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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: CAPITALS vs LIGHTNINGMay 18, 2018Ryan McDonaghWashington, D.C.: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. (Question about playing the best game yet in this series.) RYAN McDONAGH: When you look at the grand scheme of things, they've really played well in front of us, presented a lot of challenges. It's a seven-game series. We're all a team, we're all working hard to find ways to win games. Just focused on trying to find a way to win Game 5. Q. The second period was not great, but in the third do you feel you played the way you wanted to play? RYAN McDONAGH: It was still pretty even start to the third period. Obviously Killer's goal gave us a lot of life on the bench, kind of crawling our way through that second period. To come out of that just tied, we felt good going into the third. But you're still on edge when it's tied. Killer's goal gave us a lot of life on the bench, like I said. After that, we were pretty focused and locked in to make sure we did whatever we could to hold onto the lead. Q. What was the case with the penalty killing? RYAN McDONAGH: I mean, can't talk about the PK without the saves first and foremost. Definitely, I mean, guys are really committed to trying to make the right reads is really the biggest thing, when we can be aggressive, when we need to be patient, try to take away options. Need some shot blocking on the way, you need a lot of communication with the guys on the ice. We got to continue to keep working because they're going to make adjustments. We got to keep on. Q. Three out of four games in the series you guys haven't gotten more than 25 shots. How important is it to get more pucks and how do you go about doing that? RYAN McDONAGH: Yeah, definitely I think we passed up some opportunities to shoot the puck. Offensively we got to find ways to not look for something else, put pucks in the net and go there. That's how goals are scored. The dirty goals is what is probably going to end up being the difference in the game. We'll keep looking at that and try to fine-tune or game. Q. You played a lot of your career knowing where Ovi is going to be on the power-play. Is it easier said than done to take that away, much like it is for them to take Stammer away from where he likes to be on the power-play? RYAN McDONAGH: Yeah, I mean, everybody knows where he's going to be. He continues to put goals in the back of the net. He's a great player for a reason. Do a good job of finding ways to give him the puck. It's not from just one guy. Comes from a lot of different angles. Like I said, pick your spots to be aggressive, pick your spots to be patient. Our group has been consistent at doing that. Q. Can you explain how a home team has yet to win a game in this series? RYAN McDONAGH: Really there's probably no answer. I mean, sometimes you just play a hard-nosed, simpler game on the road. Sometimes a way the series has gone, they won the first two, so you kind of bear down and try to find a way to get it back to even. We just so happened to be on the road for Games 3 and 4. We're happy we came back and tied this thing up. By no means is it over. Like I said before, they've been challenging us on a lot of different levels, different aspects of the game. We have to continue to keep going and keep working. Q. Ever been part of a series that is four deep and the home team hasn't won? RYAN McDONAGH: No, I haven't. Probably a rare thing in this day and age of sports. Hockey is a unique game, too, where momentum, bounces, luck go a long way, too. Q. Do you talk between each other as teammates to make sure that home ice advantage needs to be home ice advantage? RYAN McDONAGH: Yeah, it's always your focus. You love playing in front of your home crowd, trying to put forth a good effort there. Talk about matchups, strategy, you try to use that to your advantage. At the end of the day you got to go out and execute. It's the same hockey rink, the same opponent. At the end of the day your execution, your awareness, playing smart, playing disciplined is what you got to focus on. Q. Have we seen the best from you guys at this point? RYAN McDONAGH: Honestly, I think the best we felt as a team is probably when Killer scored and gave us the lead there. We were really focused and determined for the last bit of the third period. If there's anything we can use going forward here, it's that mindset we had, focus, that determination, that locked-in both ways. We still carried the play pretty well there. Had some offensive zone time finally, we didn't have much in the second period. We'll look to kind of capitalize on that and keep using that for the next game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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