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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 16, 2017

Mike Sullivan

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. Give us some kind of a medical report on the two guys who were hurt last night and also Hornqvist.
MIKE SULLIVAN: Hornqvist and Justin Schultz are day to day with an upper body injury. Rusty is the same. He's day to day with an upper body injury. He's still being evaluated.

Q. Are they all traveling with you?
MIKE SULLIVAN: Yes.

Q. If Schultz cannot play, is it good to have a guy like Mark Streit in the top of the lineup?
MIKE SULLIVAN: Well, we believe we've got capable people. We're fortunate to have the depth that we have. Mark's a guy that has invaluable experience. He's a really savvy player. I think he could help us on our power play. He could help us get out of our end zone. He's a real good puck movement. I think he's got great puck skills. So that was one of the main reasons why we acquired him when we did. He's really helped us win games here down the stretch. So if Mark's the guy we go to, we know he can continue to help us win games.

Q. How close is Trevor Daley to playing?
MIKE SULLIVAN: Trevor is making progress. I think the next step is obviously he'll -- at some point here he'll join the team for practice, and that will be an indication that he's a whole lot closer. He is skating on his own right now and making progress, so that's encouraging.

Q. I don't ask this frequently, but how can you hope to win with your three best puck defensemen virtually out of the lineup?
MIKE SULLIVAN: Because we believe we have a good team and we have a deep team, and we have what it takes to win regardless of which guys are in our lineup. All of these guys that we'll utilize to be in our lineup on each given night have helped this team win and have success all year long. So we believe that we can continue to do that. We have capable guys.

I think this team has a chemistry. That is a competitive advantage for us. We believe that. These guys really get along extremely well. They enjoy playing for one another, and I think they play extremely hard for one another. So it's just one more challenge that this team is going to have to face and find ways to overcome.

Q. It's sort of a story line that the Senators are the resilient guys, but it seems like you guys are kind of turning that on its ear as well with all the stuff you've had to overcome, isn't it?
MIKE SULLIVAN: There's four teams left right now, and I would argue that every one of them is resilient because it's hard to get to this point. I have so much respect for this league and how good the teams are and how hard it is to win. I think that's probably a common characteristic of the four teams that are still playing.

Q. Do you have to match their level of patience given what (inaudible)? Like, do you have that match that level of patience? Does that force you guys to maybe get out of your comfort zone?
MIKE SULLIVAN: No, we're not really trying to match anything that Ottawa does. We're trying to play the game that we think gives us the best chance to win. Patience is going to be an element. It's really -- from our estimation, and our focus has always been on our team, what we have to do in order to try to find ways to win games regardless of who our opponent is.

Q. What more can you ask the forwards to do, kind of (inaudible) the thinned out defense?
MIKE SULLIVAN: I just think, regardless of what aspect of our game we're discussing, it's a collective effort. It takes five guys out there working cooperatively to have success. Whether it be our play without the puck and our D-zone coverage or our neutral zone fore-check, or our play with the puck when it comes to breakouts, or our end zone play, or our power play for that matter. It's a collective effort, and I think that's what makes teams what they are, and I think our players understand it.

We're trying to play a simple game out there. We're trying to use our speed to our advantage. We think that's something that our team has that can be a competitive advantage for us if we utilize it the right way.

But certainly, it's a five-man collective unit out there, and I think our players understand that.

Q. How much more aggressive do you think Ottawa will be at homecoming off a loss? A little bit of chippiness at the end of the game there?
MIKE SULLIVAN: I don't know. I think every game is its own entity. It was a good hockey game last night. We were pleased with the way our team played. We're going to have to reset our mindset and go out and bring a similar effort and a similar sense of urgency and a similar sense of discipline to our game for Game 3.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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