	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CANADIENS v FLYERS

May 21, 2010

Mike Richards

MONTREAL, QUEBEC: Practice Day

Q. You were pretty vocal about your displeasure with the way the team performed after the game last night. Is it pretty clear at practice today the guys have gotten the message?
MIKE RICHARDS: I think so. We talked about it again this morning. I thought today's practice was much more upbeat, and our execution was good. It's not like we don't know how to do it. I think it's just that the mindset of going into tomorrow has to change from yesterday, and I think the message was delivered and received and reciprocated by everybody.

Q. Hitch used to say that blowout losses are much easier to overcome in Playoffs than overtime losses and so forth. You feel that way that it's a lot easier to take last night as opposed if you lost 3-2 or something?
MIKE RICHARDS: Possibly, maybe. I think last night we got what we deserved. Maybe if we would have lost 3-2 or 2?-, we might not have gotten the message that clear or thought about it too much.
But last night was distinctly not a great effort, and it showed on the scoreboard. It would be easy to sit back and say we were close if it was 2-1, but with a score like that in a game like that, I think questions have to be raised and looked for answers.

Q. Michael Leighton said that he knows that the Flyers are a tougher team than Montreal. Did that not come out in the first two games? And how do you take what happened in Game 3 and kind of use that mentality or build off that mentality? He said you know that you're a tougher team than they are.
MIKE RICHARDS: Well, I mean, team toughness and hockey can be a bunch of different ways. And I think they showed theirs last night by just being tenacious on the puck and puck battles. We got away from that last night. Physically they beat us up too by hitting us. Puck battles they beat us up too by waiting them all. I think before we look at the physical play, I think we've got to look at the puck battles and start winning some of those, and then we'll move on to the hitting and different things will come into play.

Q. They showed the clip of what happened on the big screen when Cammalleri stuck his tongue out at Danny Carcillo along the boards. It seemed that they were doing to you guys what the Flyers traditionally do to other teams, and they seemed to get their swagger back. Is there a concern that you guys let them get into your heads and get that swagger back?
MIKE RICHARDS: I mean, it's just one game. They can do that all they want. They're a confident group, maybe a little bit cocky at some points. But I think we have to use that energy instead of going after them and use it towards playing physical, and winning those battles, hopefully in the end putting pucks in the net.
They put their best five-on-three unit out when the game was pretty much over. I mean, it is what it is. We take penalties. They try to capitalize on it. So I think we want to take that dirty taste or that bitter taste in our mouth from them doing that, and move forward and try our best tomorrow to use that energy in a positive way.

Q. You just mentioned something I think we forgot to ask you on that. When you put your best unit out there, does the opposing team look at that and say that's something we file away, or do you think they were trying to send a message?
MIKE RICHARDS: I'm not sure what they were trying to do. Obviously score is the first thing. Maybe stick it to us a little bit because we were maybe rung around a bit. But Karma sometimes comes back to you too at some point.
Like I said, hopefully we can use that bitter taste in the mouth from them trying to do that, and channel it into energy that we can use in a positive way.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297