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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: PENGUINS v RED WINGS

June 6, 2009

Mike Babcock

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Five

Detroit Â– 5
Pittsburgh -0

Q. Your thoughts on the lift Datsyuk gave the team?
COACH BABCOCK: Well, I think I said this earlier, if he played the series without Malkin and Crosby and they suddenly come -- this guy's one of the best players in the world both offensively and defensively in the winter. Just makes the team more comfortable. We need plays, and suddenly we relaxed and we made plays.
We've been able to have success, but it's been much harder, obviously, without him. And you have to learn to win a different way and find a way. I've been very impressed with our guys finding a way. We bought time so he can come back, and ideally he can help us get over the top.

Q. Do you get anymore value winning a game by five in terms of more momentum in the series?
COACH BABCOCK: I don't buy any of that. I don't even buy momentum. I tell you guys that all the time and no one listens.
We won a game today. It's a huge win for our team. Feel real good about ourself. And the biggest part is the extra days off. That's the best thing that we've got to this point is to get the extra days off and we'll be a better team.
We haven't been able to win in their building in two previous games, but we'll be prepared and focused and ready to go when we get there.

Q. What did you think of the slash of Talbot with Pavel Datsyuk, and was it a little too conveniently placed for your liking?
COACH BABCOCK: Well, I wouldn't -- I'm not going there. The bottom line is they're doing what they can to win, and we're going to do what we can to win.

Q. You mentioned buying time for Datsyuk to come back. What is it about -- just talk about the patience of not having a guy come back until he clearly can perform at this level, not rushing him back which it appeared you didn't do?
COACH BABCOCK: Oh, we rushed him back, believe me. If this was a regular season, he wouldn't be playing. But, you know, after while what do you save him for? All there is is summer. Everyone can get better in the summer.
We're doing everything we can to try to on win this. People always talk about having a shot to win, you never have a shot to win this thing until you've won three games. We've won three games in the Final. We have a legitimate chance. He just gives us that much more confidence, and that much more calm, and that much more belief in the opportunity we have.

Q. What was the difference on the power play tonight?
COACH BABCOCK: Well, we got it back. We weren't one and done like we've been so much this series. You know, it's like anything, confidence is a huge thing. We zip it in the net. Then it just goes from there.
Actually, think we got one right at the end, too, so it could have been more. We really declined those power plays at the end. I just thought it was good for our team. We got a kill tonight, which we hadn't been getting. That was a momentum boost for us. We wanted to be aggressive, and we did.
A good night for us on specialty teams, that's been a big part of this crowd.

Q. What can you take from this game that you can bring into Pittsburgh on Tuesday?
COACH BABCOCK: Well, it's going to be a new game, obviously. But I think the big thing here is just the biggest thing that we're going to get is like I said, a day off tomorrow. They don't have to come to the rink. A practice day the following day, be that much fresher.
Don't get me wrong. They've played a lot of games, too. We just finished Anaheim and we had to start with Chicago. And we just seem to be a worn down team. I thought we had good jump tonight, and I also thought it's an amazing thing. We had no jump in the last game when they scored all the goals. Didn't look like they had much jump when we scored all the goals. It's amazing how tired you look when you're not scoring and they are.

Q. Along that path since the last game, everybody's been talking about how worn out Zetterberg looked, how tired he was chasing Crosby. He had six, seven shots tonight, two points. Do you think that's something he maybe took personally?
COACH BABCOCK: If he's like me, he didn't read it. And it wasn't everybody, it was you guys. So I've said this all along is that you guys are paid to cover the game, and we're involved in the game. So we have a tendency to know what's going on.
In Game 4 in Pittsburgh, he didn't even play against Crosby the majority of the night, so that had nothing to do with it. But did he look fatigued when we got down 4-2? Yeah, like about 20 other guys on our team. So that's just part of it.
He's got two days off now. He played quite a bit tonight just because of the power plays in the first two periods, and I don't know what he played in the end. But the bottom line is everyone will be ready to go next game.

Q. Along that vein, Mike, we've covered a lot of teams in a lot of sports who would have taken not our comments but the comments of the Pittsburgh room from the Pittsburgh players who said these guys look tired, Zetterberg looks tired, and they would have made a lot of use out of those comments. It seems your team did not, and how come?
COACH BABCOCK: I don't know. When we play well do our guys talk about their team like that?

Q. Was there any legitimacy, nonetheless, to wonder about a team that is that much younger that Pittsburgh is compared to you? To wonder if, in fact, this team might be wearing down, and it was definitely on its heels coming back here?
COACH BABCOCK: Well, I mean, I keep hearing about how old we are. But when I watch Fil play, doesn't look like he's that old, and Datsyuk and Zetterberg are not that old, and Hossa's not that old, and Mule's not so old, so who is old? Cheli's older than me, I give you that.
But I guess the way I look at it is I hear this all the time. I think if you go through and take out a few guys, I don't think we're that old. Our goalie is 36. I mean you know, Nick and Rafi are older guys, but to me that isn't an issue. It's just a matter of some nights they're playing better than we are, and that's the facts in the series.
Now age has nothing to do with it. There's two days off between games.

Q. You often talk about timing on' a penalty kill. The timing of that first one when it was scoreless, looking back, how big was that?
COACH BABCOCK: Real big. The other thing that was so important for us was we talked a lot about preparing for these games was the special teams battle had to be better. We just couldn't keep losing that battle. We had to compete harder and be better on both specialty teams in order to have success. Our guys have a lot of pride and we wanted to do that.

Q. The shift where Datsyuk knocks Malkin on his key center and moments later sets up Cleary, is that where you say to yourself okay, we're in good hands here? There has to be some doubt how much back he is.
COACH BABCOCK: Well, I think the shift that we noticed where Rafi made the great outlet pass, Pav's in the right spot, and set up Cleary for the goal. Calm through the neutral zone, not going fast, just executing.
If you remember correctly last year in the playoffs I think Pav was our leading finish check guy. He can run over top of you. Obviously he isn't skating or having the stability that he normally does, but it was a great finish check. We haven't been able to get many on Malkin in the series, so it was good.

Q. Is that the lucky McGill tie, and does it come off the rest of the way?
COACH BABCOCK: Yeah, she'll be off. You know, I don't know if it was lucky before tonight, but we won tonight. And I'm just thankful for the opportunity. It's good to have friends here supporting us.

Q. Hossa hasn't scored a lot of goals, but just talk to the little things he's been doing? He got another assist tonight. He drew a penalty, and just some of those things he's been doing to help out?
COACH BABCOCK: He was big and physical tonight. That's what I said to him. He's a good looking player when he's playing like that. We need him going to the net, and we need him physical and we need him on the net. The rest of the stuff all looks after itself. You don't have to worry about that stuff if you're doing that.

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