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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: CAPITALS vs LIGHTNING

May 18, 2018

Barry Trotz

Washington, D.C.: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When you jumped on the plane today, were you smiling, happy to go on the road, knowing this team has had success on the road?
BARRY TROTZ: Well, actually I'm smiling most of the time these days.

I think we look at it realistically. I mean, I said to everybody in September, even yesterday, and they're saying the same thing: Sign me up. Best-of-three, got a chance to maybe go to the Stanley Cup Finals, sign me up.

I don't think anybody thought the series would go four straight or anything like that. There's two really high-quality teams that are going to go nose-to-nose. There's twists and turns in the road sometimes.

For us, we've had a lot of twists and turns even in our first series where we were down two and we came back. It's just another layer of adversity. This group has taken on any adversity that has been thrown its way all years, hasn't shied away from it.

I think we've played three out of the four games pretty well. I'm not disappointed at all. Maybe I'm a little disappointed in the outcome last night, but other than that, our play, we're doing a lot of good things. We're excited to get on the ice tomorrow and play, get it on.

Q. When a series is 2-2, some people may be making it seem like they're in the driver's seat. Does that push this team? People like to count you guys out for some reason.
BARRY TROTZ: There's a lot of people that have a glass half empty all the time. That's fine. We look at it as an opportunity. Tomorrow is another opportunity. Every game is an opportunity, win or lose, to see if you can get a win to get a little closer to where you want to go.

No, our group has been pretty good. I just told them, Tonight have a good supper, get some rest, enjoy each other's company, and we'll get back to work tomorrow. Other than that, I think we're in a good place. We'll have a good game plan for tomorrow, drop the puck.

Q. Is there a mental test in reminding yourself it's tied, you had a lead, now you don't?
BARRY TROTZ: Yeah, no, it's tied. It's best out of three. That's how we look at it. Like I say, there's another opportunity tomorrow.

Q. You're in the same spot third straight series. Does that help you tomorrow?
BARRY TROTZ: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think you get more comfortable when you're uncomfortable in these situations. The playoffs, they're a grind, but they're a joy. I mean, if they were easy, you'd never remember them. You remember all the stuff that's hard.

I think our guys can dwell on some of the stuff that they had to do that was really hard. It tested them, made them better, made them stronger, made them more prepared.

I think our guys are in a good spot for tomorrow.

Q. Nick said a moment ago he'd like to see more net presence.
BARRY TROTZ: Yeah, absolutely. Every coach will tell you that. I'm sure Coop is going to be saying the same thing with his group. I'm going to be saying the same thing with our group.

You can't stop what you can't see. That's been there for a hundred years in this game.

Q. Is there irony in the fact that when you look at people looking at a glass half empty, you look at the general manager of the other team in Steve Yzerman, a lot was said about him the first decade of his career, he seemed to finish it off okay.
BARRY TROTZ: He did okay. He did okay. I got to coach against him a lot.

Q. How did that go?
BARRY TROTZ: Not so well (laughter).

He was part of that long run that the Red Wings had. We played them a lot. He's been a fabulous leader for his team. You talk to people who knew Stevie, how he grew as a player, he'll tell you probably himself, he had to learn a lot of things. They're not always easy.

Just as our team is learning it's not always easy, they're getting better, they're getting stronger, becoming better leaders, better prepared. They're living life. Life is not easy all the time.

I think that's the message, that you keep growing. You don't take a setback. Those setbacks you have are sometimes building blocks for what you're going to do in the future. I think we've taken that approach.

Q. Back to Nicklas Lidstrom [sic].
BARRY TROTZ: Very good player. I thought very good player first game back.

Q. When you're looking at the way he played, Nicklas Backstrom, sorry, did you say to yourself after that game, Why didn't he come back earlier? Know what I mean?
BARRY TROTZ: I don't know what you mean, but I'm going to say what you want to hear, okay (laughter)?

We've been in a process with Nick, when he got injured, that we were not going to hurry him. A player who gets injured has to have the backing of the coach, the medical staff, the doctors, the organization. He has to be mentally ready to come back. When all those factors came into point, then he became a viable option for us. That viable option was yesterday.

He was excited to play. He played very well. If we hadn't won the first two games, would Nick come to me and say, I'm in? Probably 100%. That's kind of the player, kind of person, that's sort of the hockey mentality with these extreme athletes.

We knew the process. We wanted to make sure that we're not stopping hopefully here in Tampa. We have higher aspirations than that. We do that with Nick, too.

This was very thorough with him, the coaching staff and the medical staff. Yesterday he came in and he did a great job for us.

Q. Did he show you he's maybe ready for a slightly bigger role?
BARRY TROTZ: Yeah. I played him almost 20 minutes. That's a lot for a forward. He's used to that. When you have a little bit of a time off, you wonder if you'll be right there. I didn't doubt that. Nick prepares all the time. He's a real pro. Very competitive. Quietly competitive. As I say, I think I've been on a soapbox. He's one of the best two-way forwards in the National Hockey League.

Q. Almost feels right he's in the finals here? There's a lot of talk about Alex getting over that hump. What does it mean for him?
BARRY TROTZ: It means a lot to him. He's been a lot of the success to the Caps. Just as Alex gets a lot of the -- he's sort of the lightning rod to a lot of successes or failures. Nick has been the sidekick, sort of the Batman and Robin type of thing. They've been together, lived all this with a couple other guys on the team.

It means a lot to him, there's no question.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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