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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v SHARKS

May 19, 2010

Patrick Kane

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day

SCHUYLER BAEHMAN: Questions for Patrick Kane.

Q. Are you feeling the vibe from everybody in this town, putting their championship hopes on you guys?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I think ever since the outset, the beginning of the year, it's been like that. You can really feel it now.
I think especially coming back into town today, whether it's text messages or whatever it may be, just everyone is getting excited.
We haven't accomplished anything yet obviously. But we put ourselves in good shape with a good road trip out there, two big wins.
We'll see what happens. But right now we're feeling pretty good. Can't get too high on this game because San Jose is a great team, never know what can happen.

Q. You've had a number of linemates this season. Having Buff on your line, for what he does at this time of year, how has that impacted and opened up things for you?
PATRICK KANE: Seems like a playoff performer. That's the way he's played the last two years. I think you put that into the sense where he can fit in with us pretty well. A good change by the coaches early in the Vancouver series to make that change. Seems like it's worked well ever since.
Sometimes you change up the lines, keep things healthy, so you're not getting bored playing with the same guys. These two guys are fun to play with. I think Toews is playing as good as he ever has. Buff is playing awesome. He seems to be causing havoc every game, tipping pucks in, doing his job, doing what you want him to do.
Like you said, the biggest thing he's doing is creating room for us. When he's on the ice, they have to think about him instead of just myself and Toews. Nice to have that presence out there.

Q. Nice to see Buff and Bolland being psyche-out artists and getting into the heads of the stars you're playing?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I mean, Bolland, that's what he's been doing pretty much the whole playoffs. Saw it against the Sedins and you saw it in the last game against Thornton. He's a tough kid to play against, competes real hard. I think the biggest thing with him, he's got so much offensive ability, but he plays really well both ways.
It helps as far as matchups are concerned. Seems like he's doing his job getting under the guys' skins, and Byf as well.

Q. How much do you want to play a game at home like you do on the road?
PATRICK KANE: We're 7-1 on the road. I think you look at our home record, we're 3-3, which is not good at all, especially in the playoffs.
It's going to be fun to play. Obviously, we know how we want to play at home. Keep it simple, not give too big of a show. Obviously, keep them in the game right off the hop. Especially sometimes I think at home, whether it's the national anthem or just playing in front of a big crowd, you want to put on a show for them. That's not necessarily what we have to do. I think the biggest thing is playing a simple game like we have on the road.

Q. Because Toews has been so consistent for so long, do you take for granted he's always going to have these games? Can you almost forget how special it's been?
PATRICK KANE: I think at playoff time, you always see the best performers show up. It seems like he's one of those players, whether you saw it in the Olympics or now in the playoffs, too, he's really playing at the top of his game.
But, you know, he's real easy to play with right now. He's holding onto the puck, making plays, supporting you on the ice, scoring a lot of points, too.
I think sometimes throughout the season, sometimes the points don't come as easy as you'd like. You still think you're playing well. But when everything just clicks, as an offensive guy, you're in the groove, you have confidence. I'm sure that's what he's going through right now.

Q. Do your butterflies increase or decrease knowing you're two wins away from the Cup finals?
PATRICK KANE: To be honest with you, I haven't really had butterflies as far as playing the game. As far as the excitement level, I think it really gets exciting this time of year knowing you have a couple more wins to get to the Cup final and six more wins to actually win the golden prize.
It's a long season. It's a long ways away. You can't think too far ahead. We're worried about Game 3 right now. We want to play good at home and give the fans something to cheer on home ice. After that, we'll see what happens. You can't think too far ahead.
But it definitely does get exciting knowing how close you are.

Q. You and Jonathan have been part of this building process. Does it surprise you your first game in San Jose drew more ratings than the Cubs, Sox, and NBA combined?
PATRICK KANE: As far as in Chicago?

Q. Yes.
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I mean, it's exciting. I think the town is really behind our team. You could see that over the last couple years as far as how many sellouts we've had, the support you get around town, how even recognizable you are around town here.
I guess that's always a pretty cool stat. You like hearing those stats. It was fun to see when I was playing in the Olympics, U.S. versus Canada, there was a big number, whether it was the third most-watched show, I think it was on NBC, in history. You hear those different things and it makes it exciting for you knowing you're trying to help grow the game. This helps a lot.

Q. Patrick, Jonathan mentioned when you guys are on the road, spend a lot of time together, you bond, you are able to bring that to the ice. Is there a way to reproduce that at home?
PATRICK KANE: I think so. But, you know, on the road, it's a little bit different. I think there's really no distractions. Everyone's with each other. You're all hanging out with your teammates. It's been really good for us as far as that's concerned, especially the way our team is. We really bond together really well. We're a young team. Everyone hangs out with each other.
As far as home ice, we've been pretty good on home ice the whole year. It's just, you know, 3-3, obviously you want to be a little bit better than that. You look at it, I think we can do some different things, probably just, you know, worry about hockey first instead of all the other things that are around here. That's probably the biggest thing, you know, still hanging out with your teammates, still doing the same things, but worry about hockey first.

End of FastScripts

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