|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SENATORS v SABRESMay 16, 2007Lindy RuffOTTAWA, ONTARIO: Game Four Q. No Dainius out there? COACH LINDY RUFF: No, he wasn't out there. Q. Is he still resting? COACH LINDY RUFF: Yeah, he'll be available to play. We kept him off the ice this morning. Q. Does that mean he will play? COACH LINDY RUFF: He'll be available to play, yeah. He will play. He will play. Q. Coach, what was your sense of your team today? Did you feel them upbeat and relaxed and just ready to play a hockey game? COACH LINDY RUFF: I think the atmosphere is good. You know, we had couple meetings yesterday where we went over some of the strengths of the game and really want to improve areas where we thought we were weak at. I think everybody's mind is in the right place, and they got to go out and play now. Q. Lindy, just some of those line changes, is that something we can expect to see tonight? COACH LINDY RUFF: Which line changes? Q. Connolly, Drury and, Roy. COACH LINDY RUFF: We didn't do any line work this morning unless you were taking it from just the warmup skate we did at the beginning. We just had different players go with different people. So - but otherwise we didn't really do any line work. I don't know with the defense, I don't even know who went together. Q. Lindy, some of guys in the room are saying there were meetings and words were said, and maybe words needed to be said after Game 3. Were there any kind of those rallying cries in the locker room these last couple of days, and did you need that sort of thing? COACH LINDY RUFF: I think you do. You do some searching, obviously, and you really have to get the players' minds back in the right place, and I think that - I didn't think the effect of losing Game 2 would maybe be as big as it was, but I think the disappointment seemed to still be there in Game 3. My job was to try and make sure that it was erased. I don't think it was, and, you know, obviously we started the game - we started the game very poor, and it kind of snowballed from there. We had some bright spots in the game which I mentioned which we want to continue along, but you've got to put some focus on the areas where we really needed to improve, and we were very careless defensively which allowed them, you know, plenty of opportunity to score against us, which Ryan bailed us out. Q. Lindy, do you think that there's any trust issues, not in the sense that whether a guy can do it but really where he's going to be because there's so much individual stuff going on that you can't - you can't trust your own line mates? COACH LINDY RUFF: You know, I think that, you know, we've been saying sort of the same thing for three series now. You know, the common thread has kind of been, well, we need to play better and we need to - I think we can still play better, and I think part of that is, is playoff hockey. Playoff hockey is different from the regular season. The intensity away from the puck is for me is a lot higher. I'll mention the back-check pursuit when you don't have it, and when do you have it, you really do have to trust that in the system you're going to be in a certain place. Because there isn't - nine out of ten times you don't have time to look you don't have time to - there has to be trust. I think there are times when certain lines have not put enough trust in being in those situations and in the right place. Maybe that's cheating on the offensive side of it, which nine times out of ten is the case. Q. They're going - they're taking off too early? COACH LINDY RUFF: We're going the other way before we're taking care of our own end. Q. Lindy, you talked about Miller and Briere yesterday and said the guys are trying to do so much on their own and they're staying away from the system. How can you make sure the guys buy into the system? COACH LINDY RUFF: Again, we've gone over it. We've reviewed it through video. We've talked about it. We've met with some players individually. I think all you can do is try to do your best, and you've got 20 players, you've got four lines. You got to go back to the fact that if everybody is on the same page and let's put a side - maybe worry about preventing goals at certain times instead of who is going to score the goal. I think that's - you know, you talk about the individual stuff. I think there is a case in point where - I'll just give you - I don't know if I used the example yesterday, but you know for Brian Campbell to try to spin around on the first rush the overnight, I think that kind of sums up we don't need that. That didn't lead to anything. I don't know what it was. It was - maybe it's fun for the fans to watch, but I think that kind of sums up a little bit that is still in our game. And I liked the way Bryan has played throughout the year. He's had a pretty solid playoff. But is your mind in the right place if you're trying to spin around on the blue line on your first rush up ice? So maybe that's your example. Q. How is James Patrick? COACH LINDY RUFF: James is doing good, thanks. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|