if we get into an offensive contest, well, we can give them the series right now. We've got to be -- we got to know what we are, and we've got to know what we're able to do. This is as hard as these guys have pushed all year, and that's why the two teams are going toe to toe, and it's one-goal games because both teams are defending well, both teams are trying to create what they can.

But, of course, the urgency is the fact that you're trailing at the end of a game. You can't reproduce that for 60 minutes. That's inhumane. I mean, you can't. It's impossible to have that.

And they did the same thing the first game. They pushed, and they got their goal in the last minutes of the game. Yesterday we tried to push at the end. We had six guys on the ice. If I could get six guys every shift, I'll do it. But, no, I think our guys have pushed as much as they could. I just feel that in the third period, from the beginning of the third period, I thought we threw pucks away, and we didn't do that the previous five periods. That, we have to do better. We get rid of pucks, and that gave them a lot of momentum.

We made one mistake on that goal, a little systems mistake there, but that's going to happen. You're going to make mistakes. But all around, before last night, we had three goals a game offensively. So that's really good.

So we're encountering the best team. They're not going to give anything. We're going to try not to give anything. It's going to be that kind of game until the end.

Q. What has Dion, I guess, brought or meant to this team since you've had him here for the year?
GUY BOUCHER: Well, I've always -- all year, I think Dion really showed up in big, big moments. Times where sometimes either the team was flat or we're missing players or we needed a character push, and I thought he was outstanding all year for that. He really has a good feel when the team needs to step up. And definitely yesterday, you know, after winning the first game, we knew they were going to push. So he was ready for that game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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