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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DUCKS v RED WINGSMay 15, 2007Mike BabcockANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Game Three JAMEY HORAN: Questions for Coach Babcock. Q. The travel involved going back and forth - I think you got in really early yesterday - does that play a factor? How do you deal with the travel? COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I mean, we've had a lot of travel, so I think after a while you become a little more immune to it. What we do is in Detroit we're real lucky. We have a lot of people that have been around a long time. Before any playoff series, we go through it and discuss it. We set up our plan for the series, when we're going to travel. Even just prior to Game 2, we kind of readdress it. You hear Anaheim's stand. You say to yourself, let's readdress it. I talked to Scotty and Nicklas Lidstrom about it. Nicklas Lidstrom said, We're on the flight, we're going. This is what we always do. This is why we do it. I think it's different for both teams. One is leaving their time schedule and one is going back to theirs. You got to do what's right for you. The bottom line is you always know you're right when you win the game. Q. Mike, Dom has had a few collisions already in this series. You have Holmstrom who makes a living in front of the net. Do you understand even what the rule is anymore about contacting goalies? COACH MIKE BABCOCK: You're setting me up here to fail, aren't you (smiling)? If we want to have a beer and talk about that, we can, but... You got me in a tough spot here (laughter). The rule is straightforward. It's the way it's been all year. It's the way it's always been. You know the rule and I know the rule (smiling). Q. Just a thought about Kopecky. What do you like about him as a player? COACH MIKE BABCOCK: I like Tomas. Tomas going forward is going to be a center ice man for us. He's going to be an effective player. He's 6'3", can shoot the puck a ton. The first time I coached him, his first year coming out of the junior, or he was still a junior, was in Cincinnati and he had a lot of skill. Took him a lot of time to improve his body and learn to compete. The coach in Grand Rapids and himself did a real good job. He's a competitive kid who can score. He can bang, make plays, skate, compete. So there's always a tough decision when you put a kid in. What's he going to do? Yet I look around the league, there's a lot of kids that can make a contribution. He was out for a long time. We would have liked to get him back with four or five games in the regular season. But because of his clavicle injury, our medical people thought we were putting him at risk. So now they don't and we need more I think grit on the puck, will to want the puck, more skating from that unit, so we're asking him to provide some of that. Q. Looking at the first two games, what do you think you have to do to generate more offense? COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Number one is, I think we haven't spent enough time in their zone. To me that comes back to our zone. You got to get back, make a good play, get out quick, then you have to speed through the neutral zone, then you're on top of them. The other thing we got to do is fight through at the blueline. We put it behind, got to fight through to get there. Q. How does Kopecky affect the lines? Play with Draper and Maltby? COACH MIKE BABCOCK: I'll tell you how they're going to warm up: with Draper and Maltby. After that, it's going to be whoever's going is going. Thanks, guys. End of FastScripts |
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