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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 18, 2017

Derick Brassard

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. (Inaudible) your team last night start to finish.
DERICK BRASSARD: We were on the same page. We were skating. We competed really hard. The energy of the crowd really helped us. Yeah, just a good overall, really good effort from our team. All four lines, all the pairs were rolling together. It was fun to watch.

Q. Has it been ingrained in this team's mindset not to become too overconfident?
DERICK BRASSARD: Not really. Because Game 2, it felt like we had no confidence offensively, like we didn't really score goals, and now yesterday we scored five.

Q. But responding from a game like that, can you almost go into Friday's game with a little bit of overconfidence?
DERICK BRASSARD: I think it's just a mindset. You know, today's another day, tomorrow's another game. We just have to move on from that and just play hard and play our game. We know we have a good opportunity to go 3-1 in the series, which is huge, and we're going to try to do everything we can to play the same way and play hard.

Q. Derick, you mentioned everybody contributing last night. I mean, you guys had really 20 guys contributing. Is that all coming down from Guy?
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah, I mean, that's the way we play all season long. We're four lines, six "Ds" that can roll. You can't win in this league if you don't have every line going. That's the beauty of our team, we have four lines that can play.

We were on the same page yesterday. We were skating, and we competed really hard. When you put all that together, that's how you get success in this league, and that's how we get success as a team. We know what to do to be successful.

Today's another day. We've already moved on. Yesterday was yesterday. Tomorrow we just have to play really, really hard because we know we're going to expect a bigger push.

Q. Is it better for you in your hometown? What do you get from doing it here?
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah, it's awesome, just the buzz around town. The fans yesterday gave us a lot of energy. It means so much for the team, and for all the guys that grew up around here. We're all in this together, and we're going to try to push towards our goal. We're just -- we're right there. We feel like we're really close and we can beat anyone.

Q. Do you get a bad rap here, a town of boring fans cheering for a boring hockey team?
DERICK BRASSARD: I didn't see that yesterday.

Q. But you know what I mean; you've heard that?
DERICK BRASSARD: Oh, I've heard it, but sometimes people are saying whatever, and depending on where it's coming from, they're maybe just a little jealous that we're here right now.

Our fans have been supporting us all year long. They've always been behind our team, and the atmosphere was just great yesterday. It doesn't matter what people are saying, what they say about our team. We're here, and we focus on what we have to do.

Q. As a player, can you describe the feeling of feeding off the energy that's created in the building?
DERICK BRASSARD: 100 percent. On the road, maybe that's the reason why the first two games, we played some good games, but it's hard to create some momentum shift after shift. When you look at our first ten minutes yesterday, we created some momentum because of that. The crowd was into it. We just kept rolling the lines, and everyone was skating and making plays. It's so easy for us to kind of create some energy in making plays.

Q. Is part of a challenge for a player, though, that's feeding off the energy to control emotions, the inner emotions?
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah, I mean, after that ten first minutes, if you don't manage emotions the right way, you can kind of hit a wall and kind of get tired. I certainly felt it the last ten minutes of the first period, but after that, I kind of -- you kind of relax in between periods, and you try to focus on what you have to do as a player. There's still 40 minutes left to play. It's 4-0, and you kind of want the clock to run down, but you still have to play, you still have to push, and it's not easy for a hockey player.

Q. Does it matter to you guys if it's Murray or Fleury in there?
DERICK BRASSARD: Not really. Fleury won the Cup. He's been proven the No. 1 goalie in this league, and Murray won the Cup for them last year. It doesn't really matter. Those two guys are good goalies. I wouldn't be shocked if they go back to Fleury because he brought them there.

It doesn't really matter. We just have to play the same way. They're kind of similar goalies. They're really athletic. So, yeah, it doesn't really matter.

Q. You played them last year in the playoffs first round. Do you find a difference between this year and last year in their play?
DERICK BRASSARD: Minus Letang, which is probably big. Yeah, I think Letang is such a big part of their team. He plays like 30 minutes a night. He's their Karlsson.

Yeah, I mean, they're well coached, well structured team, with some highly skilled players. Yeah, I think it's just a similar team. It's basically the same guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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