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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINSJune 1, 2017Peter LavioletteRyan JohansenPittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ryan. Q. How are you feeling over these last couple weeks? RYAN JOHANSEN: Just with the leg and stuff, it's coming along. It's a bit of a slow process. Been a lot of time on the couch, driving my girlfriend nuts (laughter). Yeah, but getting better each and every day. Q. How tough is it to be sitting out while your team goes down 0-2 in the Stanley Cup Final, knowing you could be out there helping matters a little bit? RYAN JOHANSEN: Yeah, I've been getting that question a lot, just family and friends and stuff. Watching the game, obviously I really want to be out there, just being a part of the team and stuff. Which I've said to everyone that asked me that question, it's been a lot easier than I thought. The identity and the character of our team, how we're built, it's been pretty easy to watch because, I mean, these guys, every time they're on the ice, they throw everything they've got. They're not going to stop for anything. As I've been sitting on the couch basically for the last two weeks, it's been really inspiring watching guys like Freddy Gaudreau, Austin Watson, Pontus Aberg, just elevating their games. As a team, you need guys stepping up. There's guys that can do it. As I'm watching our guys, knowing how resilient they are, now they're leaving it on the ice every shift and every game like they've done all year, it makes it a lot easier to watch, to believe and have confidence. Q. We've read reports about how dangerous the situation was for you. How scary was it to go through that? RYAN JOHANSEN: Yeah, it just happened really fast. I mean, the second period, knee hit my leg. As it happened, I was just like, Oh, that's going to hurt in the morning. It was kind of one of those. As the period went along, third period went along, by the time I was in overtime, I could barely stand up. Ended up scoring, but right before they scored I was about to go up to coach and be like, Coach, I feel like I'm going to hurt the team out here right now. The game ended up ending. But it got pretty bad pretty quick. Q. Ryan, such an unusual injury. How concerned with it were you after the game, when they were taking you to the hospital? Must have been shocking, to say the least. RYAN JOHANSEN: Yeah, like I said, it happened fast. Came off the ice, took my gear off right away. Went to the trainer's room, they were looking at it. Looked like a bad charley horse. I was told right away, Throw some ice on it, bend the leg a little bit, go about our business from there. I threw the ice on, took it off, walked to the shower. By the time I was done showering, putting on my underwear, I could barely stand up. My leg, it just felt like it was about to explode. It kept getting worse. Obviously, you know, I had to pop over to the hospital quick. They had to open me up. Q. You mentioned guys stepping up. What can you say about the job that Colton Sissons has done in your absence? RYAN JOHANSEN: You could go through our whole lineup. I mean, just so proud. I believe and they believe in themselves. Then for them to go out there and get the results, it just shows the resilience, the work that those kids put in. I don't know. As a teammate, it gives me chills right now. Those guys worked so hard for their opportunities, worked their whole lives for the opportunities, and they're making the best of it. We're in a situation down 2-0 now going into the third game. I like how they've been doing, how they've stepped up. They're not going away, like I was just touching on, which has made it easy to watch. As I know, they're going to throw everything. It's going to be their absolute best effort. That's something, you know, that watching that, I can count on that from those guys, and the rest of the team can count on. Q. Do you offer advice to any of the guys, things that you see they can do? Do they come to you for advice? RYAN JOHANSEN: You know, since they're just younger guys, I tried to talk with the centermen a little bit. Obviously Crosby and Malkin, they're such dangerous players, just from playing them previously. Me being in the East before, coming to Nashville, some tendencies they have, I feel I can help them out. A few little things. Other than that, they're such terrific players. I know they can get the job done with just their game. It was just a few tendencies I felt like might help them out in the games and situations. Q. Ryan, you felt the energy in the building as a player plenty of times. What was it like to experience it as the hype guy before that game? RYAN JOHANSEN: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I had a couple people come up to me the day before my surgery. They were like, If you can get out of here in time, would you like to wave the towel? I'm like, I'll be waving that towel. I'll be there. I ended up having surgery the morning of that game. Actually came right from the hospital to the game, right up to the grandstand there where me and Kevin were waving the towel. I was pretty pumped just to be there with the guys that night, watch them get the job done in the Western Final. That was pretty cool. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Ryan. RYAN JOHANSEN: Thanks. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Coach Laviolette. Q. Peter, have you made a decision on who will start for you in net in Game 3? Will you announce it? PETER LAVIOLETTE: I said it a couple days ago when everybody was asking about Fisher and Smith. I said it then. We don't talk about the lineup. When they ask the next day, we're going to stay consistent with that. We don't discuss the lineup. Q. Do your goalies know who will start? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah. Q. Could you talk about playing kind of a unique opponent in Pittsburgh. They haven't out-shot a lot of teams, haven't out-puck possessed a lot of teams, but still find ways to score and win. Is that a tough opponent to go against in that regard? PETER LAVIOLETTE: It's frustrating in the sense that we haven't gotten on the board with a win yet. I think that's frustrating for us. That's what it's about right now. It's about putting together wins. So I think from that standpoint, it can be frustrating. But, you know, we've got to continue to try and get better with what we do. We can't just look at the numbers and say, Yeah, we're winning all the numbers, but the scoreboard, there's got to be things we got to do better. We looked at some of those things today. We'll try to get better, move the needle in the other direction on Saturday. Q. What kind of lift do you think this building will give your guys in Game 3? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, it's going to be a tremendous lift. The environment has been really good since I've been here. And before that, I'm sure. I'm just saying that the fans have been so supportive of our team in the regular season and the playoffs, up until this point. I think the playoffs, everything rachets up and becomes even better, a more explosive environment. Then this year, seeing how it's progressed from round to round, and to be in the Finals at this point, to see the excitement around the city, the excitement of our fan base, I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere. I know our guys enjoy playing at home. We've had good success here. Those are all positive things for our team. Q. The guys in the locker room all told us they're adamant that confidence has not wavered at all, even being down 0-2. Where does that come from? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Again, there's games where you play, and you maybe don't feel like you played your best game, or you don't feel like you're on top of things. Even in the last game against Anaheim, I don't think we were at our best. We got great goaltending. We got timely goals, big goals, were able to win a hockey game. I think confidence comes from the actual games you play. For the majority of the playoffs, all but maybe five or six periods, that's out of over 50 periods, our guys have played really well. There's a lot of confidence I think that comes from that. When you're doing the right things, you're winning hockey games, you feel good about the game you're playing, I think you can take confidence from that. I think we've put in a lot of time to build ourselves as a team that is ready to play, is ready to win, and confident about our ability to do that. So you would think at the possibility of leaving Pittsburgh without a win, that might shake the confidence. I can tell you that it doesn't. I just met with the guys. I can see it in their eyes. Q. Peter, what has it been like in recent games, you've asked a lot of Colton and Pontus, even Freddy Gaudreau to up their roles. What has it been like for you to see them respond productively? PETER LAVIOLETTE: It's been exciting to see young players come up. The Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup Playoffs, it's not an easy environment, on the road against the defending champs. Those things all could build up and possibly be too much for young players. It's almost the exact opposite. These young kids are thriving. Colton is thriving. Pontus, Freddy Gaudreau, played a steady game for us. I think that's really promising, not only for the games that we have left for the remainder of this year, but for the upcoming years. To see young players come into this situation and respond, play the way they have -- life is about opportunity. Sometimes you don't get that opportunity right away, or you have to work your way through that opportunity, like a lot of our players did. These guys have gotten an opportunity at the highest stage. They've really shined. Q. You talk about Sissons. How impressive has his play been, especially on the faceoffs, going against Crosby and Malkin in this series? PETER LAVIOLETTE: When we made this move to add Colton with more responsibility against the players that we knew we might have to, like Getzlaf or Malkin or Crosby, we needed somebody that we thought physically could handle those players, had the 200-foot game, the awareness on the ice defensively to play against really, really good players. He's not only been able to do that, but he's been able to continue to produce offensively, make a line successful offensively. Again, it goes back to the opportunity for him. He's been given an opportunity, and he's really showed what type of a player he is. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. PETER LAVIOLETTE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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