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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINSJune 10, 2017Ron HainseyChris KunitzNashville, Tennessee - Practice Day Q. What stands out to you about the closeness of this group and the bond you've built? CHRIS KUNITZ: Yeah, I think we've always enjoyed coming to the rink every day. Didn't matter if it was after a win or a loss, that we knew the next day we were going to go work together, and you have fun doing it. It's not a drag on it. You know, even kind of the most dark days in January of the season and things like that. I think the best part about being on the Penguins team is that we have fun going to the rink every day, and that's why you want to play as long as you can, and hopefully we'll have a great Game 6. Q. How do you divorce yourself from knowing what tomorrow is for you guys and try your best to approach it just like any other game as best you can? RON HAINSEY: Well, I think we're going to approach it like we're going to have the team that's playing for its life tomorrow and playing for them for an opportunity to go to Game 7 back in our building. I think if we're not prepared for them to play a tremendous game against us and make it very difficult for us to accomplish our goal, we're going to be in big trouble. So I think we're here today, we'll have dinner, and I think everybody's focus will be on getting off to a real good start tomorrow because if we don't, it could be a rough night. Q. Ron, Kris Letang went down and he was down for the season. There was some chatter about the Penguins' chances; did you take that personally? RON HAINSEY: I didn't hear said chatter, so no. Q. Chris, as much time as you've spent around Sid the past 10 years, does anything stand out or strike you about how he looks at this game or appreciates it? CHRIS KUNITZ: I mean, I wasn't with him to see them go through the defeat the first time in Detroit, and I think a lot of his character building and things come from that defeat and driving their team to be better every single night when he's out there. So I think being with him that he's always had the motivation to be -- maybe the best working hockey player out there, somebody who's going out there to drive your team in any way, in every facet that he can. He's a guy that's always worked on his game to become a better player, but I guess you kind of look at that shift last game in the first period that he was propelling our team to drive us to the win. Q. Chris, you could wake up tomorrow and try to win a Stanley Cup. What's it like trying to sleep tonight? CHRIS KUNITZ: I mean, it's obviously one of those things that you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. You know you have to go out there and still perform tomorrow to be able to achieve your ultimate goal, to go out there and have our best game of the season and beat their best that they're going to throw at us, and if we don't do that, we're not going to be able to accomplish anything. I think you always have to go to the reassurance of how well your team can play, and once you understand and trust that process that we know that we'll go out and have our best game, and hopefully that prevails us to win. Q. Ron, what went into (indiscernible)? RON HAINSEY: I mean, as I said earlier, I'm more concerned about our team just getting off to a great start, being prepared for tomorrow's game. You know, we have the opportunity in front of us to end this team, which is what we want, without question, but they want the opposite, which is to extend it. So the focus has to be on that, and it has to be on the beginning of the game and getting off to a great start, otherwise, as I said, they've been very successful at home throughout this playoff run. I'm sure they're planning on doing it again. Being ready for that and competing against what they're going to bring, you know, it's easy to focus on that because if not, as I said, could be a rough night. Q. Ron, is there any sense of pride in the number of American guys that made it on this roster? RON HAINSEY: That hasn't come up to this point, sorry. Q. The games have not been terribly close towards the end, especially the last few. How much does that contribute to some of the skirmishes we've seen in these games, and how much do you see that crossing over into Game 6? CHRIS KUNITZ: I mean, I think it's one of those things where you want to develop an edge, so when you are trying to wait for that final buzzer, if you're winning or losing, you want to try and compete, you want to force yourself to try and not watch the scoreboard, so I think that's when the stuff kind of boils over. But we know that every game is different. If you don't go out there and earn that space on the ice that you need to win the game that they're probably doing it and they're going to be getting those bounces and chances, so every game takes on its own identity, and if you're hanging on to grudges or something, you're probably looking at the other team scoring goals. Q. Can you allow yourself to be motivated and inspired by the noise in the building? CHRIS KUNITZ: Yeah, if you can see your ultimate goal right in front of you, you should be able to drive yourself to have the best game of your life. That's why we're all here, to win. You don't get this opportunity too much, but also, they're going to be coming with their best game. If we sit back or not watch and not stay focused, that's their chance to jump into it. If we come out and play like we started last game and take their fans out of it and pressure them all over the ice, we're going to have success. We have to go out there and play our style of hockey from the first puck drop. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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