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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKSJune 1, 2010Dave BollandBen EagerPatrick SharpPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Practice Day Q. Patrick, last time you played in a playoff game here was in 2005, Calder Cup Finals. You know what this crowd's going to be like. Can you talk about what it's going to be like playing a playoff game here in Philadelphia? PATRICK SHARP: Yeah, Benny and I were talking about that earlier. It's Benny's last game as well and the crowd's awesome. The Orange Crush comes out and fans are very knowledgeable, and certainly let the home team know if they're not playing well, they're not happy with the way they're playing. So it's going to be a fun atmosphere for everybody. As a team, we come out to quiet them the best we can. Q. Ben, you said last night that Chris could keep the pucks. I want to know about the towel. Can he keep the towel, too, or did you keep that? BEN EAGER: I'm not too worried about what happened last night after the game. You know, we're just going to leave that on the ice, and worry about tomorrow. Q. If I can ask you, at this stage of the Series, has it gotten to a point where you're pretty healthy, like you guys don't play each other essentially at all during the regular season. But it seems that there's a fair amount of closeness now. PATRICK SHARP: I think last night was a step in the right direction. You know, it's a lot different than the first game. There was a lot more checks thrown, a lot more stuff after the whistles. You know, guys are starting to get after each other. The more you play against another team, especially in the Cup Finals, there's going to be some dislike, and I expect it to be no different tomorrow night. BEN EAGER: It's changed. It's a real playoff game now. From that first one that we played, it got more nastier, and just little things after the whistles and everything's happening. Q. Patrick, what do you attribute your success over the road this postseason to? PATRICK SHARP: I've been asked that question a lot during the Playoffs, and I don't have an answer for you. I just think that we're a team that gets along well off the ice, and we enjoy each other's companies, especially in the Playoffs. Not much to worry about in hockey except hockey, and that's what the focus is. We're stuck with each other for a long time, and we enjoy each other's companies. Sometimes that translates on the ice, and our past success doesn't have much to do with tomorrow's game. It's start from scratch and we have to play our best to win. Q. Are you surprised by how Philly has been able to maintain guys like Toews and Kane and Dustin? Do you put more pressure on yourselves to produce when you're in a rut like you are right now. PATRICK SHARP: We're not worried about Johnny, Patrick, and Dustin. They've had a great playoff, great season. They do so much more for us than put pucks in the net. So it doesn't concern us. We've said all playoff long that we don't care who scores the goals as long as we're getting the wins. You see Benny step up with the game winner last night. We have four lines that can contribute offensively, and that's the reason we're here. Q. How glad are you guys to be here in Philadelphia instead of back in Chicago and constantly hear all the talk about how you're going to sweep the Flyers? Are you glad to be away from that kind of talk? BEN EAGER: There wasn't too much talk of that in Chicago, not that I heard at least. We did our job at home. We won our two games. They're going to be looking to do the same thing here. And we expect an effort like they put forth last night, and we'll have to be ready for tomorrow night for sure. Q. Peter Laviolette said he wants to put some pressure on Antti Niemi in Game 3. To paraphrase him, wants to make him feel like a rookie and feel the pressure. Can you talk about Antti's make-up and why maybe the pressure won't get to him? Ben? BEN EAGER: Yeah, it seems like all season people have been waiting for Antti to slow down and show he's a rookie. It seems that he's been getting better and better all season long. I know he's definitely got the confidence of us as a team in the locker room, and I think he's starting to prove to everybody else what kind of quality goaltender he is. So to score goals in the Playoffs it's no secret, you've got to get to the net, and get puck and bodies there and disrupt the goaltender as much as you can. We're not surprised by those comments. I guess we're going to try to do the same thing to their goalie. Q. Dave, there is a trend developing here. You guys played San Jose. And I would say at least three of those games were a coin flip. They could have ended in either team's favor. The two games in Chicago could have gone either way, but you win them all. You guys have won all those games. How come? DAVE BOLLAND: I don't know, really. I think the last two games we haven't played our best, same as some of the other ones like in San Jose. I think we just tried to stick to the game. Just try to do what we do out there instead of trying to do a lot more things. We try to just keep it simple. I think, as well as stealing those games, Antti has done a great job for us this whole Playoffs. He's been great for us, so I think we give him credit as well. Q. Patrick and Ben, you guys played with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. It was their first experience at pro level. Now here we are five years later. Can you talk about what you saw from them they be and the players they've matured into now? And also what your experience is with the crowd, what you think the crowd will be like when you go out there for Game 3? BEN EAGER: I think the crowd's going to be awesome. It's Chicago and Philly. I know I'm biased. The only two teams I've played for at the NHL level, but I think they're two of the best crowds in the league. It's going to be loud. They're going to be all over us and supporting their team. So I think we're all looking forward to that. As far as Jeff and Mike, they're great players. They were highly touted coming in as rookies and they joined us in the Playoffs in the American League, and were a big part of that championship winning team. So they're great players and their careers have really taken off since then. It's nice to see what they're able to do. Hopefully, we can stop them for a couple more games. Q. Patrick, there are always mind games in the Cup Final and all that stuff. Does Pronger taking the puck matter? PATRICK SHARP: I didn't even know he took the puck until I saw that clip this morning. Doesn't matter to me. I didn't think twice about it. If he wants it, he can have it. We're thinking about hockey between the whistles and during the 60 minutes. So if he wants it, he can go grab it. Q. If you all could address this. You guys haven't lost since the Vancouver Series. How much has that helped the mentality of this team knowing that the confidence of knowing that you guys could come back from anything and win games? DAVE BOLLAND: It has been -- I think we've been great on the road as well. We've learned how to win on the road and to do what we do on the road. I think all of us having confidence and taking that pressure on the road to do well. I think for us now is to come in here and do what we did on the road in San Jose and Vancouver. BEN EAGER: Yeah, like Dave said, we've been, you know, trying to show up prepared for every game. And we've been doing a pretty good job at that, practice hard. And Joel's put a good game plan for us, and the guys have been buying into it. Trying to keep it simple on the road, which has really helped. We've been in trouble a bit at home a few games, but we were able to get through them with good performances by Antti. We're confident on the road, and we're going to be ready to go tomorrow night for sure. 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