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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v SHARKSMay 22, 2010Dustin ByfuglienPatrick SharpCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day SCHUYLER BAEHMAN: Questions for Dustin and Patrick. Q. It's one game away from the round that everybody always talks about. At what point or are you already thinking, We're almost there, get to the Stanley Cup final? PATRICK SHARP: Well, I think it definitely goes through everyone's minds. We've got a team that likes to think we've been in this position before, being in the Conference Finals, realize how hard it takes to get to that next step. I know it's one game away, but the old cliché, the fourth one is the hardest to win. That's true. We look at the series against San Jose, each game could go either way. We know we are fortunate to be up 3-0. We know we have to play our best game to close them out. Q. Dustin, how are you enjoying being in the spotlight? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: So far so good. It's nice (smiling). Q. You don't want to expand on that at all? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: No (laughter). Q. Patrick, early on in this playoff run you struggled with inconsistency. When did it kind of click and what was the difference? PATRICK SHARP: It's tough to say. It's tough to pinpoint one exact moment or game. Seems like we've been getting better since the Nashville series. Every series has been tough and difficult in its own right. Different problems in every series. It's tough to say. I think winning on the road in Vancouver was big for us. That's a tough building to play in. It was a really intense series. It just seems like in general our team's getting better and better as we go along. You can't point to a weak link on our team. Whoever hops the boards and goes out there is performing, pulling the rope, and that's the difference right now. Q. One win away from the finals, if you're not talking about it, why is it not a good thing to talk about at this stage to use that as the motivation for Sunday? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: I guess you can't get too far ahead. You got to look at the moment. We still got a game to go. We got to play period by period, not get away from our game plan, not get too far ahead. PATRICK SHARP: I think it's easy to get caught up in the hype and listen to people tell you how good you are, how good the team's doing. You look across the league, different playoff series, teams have battled back from 3-1 and three nothing even. The series is far from over. These are two teams that are pretty evenly matched. Each game can go either way. We know that. I said earlier, we're fortunate to be up 3-0. We're going to try and take ahold of this series and do what we can to close it out. Q. Can you talk about the difference between today's team and last year's team. You did mention you were in the Western Conference final before. How much does that help your preparation? PATRICK SHARP: There's a lot of differences, a lot of similarities. I think last year's experience has helped us a great deal as far as this year. I think you look at how excited we were to be in the playoffs last year for one. Then seems like we didn't have the expectations that we did this year. Both playoff runs have been exciting. They've both been fun. I think this year there's not as many highs and lows. We're staying pretty even-keeled in the room. Everybody jumped out of their seats when Buff put that one home yesterday. We're already thinking Game 4, and moving on to the next one. Q. I don't know how much attention you paid to this. Has it dawned on you, next season some of the guys may not be around, there's going to be some changes. This could be the best this team will ever be under this era, the need to give it all you have this time around. PATRICK SHARP: Buff and I don't even know what you're talking about (laughter). DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: Not. PATRICK SHARP: That's the first we've heard about the salary cap (laughter). It's been talked about. But we can worry about that weeks from now. You look at guys that have been in the league for a long time that have played for this opportunity and we realize that it's right there for us. So we don't want to start thinking about where players will be next year. We got to take advantage of what we have. Q. Could you talk, assess how you played overall as a team last night. Was it as good as you wanted to play coming on home ice? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: I think we could have played a little better. Tightened up in little areas, and maybe move our feet a little bit more. I think for the most part, we stuck with our game plan and that's what you have to do. PATRICK SHARP: I think there's room for improvement. There's a lot of questions about how we've been playing on home ice. I thought we played better. I don't know if staying in the hotel had anything to do with that. I think there is areas for improvement. As long as we're getting the win at the end of the day, we're happy. Q. Patrick, are you guys doing the hotel route tonight? PATRICK SHARP: No, early start tomorrow. We're going to stay at home. That's good news for me. I'm sure you have heard Burish is my roommate. Any time you can get a few hours away from him, it's a good thing for me (smiling). Hopefully we get the same result. Q. Dustin, your nickname was Buff or Big Papa. Which one do you prefer? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: Either one sounds good. Q. According to the stat sheet, that was the only shot you took last night. Why weren't you getting some chances earlier? Was it hard to stay patient? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: Yes, some nights are like that. You don't get opportunities till late. Just happened to make it count last night. Sticking with it, not getting frustrated or anything, going with the game. Q. Were they doing anything special? DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: No. Didn't see the puck that much. Wasn't finding me. Had to do my job, hit bodies and stuff. PATRICK SHARP: You got to remember, he's playing with Toews and Kane. He's not going to see the puck unless they want to pass it to him. SCHUYLER BAEHMAN: Thank you, guys. PATRICK SHARP: Thank you. DUSTIN BYFUGLIEN: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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