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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: PENGUINS v RED WINGSJune 10, 2009Kris DraperDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Practice Day Q. Can you talk about your confidence level based on the way your team responds after the game you had last night? KRIS DRAPER: Absolutely, there's no reason why we shouldn't be. You know, we're in a one game winner takes all. We're playing it in our building. We're going to use everything we can in Detroit in Joe Louis to our advantage, and be ready to go, drop of the puck. I know you don't like to put things before, but if you guys can win tomorrow night, you, Nick, Homer and Maltby will be like the first guys in Red Wings history to win five Cups with the Red Wings. What would you -- how does that sound to you? KRIS DRAPER: It sounds fantastic. But, unfortunately, there's a lot of work to be done before we talk about that. You know, that's the one thing, you know, to really talk about something that hasn't happened. It's not easy to sit up here and do that. So we win Game 7, I'll be more than happy to share my thoughts with you. But from now until then we have a lot of work to be done. Q. Does it seem like Marian is maybe pressing a little bit? Do you get a sense that he's been frustrated with his lack of scoring in this series? KRIS DRAPER: Well, Hossa wants to be the guy. There's no doubt. And he's a world class hockey player. He's a clutch hockey player, and he wants to be the difference. You know, we know how bad he wants this. You know, over the next couple of days Hossa needs to talk to anybody, you know, we're here to listen. Anything that he needs we're obviously going to do to make sure that the situation now is all we need is everyone to come out and have the game of their lives, and Hossa has the same goal as the rest of us. But the one thing we talk about individually if we can be as good as we can, collectively as a team that makes us that much better. That's exactly what we expect from everybody. We know Hossa's going to come with everything that he has. He wants this just as bad as all of us, and he'll be ready to go, no doubt. Q. Mike Babcock said this morning that there were times during the regular season he wondered if this team had enough in the tank to get to where you are now. I wonder if you had those feelings of doubt maybe along the way and if there was anything that you can point to that suggests how you got here to Game 7? KRIS DRAPER: Well, I would have to say will, determination, there's a lot of skill in our locker room. You know sometimes, you know, I'll be honest with you, during the regular season you know when you play a lot of hockey and you get to the point we're at right now. Sometimes it is tough to get up for some of those dog day games. But we found ways to win a lot of hockey games. The important thing right now is we've always said, and it probably goes through all professional sports, that if you're going to play in a Game 7, you want to play it in your building. And that's exactly what we've been able to do. You know, win enough regular season games to make sure that this, obviously, such an important game is back here at the Joe. So we've found a way. We have the extra day to take advantage of, obviously, today's a day off. To get regrouped mentally and physically, to come out and do everything we can to get the job done. I'm sure Pittsburgh's mindset is the exact same as ours. Q. What in your career do you think compares to this moment and perhaps prepares you for this moment? KRIS DRAPER: Playing in a Game 7 for the Stanley Cup Finals is new to all of us. You know, I've never done it before. We've played in some big games, no doubt. We've played in some games where we've had opportunities to close teams out. But, you know, never have I been in a situation like this in a Game 7 where so much is on the line. And I'm excited about it. It's the greatest thing that an athlete can ask for, having this opportunity lay ahead to try to come up. It's like I said, to play the greatest game that you've been able to play in your career, to be able to become Stanley Cup champion. You know, we're all in this together, and we have a lot of leadership in our locker room. We have a lot of character in our locker room, and that is something that we're going to draw from here over the next couple of days. Q. In the first six games they've had great success at home, and you've had great success at home. When you look at the tapes of the game, have you figured out what the difference is in the games there and here? KRIS DRAPER: You know what, just thinking about last night you do a lot of that when you lose. You know, we came out, got a couple of penalties, and if they just kind of got some momentum right off the hop. We were able to kill the penalties off, but they were able to kind of generate a lot of offense early on. Can't say enough about how great Ozzie was early to give us that opportunity. But they had a really good start. We finished the game the way we need to start Game 7. We had a good push in the third period. We had some opportunities when it was 2-1 to tie it up, 2-2. Fleury made some huge saves for them. And we just didn't get that equalizer. But for us, we've just got to come out, we have to start the game the way we finished Game 6, and that's going to be the mindset to try to rev it up right off the hop. Q. This is related to Kevin's question, but this home ice thing is obviously more than coincidental. Is it simply explained of simply having the crowd and the emotions or does it extend beyond that? KRIS DRAPER: You know what, I mean you're not intimidated playing in front of -- in another team's building. You know, it's -- it was a great atmosphere, and it's exactly what we expect Game 7 here. It's going to be a great atmosphere. You just accept it, you deal with it. You're not intimidated by the noise, you just go out and play. You know, unfortunately, like I said, we just weren't able to get the start that we wanted to get. Q. How does it play into the home team's circumstance here? KRIS DRAPER: Well, I mean, do you feel more comfortable playing in your building than you do on the road? Of course, you do. This is your home ice. This is exactly, like I said during the regular season when -- we faced a Game 7 before, and we had it in our building against Anaheim. And certainly you'd rather be in your building than in another team's building for one game. Everyone takes all, so, you know, that's really what it is. Our crowd is going to be awesome, and you just feed off of it. And that's exactly what we'll try to do of the you look at the situation before, we've gone into other team's buildings and closed series out on the road. Now the case is to do it at home. Q. Mike was in here earlier and he spoke about being extremely excited about tomorrow and not feeling the pressure. How do you think you and your team's emotions, how do you think that's going to play tomorrow? Do you think you'll be more nervous than excited? KRIS DRAPER: I think we've just got to just accept where we're at. Just embrace it, really. How can you not? With everything that we've done since training camp. The training camp, all the road trips, the off-sites workouts, everything that we've done. Now we're in a Game 7 with an opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. We're just going to break it down and simplify things. Really, just go out. I can't say enough about how important our start has to be. That is something that we'll continue to talk about right up until the drop of the puck. This is great to have a Game 7 in our building with our fans and knowing that we have that opportunity to win the Stanley Cup Friday night is something that we're all excited about. We can do everything we can to make sure that we get the job done. Q. The starts have been a problem all season for you guys. Have you been able to pinpoint what it is? KRIS DRAPER: I think with last night just those couple of penalties, just to give them back momentum, that push right off the hop is something that they certainly wanted to do. So for us it would be nice to be able to turn the tables. You know, just small things. Win face-offs early, get pucks deep. Try to make them play in their end as much as possible early on and continue to do that. Try to wear them down. If we can get our guys on the power play, that's great. But that's what we want to try to do right off the hop, try to gain momentum with our team. Q. Just a follow-up about the excitement of Game 7. I think Rafalski's the only guy to play in Game 7 on your team in the Stanley Cup Final. Does it make you feel a bit younger? You're a veteran group, do you get a little spring in the step and think back to the childhood of playing on the Pond in a Game 7? KRIS DRAPER: As a kid, you certainly played that game over and over in your mind for sure. But it's, like I said, this is new to all of us. Except, like you said, Brian Rafalski. And what an opportunity. That's something that we're just going to embrace this opportunity that we have coming up in a Game 7. But fatigue's not going to be a factor. It can't be. It's one game. So you know that laying it out on the line is so worthwhile. Knowing that there is no tomorrow that any bumps, bruises, whatever you have, you have all summer to heal up. So now it's a matter of just getting to that level and just laying it all on the line for yourself, for your team, for everything that. Because you know when, if you can win that game, everything that you've done is so worthwhile. All the sacrifices, everything that's been involved in this season, and that's exactly what we're going to do. End of FastScripts |
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