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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HURRICANES v PENGUINS

May 17, 2009

Dan Bylsma

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Practice Day

Q. Coach, just your thoughts on your goaltender. He seemed to fly under the radar a bit in the first and second. What are your thoughts on that? Is that what you like as a team?
COACH BYLSMA: Well, he definitely flew under the radar with the attention to so many other players and their goaltender.
In the first round he was decisive in several games and made the big save on Carter, I think, in Game 2. That allowed us to get the power-play goal at the end.
So first round he was talked about a little bit more. But you can't not say that he hasn't been there and made the save when we needed the save, or been big. When you win in overtime, when he makes the save in Game 7 against their best player on a breakaway, he's still a pretty big factor in the series.
Whether we need him to win the game or not, he's always there for us in that regard. Our players believe that, we believe that, the coaching staff. And he's proven that he can play in a big game. We're going to be in a couple coming up here quick.
So our goaltending is something that did fly under the radar, but I expect it to be a focus going forward.

Q. If Sarge has been confident he's going to be able to go. If he was able to go and you were going back to six defensemen. Would Pascal be the guy that goes back in? Was he just sort of the odd man out? Were you unhappy with anything he did?
COACH BYLSMA: You know, we were put in a situation where we -- it wasn't so much what players did or didn't do up front. It was we needed to be concerned about our defensive situation and who was going in.
So, again, you're talking about things that will be game-time decisions tomorrow. And my feelings about them will remain private until he make that decision.
So, no, Sarge looked good out there today. It's one of those things that you evaluate again tomorrow morning, and we'll be ready for different scenarios depending on how good he feels and how much he can contribute in terms of minutes and on the ice.
So we'll probably be dressing 12 forwards for the game, and 7 D for warm-ups and make our decision then.

Q. Were you happy with Pascal though? When he was in the lineup regularly, were you happy with his performance or is there something you need to see from him more when you talk about guys from the past?
COACH BYLSMA: He adds on the penalty kill. When we take him out, we miss him there he's one guy who you can plug in on different lines, first line, second line, and third line, and still be effective if he plays in the fourth guy line role.
That's what Pascal brings and that's what he's brought for a long time for us. We're all trying to play our A-game. And he can bring that, does bring that, and has brought that when he's in there. When he plays again, he'll have to be ready to bring exactly that. Maybe a fourth line spot, a penalty kill and get tossed in in different scenarios, but we're confident he can do that.

Q. Is there something that Gonchar has to prove to you in practice or tomorrow, or are you just going by what the trainers are going to say?
COACH BYLSMA: My feeling on situations where a player is playing coming off an injury is they have to be confident that they can do their job. We don't tell them that they can do their job.
The trainers don't say you've got to get out there and do their job. He has to look me in the eye and say I'm ready to go out there and play my role on this team, and I'm confident I can do that. So that's got to come from the player.
I don't have to see him wince in pain or see him skate. He looks good out there, and if he's confident he can look the trainer in the eye and me in the eye and say he's ready to go, that's what needs to happen between now and game time.

Q. Do you know Paul Maurice at all?
COACH BYLSMA: I've spoken on the phone with him a couple times. But other than that, I don't know him very well. Just crossing each other's paths and different jobs have come up I have talked to him.

Q. For interview purposes, you mean? Trying to work for him as a Coach?
COACH BYLSMA: Well, there are some private things. You know, in the summertime you call coaches. He was a Coach I called. I don't think either of us had a job at the given time, so.

Q. When you watch that team play, how closely does your team's style -- do you feel like you're watching your own team when you watch them? Are the styles that close?
COACH BYLSMA: There are a couple of things that we do differently. But we do the majority of things similar in terms of the end product. How we play, how quickly we want to get up the ice, then kind of dictating the tempo of the game.
You know, they're a team that, you know, as solid goaltending as their back drop. We also have that as well. I think we penalty kill similar as well. So there are lots of similarities.
They have depth in their lines like we have depth in our lines and the defensemen are part of their offense. We like our defensemen to be active and a part of the offense.
So, you know, that game in Carolina, that last game we played, was a pretty entertaining game. And I expect that's what hockey will look like in this series.

Q. There wasn't much of an emotional catalyst playing Phillie, playing Washington. How do you imagine the emotional end of this series are where the teams don't have a natural thing going on?
COACH BYLSMA: Well, typically the natural -- a lot of the emotion comes from past history. You know, in the Phillie and Washington series there is past history. There are emotions from the season as well. With Carolina there's not the past history, but what's at stake now, a chance four games to win to have a chance to play for the Stanley Cup is enough to make anyone's emotions rise.
So emotion is what's at stake more than it is our past history. But we're starting to make past history right now. So the emotions will get high quick.

Q. Some would say that Cam Ward has an edge on your goalie simply because he's won the cup, won the MVP at the cup. He's a pretty steady force, and Paul Maurice has gone on record saying we never have to worry about that goalie. Just your thoughts on Cam Ward?
COACH BYLSMA: I think part of their team identity is their goaltender. You know, when you watch him play, he's steady, he's in control. There's not a ton of miraculous saves because he doesn't have to make them. He seems to be square on every shot. He seems to be a solid wall when the shooters are looking at him.
There's not a lot of behind the back stuff with him because there doesn't need to be. When you have a goaltender like that, it adds some calmness to your team. I think it adds some confidence to your team. I think that's what they've had when they've won, and they've had that with the goaltenders, certainly in the playoffs.
So that's part of their team. Maybe he's one on up on the award, and one up on the Stanley Cup. But our guys played a lot of big hockey games. He's been under a lot of scrutiny at different times in his career.
While the media continues to ask those questions, he's continually answered them and gotten his team to the Stanley Cup final last year. They like their goaltender, we like our goaltender.

End of FastScripts

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