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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: CAPITALS vs LIGHTNING

May 22, 2018

Jay Beagle

Tampa, Florida: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You have talked all season about being different, dealing with the adversity. How much of that is also Trotz? How has he evolved with that?
JAY BEAGLE: I think with our team and coaching staff, you learn something new every year. You're always growing as a player, as coaches. I think right from the get-go this year we said we still have a team that we think can be in contention. That was our goal, was to focus on the start of the year, but also to keep that in our heads, that we want to play for the Stanley Cup. That was our goal going into it.

It's been an interesting year now. It's been a lot of fun. Now we find ourselves in a Game 7 to go to the Cup Finals. It's exciting.

Q. Has he changed his style at all?
JAY BEAGLE: No, I don't think so. I don't think he's changed his style. There's little things that the coaching staff does that switches things up. But like for the style, I think it's the style we had ever since he's come in. It's been pretty much the same. He's also evolving as a coach, as well.

Q. Given your own career arc, do you find it remarkable you're one game away from playing in the Stanley Cup?
JAY BEAGLE: It's a dream. As a player, this is why we play. It's something, to be honest with you, I thought would have happened sooner with the teams I've been on, how good we've been in the past in the regular season and stuff. It was something that you thought we were going to get to the last three or four years, and before that five, six years ago.

Yeah, it's what you play the game for. It's exciting. Now that we're here, you have to make sure you take advantage of it, play your best game tomorrow.

Q. When you were on those teams that couldn't break through, did you start to wonder, Will I ever get there?
JAY BEAGLE: No, I don't think so. I think the hardest one was last year. Going away from that, I remember just talking with family and stuff, saying, I don't even know what the word is, but like your hockey spirit, that drive, it was broken after last year. I remember that being a tough summer, walking away from it. That was a tough loss. That was a tough one.

Again, you take that into the summer and you make yourself as a player stronger. You try and come back a better player to help your team. It motivates you almost more than, I don't know. I've also won at the minor league level, the Cup. I think losing, you always find out what kind of player you're made out of, how far, how you have to push in the summer to get to that next level.

I think for all of us that were here last year, coming back into this year, coming into training camp, seeing the guys, it looked like we had done that.

Q. Did that Game 7 make sense to you?
JAY BEAGLE: I mean, I don't know. It's hard to even look back at it right now because it seems like so long away. Yeah, it was obviously very tough. You learn from it. You have to. You learn from those Game 7 moments.

Like I said before, it makes you a stronger player and a better player. You hope that the next time you get that chance, you don't make the same mistakes, that you go out and find a way to get the job done.

Q. Is that what you have learned?
JAY BEAGLE: Still learning, yeah. I think you're always still learning. When you get the chance, last night obviously was a chance, it was do or die, like a Game 7, we came out and we played the right way. We played the way that we have to play. I think that was our most complete and best game we've played all year. Now we're going to have to go out and do it again, even be better, because you know they're going to come out with the same desperation.

Q. (Question regarding Alex Ovechkin.)
JAY BEAGLE: There's a lot, yeah. I don't know what else I can say that you guys don't already know. He's our leader, great player. He has definitely grown a lot this year I think, just the way he came into training camp, the way he came in, his mindset and focus. He just seemed more motivated, I think. He's obviously been huge for us all year, ever since I've been here. He's continuing to grow as a player, too.

I think this is the best he's playing in the playoffs. He's always been good in the playoffs, but I think he stepped it up even more than he has in the past. We'll be looking for that tomorrow.

Q. You were really physical last night. How does that help alter a game for you?
JAY BEAGLE: It's the way we got to play. I think when we play our best is when we're physical and we're dictating the game with how physical we can play. I think that's obviously a key. You saw it last night. We have to do it again in Game 7.

Q. Matt said being physical throughout the series was an investment, he hoped it would pay off in a Game 7 situation. Do you agree with that?
JAY BEAGLE: Yeah, no, we've said that right from Game 1 in the playoffs against Columbus. We said those first two, three games we have to invest in being physical and make sure we're the more physical team, try and beat up on them, hope that you wear them down, especially those top guys that are eating a lot of minutes.

Here we are in a Game 7 situation. We can't let off at all. We have to continue to play the same way.

Q. Do matchups factor in a Game 7?
JAY BEAGLE: I think it will factor in a little bit. Not too much, though. Obviously they'll go with whoever they feel comfortable with their last change. We did it last night. It makes a little bit of a difference. They obviously want their fourth line against our first line. You see that, everyone knows it. Last night we started us against them. It was fourth against fourth. That was a matchup that we obviously wanted.

We won't probably get that as much now tomorrow. So it makes a little bit of a difference. In a sense, too, it's Game 7. Who cares who you're against, let's just go. That's my mindset.

Q. Knowing some folks wrote you off, is there some gratification in getting one win from the Cup?
JAY BEAGLE: No, no gratification. For me, we expected to be here. Our mindset is on the Cup. That's how it's always been. When we beat Pitt, that was huge for us, for the organization. Trotz said right after that happened, We're halfway there. It wasn't to make the second round, not to make it past the third round, it's to win the Stanley Cup.

You probably after it's all said and done look back at it, you reflect on it. As of right now, there's no gratification. We have a job to do, got to go out and do it.

Q. Your line last night, any extra pride in scoring?
JAY BEAGLE: Yeah, no, we've been trying to put it on ourselves all playoffs, all year really, is to chip in, be offensive. When we do, it takes some of that pressure off the top two lines that are always our goal-scorers. You saw it in Game 5 with Tampa. Their fourth line scores one or two. It's big. It's big for a team when your bottom six can chip in and score some goals. We have to continue to push for that.

Q. (Question about the rare opportunities to play for the Cup.)
JAY BEAGLE: It is rare. I've been fortunate and blessed to be with this organization, with such a great team. It's been a lot of fun. As you get older, you start to be like, Okay, these opportunities don't come along that much. It makes it that much more fun, that much more exciting, as well.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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