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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HURRICANES v PENGUINSMay 18, 2009Sidney CrosbyMarc Andre FleuryPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Game One Penguins – 3 Q. Can you just talk a little about how good it must feel as a team when you go so deep into your roster with goals. Phillipe Boucher comes off the bench out of purgatory and scores a goal. Miroslav gets a goal, other role players really stepped up tonight. Can you talk about as a captain how that feels when you see all that going on? SIDNEY CROSBY: It means a lot, and it builds a lot of confidence from everybody, the guys who were able to chip in. And the guys that see that. We realize everyone's going, everyone's contributing, and that's the only way you can win consistently in the playoffs. So that's huge. We need that every game. Q. Can you describe the play where it appeared Eric Staal knocked the stick out of your hand on that goal. And the weird bounce on the end, what was going through your mind? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: I picked it up my stick was the shot. It might not have been my stick though. After that he pushed it away from me. I thought it might have been a penalty, but they didn't call it. At the end, I think he had, yeah, I was on my bottom, that's good, hey? I can say that. And he just missed a shot, and he didn't get good wood on it, so it just went back at me. Little bit lucky, but I'll take it. Q. What about the shot from out by center or wherever it was that just took that funny -- not the Staal one, but the funny bounce at the last second? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: Yeah, the guy just shot from far away. I think their own blue line. It was going on my left side, so I slid in a butterfly on the left, and it bounced high blocker. So I was like, Oh, my God. And I just got a piece of it. But thank God it didn't go in. Q. Can you just kind of talk about Marc-Andre's play tonight? Because we've heard some criticism out there about him from last series, maybe not the flash to him these days. They were certainly there tonight. SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, he was big for us. We didn't get the start we wanted to. They got some quality chances early on. Usually when you're at home, you're not talking about weathering the storm, but he did that for us tonight. So even after that, throughout the game, we came up with some big saves, especially late there. Get a couple of big saves and that is the difference in the game, so, that's what you need in order to win in the playoffs. Goaltending is a big part of it, and he provides that for us. Q. Both the players and the coaches in both locker rooms have already talked about so far tonight how it seems the goaltending may keep the games lower scoring than what they deserve to be on the open ice. But you and Cam were making a lot of big glove saves tonight. Do you think you were watching each other, not one-upping each other, but keeping pace with each other with big saves at the opposite ends of the ice? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: I think yes and no. I don't really play against him. I play against the players. I've just got to focus on them, and make sure I'm ready for every shot, and make some key saves. He will do some during this series. That's why we've got to shoot a lot of pucks, hope for rebounds. And maybe for me I can't worry too much about what he does. Q. Is the first goal going to be very big in this series? Is that going to be a big thing in this series, do you think? SIDNEY CROSBY: Yes, I mean, it's always important to get the first goal. But we've seen many times it hasn't been everything. And last couple of series there's been a lot of times where the team with the first goal hasn't won. So I think we did a good job tonight. We got the first one, got the second one, and that's big. You want to build on leads, especially in the playoffs. You have a one-goal lead, and the other team gets a power play, they're one mistake away from getting back in it. You can't sit on leads by any means. That is the focus for teams to not sit on a one-goal lead. So the goalies are going to be solid, still you want to build on leads for sure. Q. Did Carolina present a different look for you when you're on the ice? It seemed that they took away a lot of your shooting lanes and made you pass a little bit more, or is that something that you were trying to do? SIDNEY CROSBY: No, we didn't really execute that well tonight. That's an area we have to make sure we improve on. I think we're confident as far as our offense is concerned that if we execute we're going to generate chances no matter what. So they're a fast team, and they're in-your-face quick. But at the same time we pride ourselves on making things happen out there, too. And we've got to execute a little bit better. Q. Couple on Ward quick inside of 90 seconds in the first period, and he seemed to settle down through the rest of the game. Talk about what he showed you? SIDNEY CROSBY: I mean, there was no surprise. We expected him to be steady. You know, you can't really blame him on the goals. He was beaten. And we made some good plays and there were other plays he made and made some big saves. But we've got to continue to test him, throw a lot of shots at him, and our game plan doesn't change based on who is in goal. The same things are going to make you successful against any goalie. So, you talk a lot about traffic. You don't want guys to see the puck as much. And, you know, you ask any goalie if you you get traffic in front of them, you make it hard for them to see the approximate you can and get bodies there, it's tough to read, so that's what we want to do. Q. Especially after the last round, how was it to have that first period? You made a lot of great saves, kept it 2-0, talk about that and also how you finished. Could you ask for anything more? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: I think the Washington series was a little bit par for these. It was a lot of goals and sometimes it was frustrating. But good thing we still came out on top. And as far as tonight, I think it was good to just get some shots early. We haven't played for a while, so it was good to just get into the game quick and I thought the guys did a good job in front of me taking rebounds. And blocking shots of block shots for me, so that was good. End of FastScripts |
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