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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINSJune 3, 2017James NealPekka RinneRoman JosiPittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Postgame Nashville - 5, Pittsburgh - 1 THE MODERATOR: Questions for James, Roman and Pekka. Q. Roman, can you talk a little bit about your performance tonight. It seems like every night you just have this consistent way of delivering offensively and defensively. How are you able to find that consistency? ROMAN JOSI: Well, I think it's part of our system. Our system allows us defensemen to jump up in the play. Yeah, Lavi wants us to jump up and make something happen in the offensive zone, too. Yeah, I think everybody wanted to step up this game a little bit, the whole team. We knew we could play better. I thought the team did a great job. Q. Pekka, I know the early goal went in there tonight. Talk a little bit about what went through your head at that point, how you were able to battle back, get on top of things. There were two back-to-back saves at one point. Did that boost your confidence? PEKKA RINNE: I think these first couple games, beginning of the game, it's been a battle. I think at those moments, you just mentally try to erase your mind, just focus on the next save, remind yourself that you're still in the Finals. Life is pretty good. But I think the second period helped me. I mean, I was able to see the puck pretty good, make couple big saves. They started to shoot the puck little bit more. I feel like for the first three games now, they haven't shot the puck too much. They try to make a lot of plays across the crease, thing like that. Obviously games like that, it can make things a little bit difficult. But great effort tonight. A great team win. Q. James, where does the confidence that this group always seems to have in these situations derive from? P.K. said this group was going to come home and win. Where does that confidence come from? JAMES NEAL: Well, it comes from what we built all year. Comes from our leadership. Comes from our coaching. So it comes from the players in the room, a belief in each other that we can win a hockey game if we need to win a hockey game. I think coming home, obviously wasn't the start we were looking for with going down two games in Pittsburgh, but it's a place we feel confident in coming home. We got the job done. It's a great win for our team. We'll build off that. Q. Pekka, that double save, Pittsburgh made it pretty clear that's a set play they like to do. Were you aware of the fact that's a set play? The fact that you were able to stop it, do you feel that might have been a turning point for you in this series? PEKKA RINNE: For sure, I hope so. I mean, it was a key moment tonight, for sure. But, yeah, last game they connected the same play. I mean, it feels like they've done it twice now. Both times it connected. In practice, you try to do that 30 times. You get maybe four rebounds on your stick. I'm sure they tried to do that. At the same time I'm not going to change the way I play the game. Q. Pekka, when did you know you were starting in Game 3? What was the last couple of days like hearing some of the noise, answering some of the questions of those who were questioning that? PEKKA RINNE: I mean, no different. Obviously not happy with going down 2-0. But at the same time, you know, I didn't try to change anything. Had couple good skates here between the games. But, yeah, knew that I'm playing all the time. No issues with that. Q. Pekka, what were the warmups like? Ever been anything like that with all those people out there chanting your name? PEKKA RINNE: Pretty cool. I mean, that was unbelievable. Collectively we came to the locker room, and everybody was kind of telling each other that we've never seen anything like that. It was pretty cool. For sure, as a players, we are really proud to be part of it, just having our fans a chance to get recognized. Being on a big stage now. Good showcase for the city of Nashville and for our fans. Q. James, I know the atmosphere here has been ridiculous throughout the playoffs. How much were you guys aware of what was happening outside? Lower Broadway is closed. Have you ever seen anything like that before? JAMES NEAL: No, I haven't. I am sure everyone has family and friends in town. We were aware of how crazy it was outside. You can feel the buzz. The fans support through the playoffs and all year has been great. Like Pekks said, the hockey world is starting to see it here. The atmosphere in the warmups and the buildup was unbelievable, right through the whole game. It's a place we love to play, and proud to be a part of it. Q. James, could you talk a little bit about the contribution of the fourth line tonight. Specifically guys who probably never thought they were going to be here, Gaudreau and Zolnierczyk, what they brought to the game tonight. JAMES NEAL: Yeah, Harry has been great every time he stepped in. He stays right. He hasn't played obviously every game. He's a great guy in the room. He's an effective guy for us every time he comes in the lineup. He's a great teammate. Freddy has come up, we seen him in training camp. He came up for a few games. We saw he had great skill. I think he's surprising everybody how good he is. He's calm and collective. He's a young kid, in a huge, crazy atmosphere, a huge time with the Cup Final. He's done an unbelievable job. Q. James, you know those guys pretty well. There's a lot of talking on the ice tonight. Do you think you specifically, and the guy to your right, are getting to guys like Crosby and Malkin? JAMES NEAL: No, I don't think we're -- you know, I think you try to get under their skin a little bit. Those are guys that have been here before. They've had guys definitely try to get under their skin before. We're just trying to play hard, do the right things out there. They're top players. They have to be physical, be aware every shift. As you saw in the first couple games, you know, the second you're not aware of them, they're behind you and have a scoring chance. It was more just being more aware of them. Q. Roman, talk about the culture of the next man up you've developed here, where Smith and Ekholm are the 18th and 19th Predators to score in this post-season, how remarkable that number is. ROMAN JOSI: Yeah, I mean, it is. I think it's been our strength all playoffs long. Just the depth we have, there's different guys stepping up in different moments. Obviously we got some injuries with Fiala and (indiscernible) going down. Yeah, guys stepped in and have done a great job. It's definitely been one of our strengths in the playoffs. Q. Pekka, on the back-to-back saves that have been discussed, P.K. turned back, tapped you there. Any chance you heard what he said or read his lips at that moment? PEKKA RINNE: (Laughter). No, I mean, he was pumped up. He tried to block that shot, tried to make a great play. And, you know, I think he was just, like, Damn right (laughter). Q. (No microphone.) PEKKA RINNE: Oh, no he's a classy guy. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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