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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: PENGUINS v RED WINGSJune 2, 2009Sidney CrosbyMarc Andre FleuryMaxime TalbotPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Three Pittsburgh – 4 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Maxime and Marc-Andre. Q. How does it feel to play such a pivotal role in this victory especially when, you know, some bad breaks kind of went against the two of you in those two losses in Detroit? MAXIME TALBOT: It feels great. Definitely. It's a big win for us. I think I don't want to say it was a must win, but I think everybody knows that we needed to win this game. I think in the first period it was kind of even, and in the second they came out really strong. They were putting pressure on us. They were definitely a great team. They put us on our heels. Luckily Flower was there. I know in the first and second game maybe he got criticized a little bit. But really happy for him, because tonight he was definitely first in my book. And it's definitely nice to get a big win tonight. Q. They rattled one off the post. You guys had six guys on the ice for about 20 seconds. Do you feel like maybe you caught a couple of breaks and that the breaks have swung maybe a little bit in that game? MAXIME TALBOT: Maybe we did. And maybe that's what we needed. In the first and second we got a couple posts. Tonight it was on our side. And it's huge. It's huge. I think we got a good break on that, six guys on the ice. But then we were going, huh? With six guys we cycled the puck a little bit. It was great (laughing). Yeah, we got some break. It was huge. Q. Can I ask what that win means for your confidence? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: No, I think it's just a great feeling, you know, to be back in the series. To finally get a first win. We have a good team. Every night's going to be a battle to win it. But tonight was fun though to finally get it. Q. You're getting the knack now for scoring big goals, timely goals and exciting goals. Do you feel your whole self rise in these pressure points? MAXIME TALBOT: It's nice, you know. I got the opportunity to be there at these times. And it's great to feel like you kind of built a little bit of confidence out of it. You know what people expect from you, and you kind of want to be in those situations and you have a chance to be there, which is great. And I have the chance to play with great players. I've been playing with Geno, which makes it a little bit more -- not easier, but you get obviously more scoring chances. It's nice to be there on the ice, and have a chance to play with great players. Obviously, it's fun to be there in a pressure situation. Q. Can you talk about what it's like, how different it is to play Detroit with all that traffic and all that net-front presence? Does what you go through playing them, do you find that can affect you even when you're not there? Does it impact the way you play at all because it's so different? MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: I thought they were there tonight again. I saw all the red jerseys in front of me. You know, it's always interesting when they're there there's always little battles on trying to find the puck, you know. So it's always a little bit, you know, sometimes tough to fight it, but I don't mind it. I don't mind the action in front of the crease, and just trying to battle to make those saves. Q. You talk a little about after the second you mentioned needing to win this game just kind of knowing and everybody knows that. After the second period when they dominated so thoroughly, what was going through your mind heading into the locker room after that? MAXIME TALBOT: We came in the locker room and our coach got us as soon as we got off the ice. Everybody sit down and just relax, guys. Bear down, stay with it. Keep it simple. But nothing needed to be said. We knew how we needed to play to be successful in the third and to win that third period. We played some solid hockey against Detroit in the first three games. We knew how we needed to play to win that game. We knew how important that third period was, and we needed to get it. And we came on strong. I think it was a pretty even third period, but Flower made some big saves again, and we got the big win. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the calming influence that Sergei Gonchar has on your team as well as also just watching him basically battle back from two could have been season ending injuries in one season? MAXIME TALBOT: What a leader. It's funny, because me and Sid were actually talking about him right before the game. We looked at him. He sits right across from me and Sid in the dressing room. And you look at him, and he's just so calm, he's just so relaxed and so poised. You know, you look in his eyes and you know he's ready. He's been through a lot this year. It was a tough season. But as soon as he came back, I think it was a turning point of the season when he came back, the power play started going. And you know, he kind of gives you that confidence that, okay, I'm relaxed. You know, what a shot he did. He got us definitely a huge goal for us tonight. Q. The power play was so little used in the first couple of games. Not many chances. Can you talk about the fact that you got some chances and capitalized with the power play and how important that is for your team? SIDNEY CROSBY: Oh, it's very important. I mean, these games are tight. Five-on-five, there are chances, but there's very few. When you get an opportunity on the power play you want to make the most of it. And we did a great job of that tonight. We've really just kept things simple, and it's been a matter of just battling hard out there and finding ways to get pucks on net. When you've got a guy like Gonch back there who does a great job of it, we just try to get him the puck. Q. Dan seemed to condition trait on playing both you and Malkin a little bit more maybe than he had in the first two games. He played you guys together sometimes. Put more on offensive guys on your lines. Did you know that going in or is that just the way the game developed? SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, we didn't discuss anything before the game. That is a coaches feel. As a player, you have to be ready for those type of situations. But when we're put out together we know that we're expected to make something happen. We don't always have to score necessarily, but at least get momentum. And we really take that responsibility. Q. Those power plays started with face-off wins, led to goals that you won. What has changed between Game 1 and Game 3 with your ability to win draws especially against Zetterberg? SIDNEY CROSBY: It's always a little bit nicer being at home. Certainly you can come in and set up a little bit more when you're taking the draws. You know, just trying to find different ways to win them. And he's very strong in the face-off circle. They have a lot of strong centermen. But we've just got to find different ways to try to win them. He's a guy that likes to switch it up sometimes. He doesn't do the same thing. So it's just a matter of trying to read what he's doing. Like I said, when you can come in second you can set up a little more for that. So it's just something we'll try to focus on a little bit more. Q. Max was saying before the game that you guys were looking at Sergei Gonchar and seeing how calm he was. How big an influence is he on the team, and how important is that this time of the year before a game like tonight? SIDNEY CROSBY: Well, it's very important. And he's always like that. You know, in our room before this game I think we all felt like there was a really strong sense of focus, and everyone knew that it was a big one. But Gonch just has that about him. That's his personality. He's very calm all the time no matter what the situation is. Guys really feel that. You know, I think they realize that he's going to be ready every time he steps out there. He's a big, calming influence, and came up with a big there for us. Q. Max said in that second intermission that Dan was telling you guys to calm down. But how difficult is that to do when you know a bad period is a 3-0 deficit that's almost impossible to come back from? SIDNEY CROSBY: You know what, it's probably a little bit easier when you come out of a bad period like that and you're still tight. You feel like you've kind of dodged a bullet. So I think we realized that Marc played great, kept us in it. Did his job. And it was up to us to respond with a better period. And, you know, as much as we weren't happy with the way we played in the second, we knew we still had our chance in the third, and wanted to make the most of it. So we knew they were going to play well consistently. It wasn't a matter of them changing anything. They stuck with their game in the second, and we got away from ours. So we just needed to get our game back. Q. I apologize if this has been asked. But heading into the series as you watched tape and got ready. Did you sense that Detroit doesn't have many weaknesses or things are not great at? But the penalty killing has been one area that's been difficult for them. What was your sense going into the series and how you've obviously tonight were able to take advantage of that? SIDNEY CROSBY: We didn't really change our minds. Going into every series you focus on yourself a lot. The fundamentals of our power play don't really change based on who we play. And that's important. And I think coming into this series we were so focused on ourselves and making sure, you know, we hopefully got some good looks from Gonch back there. We wanted to move the puck quick. We knew they're a team that pressures especially early on in the power play. So our battle level has to be there. They have a lot of skill and they work hard. So a lot of teams just shoot it down the ice. Sometimes these guys don't always do that of the they make little plays. They support the puck well. So if anything, we just wanted to make sure we focused on our battle level, and we knew that was something that could help us a lot. Q. You know the Pittsburgh fans well. Were you surprised at the reaction every time Hossa touched a puck? SIDNEY CROSBY: No, not really. I mean, it was like that when he came here last time. I don't know, it was during the season when they came here. So I don't know. They're obviously making it vocal how they feel. We want it to be a place that's tough to play in. And we want to play well here. And I think tonight they really energized us. That aside, it's a great place to play. We want to do our best here in front of them. Q. Can you just talk about the minutes and the energy you had to exert tonight to finally get a win here against Detroit? SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, I mean, we played a pretty decent game the second period. It was something that we weren't too happy with like I said earlier. But they're all tough games. We played two pretty strong games the first two and we didn't win. So that's the mental and physical grind of the playoffs. You're adjusting constantly. You're working hard. Some things don't go right. Some other times you find a way to make things happen. We always talk about it's always about the next shift, and that's the way we really have to look at it. So it's a battle out there and it's tight, but it's playoff hockey and it's where we want to be this time of the year. End of FastScripts |
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