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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINSJune 5, 2017Peter LavioletteNashville, Tennessee - Pregame THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Laviolette. Q. Do you pay hey heed to the notion that people say Game 4 is the most important game of the Stanley Cup? PETER LAVIOLETTE: They're all important. When you're down 2-0 in a game like that, 2-0 in a series, in Game 3, it would be hard not to say that wasn't an important game, 2-1 or 3-0. Probably the same can be said from this series just from the two-game swing that presents itself. Last game was pretty important. This game also is important. Might have the same answer in Game 5. Q. You have been really good on the power play, also on the penalty kill in this series. What has been the key to that mindset? How important is that moving forward? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, specialty teams definitely factors into games. I think the penalty kill has done a good job just with execution, reading plays. They're a difficult group to defend because there's a of skill, especially on that first unit. Makes it difficult. I think our guys have done a good job. Power play is about the same thing, execution. I think our guys have done a good job at that, getting up through the neutral zone, getting up into play in the offensive zone, and finding the right opportunities. Q. I wouldn't expect you to speak specifically on this. With Matt Murray, seeing him in person a couple times, has that helped the approach at all, seeing more about what his game is? PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, we do our best. You're right with Pittsburgh being in the other conference, we don't get a lot of look at him. When we do, it's more based on what we've seen of him live, which isn't much. We do do a pre-scout on a goalie, continue to try and look at it. He's played very well. I think our guys are going to continue to need to work to try and find and create that offense that we need in order to be successful in the offensive zone. Q. This is a copycat league like most are. Everybody seems to be using that neutral zone drop pass on the power play. Where did that come from? Why is everybody using it now? PETER LAVIOLETTE: You're right. A lot of teams use it. I think what it does, it possibly pushes the penalty killers back a little bit, allows a second wave to come with speed. Makes it a little bit more challenging on entry, especially when you get, like I said, a real skilled unit, especially like their first unit. It makes it a little bit more difficult. If you can do a good job defending it, usually they might switch it around and try a more conventional approach to it. Not everybody likes it. I know there's people that talk to me, they watch our game, they're like, Why do we do that drop pass? It's just difficult. Teams are so well-schooled through the neutral zone now, if you can present different looks, different approaches, a drop, a double drop, a double post, whatever it might be, the more confusion you can put into the neutral zone if you can execute. That probably goes back to the first question about special teams, it's just trying to execute that neutral zone in order to get possession. Just makes it difficult. The penalty killers are so well-schooled now, just different looks and different approaches, different layers to a rush through the neutral zone, might present challenges. I don't know where it came from. I don't know who the first guy was. I know they had the drop in Philadelphia. Giroux was one guy who would really stay behind. Teemu would bring it up, drop it back. I'm not saying that's the first one. I think it goes more than that. That's back to 2010. That's more just the single drop. Now you'll see a double drop, sometimes a triple drop, with three guys behind the puck trying to create a second wave. That wasn't the invention of it, but that was maybe like the first stage of it, with just one guy coming back, then there was going to be two, then three. It's evolved since then. Q. You have held Crosby and Malkin in check in Game 3 without shots. What do you expect from them in Game 4? PETER LAVIOLETTE: There's being a lot made of it. If you go back and look, try to figure out the amount of plays that they figured into that created scoring chances, they're both excellent passers, they're both capable of scoring goals obviously, too. Just because they didn't register a shot on net, we shouldn't deem them ineffective in Game 3. They made a lot of people very effective with the scoring opportunities that they created. That being said, because you guys have beat the drum on it enough, they're probably going to look to shoot the puck from all over tonight. Our best interest would be to expect a lot of looks and great plays from them, a plethora of shots, as well. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. PETER LAVIOLETTE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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