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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 16, 2017

Marc Methot

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. Recover from last night?
MARC METHOT: I think so. We have to. It's a tight series, and we grabbed a win on the road. I mean, had you asked us if we'd be in this position or we'd enjoy being in this position a couple months back, I'm pretty sure we'd take it.

We have an opportunity now to get home and play in front of our great fans, and the building will be rocking. That's something that we're looking forward to.

Q. Is it a little bit of change of mindset as well going into Game 3 in terms of hoping to generate a little bit more at the other end of the ice?
MARC METHOT: Yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to speak about generating offense, but I think, sure, I mean, you look at that third period, I don't think we had a shot on goal in -- I think it was a 15-minute time frame.

It's something we're going to address. I don't know what the plan is right now. We haven't had a meeting since the game, but certainly something we're going to have to improve on.

Q. What changed last night from Game 1?
MARC METHOT: I don't know. You know, it's a great question. I think that both teams are going real hard, and you'll have momentum shifts here and there. I think that we knew that Pitt was going to come out flying and give us their all, certainly after they took the loss in that first game. You know, the pressure was on.

They delivered. They played great. Again, it was a 1-0 game. There were long periods of time when we were in our zone and whatnot, but I think a lot of that was perimeter play. We didn't give them the middle too often, and I think that's a credit to our defensive play.

Q. Do you think the bad blood is starting to build up in this series? That's something that was nonexistent against the Rangers.
MARC METHOT: Yeah, you're going to get that. I said that before. I said that against the New York series and the Boston series. You're going to get that when you're playing against the same team night in and night out. I have no issue with it. I think it's great. It's probably great entertainment too.

When you're playing against the same players over and over again, eventually, you get on each other's nerves, and that's going to be the case here, I'm sure.

Q. How much do the players feed off massive hits, big hits in a hockey game?
MARC METHOT: It's huge. Dion had a couple big boys last night, and they're awesome. I mean, it gets the team going. It's what it takes now at this time of the season. I mean, I can speak from my own personal standpoint that, when I'm getting hit constantly, constantly, constantly, it wears on you a little bit.

Having said that, I do feel great right now, but I know it just takes one small hit to get injured out there. Everyone is trying to do their part and playing physical, and Dion had a great game yesterday.

Q. What do you take away from these two games? Do you take away the fact you held them to two goals, that you were dominated against in the third period where you didn't have a shot for 15 minutes?
MARC METHOT: I think a little bit of both. The one positive is the game's right there. Even though they were all over us at times, we still had an opportunity to win that game, and we know that we can hang in there right now. You've got to look at it that way. We know we belong here in this position. We worked hard to get here. The series is 1-1, and we're able to get home now and play a few home games. So we're looking forward to it.

Q. Did you notice an animated Phil Kessel on the bench last night?
MARC METHOT: I didn't. I heard about it, but I didn't see anything yet. The guy's competitive. It doesn't surprise me.

Q. We also make a big deal of players having discussions on benches. Does it not happen -- I don't know if it's every game. But if you hang out with guys long enough, you start to get on each other's nerves?
MARC METHOT: Oh, yeah. Karl and I have had a few good run-ins on the bench too. We're fortunate enough to not do it in the playoffs and have a million cameras watching us all the time. It's normal. When you're playing with guys and you're playing a physical sport and your emotions are running high, your blood's pumping, you're going to get into little arguments. But I don't see an issue with it.

Q. At some point you feel the pressure, the anger is building up on their side and they're getting animated, do you feel that too?
MARC METHOT: Any time your opponent is going to get frustrated, that's a good thing. They still won the game. They had a little powwow on the bench, and they ended up scoring and was assisted by the guy he was yelling at. It's hard to say it's working against you. I think any time you're showing a little emotion, that's a good thing. And at the same time, sure, you want to frustrate your opponent. I think we're doing that with how tight defensively we've been playing, and that's also a positive.

Q. Dion was very noticeable yesterday in his physical play. What's he brought to this team?
MARC METHOT: I mean, that's reminiscent of Dion taking a run at me when I played for Columbus and he was in Calgary. I think he's just -- he's a guy that you've got to keep your head up for out there, and he brings that element that is very difficult to provide.

I know landing a nice solid open ice hit like that when a guy is coming across is extremely difficult to do timing-wise, and he's been a master of that since he's been in this league. You've got to credit him. It gets the guys fired up when you see hits like that.

Q. He's never even been criticized for bad hits, right? He's just a big hit guy, not a dirty hit guy?
MARC METHOT: No, he's -- I mean, I would argue the one on me would have been kind of dirty. He was going for my knee (laughter), and I told him that. He knows. We joke about that all the time.

No, all his hits are clean. You see his arms are down, it's usually shoulder on shoulder. He's a big boy and there's a lot of momentum there when you've got a big defenseman coming at you like that. It can be dangerous for opponents, but it's also a situation where it makes guys keep their heads up

Q. Timing is everything, though, on hits like that, isn't it? You don't want to take yourself out of a play, but you also want to stay in?
MARC METHOT: Exactly. If you don't land that hit, you can look pretty stupid in a lot of situations. I can speak from experience there too. It's hard. I think that, again, you've got to credit Dion for elevating his play there last night. It was great. Guys feed off that on the bench.

Q. Marc, can I ask about Clarke. You probably talked about him a lot. Why were guys so happy for him to come back, beyond just the fact that he got back?
MARC METHOT: I mean, we were aware of how hard he was working. I remember all season he was skating and practicing and working out, and doing that on your own for months and months on end is very difficult. It almost feels like you're alienated away from the group, and you're kind of -- you're out of the group. You're not with the guys all the time. It's really tough.

And he's such a great individual off the ice that all the guys love being around, so having him come back and thrive the way he has so far has been fantastic. We're all so happy for him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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