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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 23, 2017

Guy Boucher

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Pregame

Q. Coach, can you just, as usual, start with an update on your possible lineup tonight.
GUY BOUCHER: Well, there's going to be too many warmup decisions. So different possibilities. Kelly in, White in. I can tell you Wingels is out. That's one I can tell you. Dzingel is back in. We might be going seven defensemen or might be going six.

Q. Still a strong possibility of seven "D" and 11 forwards?
GUY BOUCHER: I would say right now it's 50-50.

Q. Cody Ceci is good to go? The bodies that weren't out there, Erik, Ceci, Brassard?
GUY BOUCHER: Yeah.

Q. Is your message any different today approaching an elimination game, any different to what it might be?
GUY BOUCHER: You can see it as an elimination game, or you can see it as an opportunity, and we know what we choose.

Q. When you look around the playoffs, not maybe what you guys have done or maybe elsewhere, does anything surprise you about these playoffs?
GUY BOUCHER: No. Because I think with the parity in the league right now and quality of hockey, there's really good coaches out there, teams are well coached, players are faster than ever. So whether it's an older or younger team, a new coming team or a team that's got a lot of experience, I think we've seen that any team can win, and it's been very exciting playoffs, I think, for everybody.

I'm not surprised because I'm expecting surprises in every playoffs. So that's why I'm not surprised at anything. I think it's just been playoffs with a lot of speed and a lot of teams are battling hard. One game, you think one team is taking over, and then the game after that, it's the opposite, and then just back and forth.

I think it goes back to what I always said. There's no momentum going from game to game. That's what's great about it. Every day is a new day, and every day something great can happen for either team.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about the thought process that could lead you to maybe throw Colin White out there at this point?
GUY BOUCHER: We've had him in mind for a long time. It's just we felt that some other guys that have been with us all year, more experience and more used to what we're doing, were more apt to help us at that moment. The last few games, because of our center situation right now, he's been the consideration, and he still is for today.

I mean, he's a guy who's a really smart player. He's got speed, lots of speed, a guy that drives the net, and he's very reliable on both sides of the ice. That's why we're considering him. I mean, if he wasn't that good, there would be no consideration, especially for -- it's different if you've got a guy in the American League that's been with you all year, up and down, has seen everything you're doing, all the meetings, but when it's a guy that's coming, just got a bit of time with us in the American League and a bit of time with us in some games at the NHL level, you've got to look at that. And you don't want to expose him either to something he can't handle.

But we just feel right now he's been around the team. He's been part of the meetings. And I think right now he's a possibility because we need him.

Q. Guy, you've been in this exact position before. With Tampa, in 2011, you were at home for a Game 6, trailing 3-2 in the conference final. What do you remember about that game? Is that something, just from a coaching standpoint, lean on your experience with what you did with that group?
GUY BOUCHER: It goes back to, I think, what I said. I think there's two types of people: People that see difficulties and opportunities, and people that see opportunities in difficulties. I think we're in that position right now where it's a great day for our group to show what we got in front of our fans, and I think our fans have seen what this team has done all year through adversity and how many times we've bounced back and how many times the guys have showed, not just their individual character, but I think the team character. That's why I'm looking forward to this game.

Q. Guy, as the series has progressed, what tactically have you seen Pittsburgh do to kind of generate more offense?
GUY BOUCHER: One thing is for sure is that we've given them a lot more space. I think we're through with the run-and-gun thing. We know that. We tried that last game, and we got killed. Like we expected -- I mean, we talked about that before the series. If we want to play head-to-head against them with their strengths, there is no game.

We've just got to be ourselves. We need to make sure we stay with what made us successful, and the minute we get away from that, there's no game. So there's a game when we're at our best doing what we do with our identity, and that's making sure we're not giving their players the space they need to do what they do best.

I think we've done that the last game. We've chased the game from the first minute, and we've got to be smart. If we're first on puck, we're first on puck. When we're on them, we're on them, and when we're not on them, we've got to make sure we have enough numbers to make sure we don't give them freebies and don't give them the puck.

We turned the puck three times over in that first period, and that gave them three goals. And there were three turnovers that were blind plays, and we can't allow ourselves to do.

We beat ourselves at the same time they were great, and that's a recipe for catastrophe, and that's what it was. We have to reload from that. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we've just got to stick to our strengths.

Q. Guy, given your view on the opportunity, do you do anything different tonight in terms of what you say to the players, the way you present the message, or is that just movie type stuff?
GUY BOUCHER: You know what, the thing is for us, whether it's this game or previous game or any pressure games we've had, you start putting all your emotions in there, that's where you get out of whack, and that's not the way to approach it. As a younger coach, I've been guilty of that, and that's where you lose your smarts. You might be good for ten minutes, but then you're done for the rest of the game.

I think you want emotion -- under control, but you want emotion, of course. You need some in every game. It's the NHL. It's the playoffs, but it's got to be under control, and it's got to be within how we're supposed to play. The approach is -- I'm not going to say what I'm saying to the players, obviously, and what kind of specifics we're looking at, but we've won our games and our pressure games because we stayed steady and we stayed patient with the result, aggressive in our actions, but patient and poised with the result. And we don't want to change that.

Q. Guy, in the last couple of games when you guys have had the puck, what have they done to limit Erik Karlsson and what he's able to do, or is he limited?
GUY BOUCHER: You know what, I don't think it's just Erik. I think they've been getting their looks because there was a lot of space out there. And a lot of the turnovers that we gave them. That's us. We got to clean that up. I mean, we weren't doing that in the first part of the series, and it was tougher for the opponent, just like it was the previous series against the Rangers. Whenever we started to make these blind backhand passes to nobody and giving them the puck back in our zone, you're asking for what we got.

So whether it's Erik or anybody else, the main problems have come from us not managing the puck well on our breakouts. Not because we don't have the puck. We have it, but we are giving it back to them. You can't do that with those types of players.

So at least we cleaned that up. While they don't get the freebies and the free looks, and it makes it harder. Then they've got to manufacture something, and at least it gives us a chance. So we've got to clean that up for sure. That's one reason why they've been getting a lot of looks.

On the other hand, we've been losing a lot of guys, fore-check and three and four guys and trying to get that goal right now. Whether it's because we got that game where we scored four goals right away and it stayed too much with us and we're trying to reproduce that, it's not very smart.

Regardless of what the score is going to be tonight, one thing is for sure: We can't beat ourselves, and we've got to stick to managing the puck well and making sure we're not losing three and four guys on either our fore-check or our offensive zone, because then, of course, those great players on the other side get what they want.

Q. Guy, if there is more space, as you were saying, does that mean there's more opportunity for Erik to do what he does so well when he has the puck? Or do you feel like they've done a good enough job limiting --
GUY BOUCHER: No, I was talking about us giving them space. I didn't say there was more space for us.

Q. Do you feel like they've limited his space or opportunity?
GUY BOUCHER: They've been playing well, but don't see any changes of how they've played the first three games or the last three games. If we give them the puck on turnovers constantly, well, they're going to be in your zone for a minute, minute and a half, and then they wear you down. And then whether it's Erik or anybody else -- I mean, I know Erik looks like superman sometimes because he can play a lot of minutes, but he's not. He's like everybody else. At some point, when you're stuck having to defend constantly because you give the puck back to the opponent, it's not about space, it's about energy. You've lost that energy to go through space when you have that space.

And him, like our other players, we have to limit that. If we limit that, we give ourselves a chance. If we continue to do that, well, then, we give them momentum, space, energy, enthusiasm, and everything they need to be themselves.

When we manage it well, like we've done the games that we won, we give ourselves some space, but they've got good numbers back. They're working hard. It's hard to get through, just like every series. I think every team we've met has been hard to get through. That's why those teams are in the playoffs, and that's why, as you move along, teams are better and better, and they're hard to get through.

Q. (No microphone)?
GUY BOUCHER: Oh, Burrows is out and Boro. They're not going to be in. Or Burrow and Boro, how's that?

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