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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: OILERS v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 20, 2006

Randy Carlyle

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day

JAMEY HORAN: Questions for the coach. First question.
Q. Randy, were you happy with the number of chances and the amount of pressure that you put on Dwayne Roloson last night the number of shots you put at him. If not, what sort of things do you look to in this next game to maybe try and get him off of what's been a pretty good game?
COACH CARLYLE: Well, I think that it's no different than any other goaltender. If they have a clear sight of the puck at all times and they're out in position, you're not going to beat many of them. That's the one thing that we've got to try to change. We need it get people inside and shoot the puck in situations in different areas. We've got to continually drive. I think that one thing that we proved to ourselves that we could shoot the puck at the net, but I didn't think we had enough traffic going in that direction.
You have to credit them, they kept us to the outside, and he was able to see a lot of the pucks that were directed in towards him. So I don't know if he had a tremendously difficult night.
Q. Randy, Teemu is going to see Chris Pronger the whole game. How does he get away from him? Second question, you were a defenseman. The best way to tire a defenseman is to shoot the puck in his corner and keep pounding him. Can you do that with Chris Pronger with as big as he is?
COACH CARLYLE: I think there's a couple factors that go into allowing Pronger the minutes that he has against your top offensive players. I think the one thing that we have to do a better job of is controlling the puck in the offensive zone-off face-offs. That allows them to make the change if they control the puck automatically, and they had some clean-outs, thus they get their match-up that they want when the puck is put into our zone. I think we have to do a better job of that.
They don't put them out there for every defensive zone face-off, so that specifically played a big part of last night. We weren't effective in the offensive zone, as far as controlling the puck.
The other issue is, at times you're not going to be able to get the match-up and you're going to have to play against your best players, and in reality, sometimes I think that's the challenge that you like to put out to your players.
Q. So it's a game within a game?
COACH CARLYLE: At times it could be a game within a game. And I think as any quality defenseman, you'd like to make sure you finish your check on them. That's no secret. That's part of playoff hockey. It's not even playoff hockey, it's regular season hockey. It's part of the game. You go after personnel that is going to handle the puck, and I'm sure they're trying to do the same thing to Scott Neidermayer.
Q. Randy, is there any extra pressure of having to win tomorrow night because you don't want to go into Edmonton down 2-0? And is it compared to the pressure of just trying to get into the playoffs?
COACH CARLYLE: I think the pressure is present in every game in the playoffs. I don't think you can ever say there's no pressure. The excitement and the adrenaline of the Stanley Cup playoffs always reaches a new height. And you can say what you want, there's no ifs, ands, or buts, the butterflies fly and the nervousness and the energy that's expanded goes to a whole different level. And tomorrow night, I would expect that would be higher than it was in the last game. And that's the way the playoffs are. As you go deeper into them, each one is that much more difficult to win and it's much more important to win.
Q. Randy, it looked like -- and maybe you can tell me if it's a fair read or not. It looked like the jump was certainly there in you guys, but maybe the timing was off. Does it take just maybe a game to sort of work, you know, back down? Considering the break, does it take a game to sort of work some of that out?
COACH CARLYLE: I don't know. I think that there's factors that go into that. If we weren't as efficient, were they more efficient than we were in implementing their game plan? Did they control the puck more than we did? Did they win more one-on-one battles? Did they win more face-off battles. I think with us there's a number of things that we have to do to improve. And we don't have a tremendous amount of time to do that.
We have got to play our best game of the series tomorrow night. And there's some things that I think that should not be that difficult for us to change from our perspective. But you always credit the opposition because they force you out of your comfort zone.
So I don't know if I really answered the question other than the fact that I know we have to be better in areas to have success.
Q. Randy, being down a game in the series, which obviously was not the case against Colorado, but obviously it was the case against Calgary, does that experience help now having been down three times against Calgary?
COACH CARLYLE: I -- I don't feel comfortable about it, so I'm sure our players don't. But that's the reality of the situation. We can't control what just passed. We're about trying to change some of the things that we need to do to have success for tomorrow, and that's really where we're at.
As far as the history of it, hopefully that your hockey club has showed the resiliency historically or in the past. That's been one of our traits during the course of the season, that when things get difficult, we found ways to bounce back. That's what we're going to be looking to do.
Obviously, they're going to be looking in the other direction. They want to do the things that they did well last night, and more of them.
Q. Randy, you said there's a number of areas of concern or some areas for improvement, but was it a bit of a wake-up call just allowing that short-handed goal to Michael Peca?
COACH CARLYLE: I think it was at the moment. The response was what you would like. We went right down and scored a goal seconds later on a power play. It was a great play. You know, you have to acknowledge when teams and players make outstanding plays. That was one of them. I don't think it affected us the rest of the game. No, I don't think it had any bearing because I don't think very often in situations like that when you give up a short-handed goal that you responded the way we did, and we responded the way we'd like to do it every time. But we didn't read the situation, and we got burned.
Q. Randy, you scored one goal last night. Might we see Corey Perry tomorrow night?
COACH CARLYLE: That's possible. He's available to our line up. We obviously -- there's a big fly in here. I got him.
JAMEY HORAN: Don't transcribe that.
COACH CARLYLE: We'll make an assessment. We've talked about different combinations and whatnot. And Corey Perry, historically, has been a player that has been able to provide some level of offense for our team. I wouldn't say it's a slam dunk at this time, though.
Q. Can you talk about Francois Beauchemin and what he's meant to you so for this year since coming over?
COACH CARLYLE: Again, this player has taken giant strides in becoming an everyday defenseman in the NHL. And now in the playoffs he's been able to elevate his game. Beauchemin is a compact defenseman that has found a comfort zone with our hockey club, and we're very, very happy that he has done that. You know, it would be tough to look at him as not being part of our line up at this moment. That's how much of a fit he's become.
Q. Just to expand on that a bit. You have six players on that roster that are 25 or under. Can you just talk about them, your young guys and their play?
COACH CARLYLE: Our young guys have been major contributors to us making the playoffs and the success we enjoyed in the last half of the season. And then in the playoff series that we played, it seemed that each and every time they were called upon, a different one had some form of an impact. With the youth in our group it bodes well for the future, but our future's tomorrow night. And as young as their birth certificates describe them to be, we're looking for a contribution to our group now. And that might seem unfair at this time, but that's the reality of sports. They're young players that have earned the opportunity to play on our hockey club, and our expectations are for them to continue to make a contribution.
Q. Randy, you mentioned not feeling comfortable being down a game. Probably no one is ever comfortable being down a game. But when you were down a game, how valuable is it for you, for your club, to have the leaders that you have, specifically Scott and the other guys that have been in the finals?
COACH CARLYLE: Again, when you talk about veteran players and the leadership core of our group, their expectations are for us to be better than we were last night. We've talked about it and met about it this morning. We've tried to deal with it in the most effective way as coaches and making the presentation to them. We're all in agreement that we didn't play to the level that was required last night. And I would expect that our veteran people would be at the forefront of trying to change that for tomorrow. And that's usually what good leadership does.
And to be truthful, there's more than three or four. Our expectations are that there are leaders in that room that have to lead in their own special way.
Q. (No microphone.)
COACH CARLYLE: Historically, it's happened, but our history isn't that long when we're only in two playoff rounds.
JAMEY HORAN: Thank you, coach.
COACH CARLYLE: All right.

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