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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v RED WINGS

May 24, 2009

Mike Babcock

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Game Four

Detroit Â– 6
Chicago - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Mike Babcock.

Q. When did you find out about Lidstrom? What are you thinking at this point?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I mean, I was in the cab on the way over here, I found out about Nik. Obviously he's a pretty good player, as you know. Without Pav, without Drapes, without Kopey, you start saying to yourself, Oh.
I really felt our team was going to dig in. I thought Zetterberg had great leadership. I thought Hossa had an unbelievable game. Back end was solid. Lot of good goaltending. A lot of poise and urgency early, and they never really got going.

Q. I assume you like the response by your team today. Was composure a huge deal?
MIKE BABCOCK: I thought early in particular, you want to be real solid in your own zone. I thought last game we got ourselves in penalty trouble, kind of fueled the fire for them. Today we didn't have that happen.
The other thing is, you know, you asked me about this yesterday, Kronwall, in my opinion, had a real nice finished check on Havlat in the game before. They were busy making amends for that. In the end, we end up on the power play lots, which is beneficial for us.

Q. Could this be a defining moment for this playoff run, just the way you guys overcame adversity as emphatically as you did today?
MIKE BABCOCK: Let's not get carried away. We won the third game here. You got to win four in a series to move on.
You know, obviously we're real hopeful that we're going to be able to close out the Hawks. But they're a good team. They're going to bounce back and play us hard. So we just got to get prepared for the next game.

Q. Patrick Kane got on the score sheet for the first time in the series today. Could you talk about what you have done to limit him, slow him down in the series?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, until today, we always played Nik against him. We didn't have that option here today. You know, we just tried to play a good five-man unit, tried to really limit their touches the best we possibly can.
Obviously I thought we had some good penalty kills tonight. I thought Osgood did a good job. But you're never going to shut a guy like that down totally with the amount of skill level he has.
I thought the other night in Game 3, even though he didn't get on the sheet, I thought that line with Byfuglien and Toews dominated a few shifts territorially. Just couldn't get the puck to the net.

Q. You talked about the slow starts this team has had. Today seemed to be much better. Talk about the start you had.
MIKE BABCOCK: I think the big thing here today is, I mean, as people leave your lineup, you're very conscious of the fact that you better not be playing catch-up. You better get started on time and get going.
We dug ourselves a hole the other night. I thought we showed -- I told the guys I thought we showed that we're a great team. We battled our way back. We got to 3. Gave ourselves a chance to win. That's what we talked about tonight. Great teams find a way to overcome everything. Let's dig in here, find a way.
You know, in the end, people talk about it all the time, you need skill, I really believe that. But at this time of year, it's all about will and determination and execution.

Q. Obviously, gave Ozzie a third period off. Aside from wanting Ty to get some experience in case you need him down the road, is something wrong with Ozzie?
MIKE BABCOCK: It had nothing to do with giving him off. I'd never do that (laughter).
He was dehydrated. They had him hooked up to the IVs and it didn't work -- or it didn't come back quick enough. We had no option. Good day off, get the fluids back, go from there.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Hossa's play and he scored all six of his goals in pairs in Game 4s. Any thought of telling him every game is Game 4 and working from there?
MIKE BABCOCK: I didn't know that till you told me, so I'll let him know. I thought he was awesome today. We needed him to step up today, and he really did. I thought in particular his fourth goal, or the fourth goal put a knife in 'em. He did a great job there. Played big. Was physical. Took the puck to the net. I thought him and Fil were fantastic.

Q. In terms of puck control, chances generated, chances converted, was this the most dominant win of the playoffs so far?
MIKE BABCOCK: Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, it was a good win for us. The puck went in the net. You know, obviously the power play really helped us. You know, the five-on-three goal, that helps you out. It was just one of those nights that the puck went in the net for us. You know, I think we played well a lot of games in the playoffs.

Q. Mike, it seemed that Chicago made a real effort to run around early and try to make big hits, got themselves into a bit of trouble. Talk about your team's ability to keep its composure through all of that?
MIKE BABCOCK: We talked about that. We just felt that we wanted to play the game as physical as we can between the whistles, not do a whole lot of talking after the whistles. And, you know, when you're hyped up, you're excited, sometimes you cross the line. That's what unfortunately happened for them tonight.

Q. Do you have any idea of length of Lidstrom's injury? Do you think it's a short-term thing or something more serious?
MIKE BABCOCK: No, short-term. I hope to see him on Wednesday.

Q. What about Datsyuk?
MIKE BABCOCK: I hope to see him Wednesday. And I think now we're starting to get legit here. We thought for a while we might get him today. Now we're thinking that we have a possibility for Wednesday.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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