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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKS

June 2, 2010

Peter Laviolette

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Three

Blackhawks Â– 3
Flyers - 4

JAMEY HORAN: Questions for the coach.

Q. Can you talk about the range of emotions, two replayed goals, thinking you won it, then having to do it again. I don't know if you ever had two replayed goals in the game before. What that whole thing was like for you?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: We have had two replay goals before. But the video, we've got a voice on the bench in the back room. He told us the first one he thought was in. The second one he didn't think was in. We knew right away. It's always the interpretation of the League.
But I haven't seen either one of them, to be honest with you. The range of emotion, it was nice to come back right away after that second one and score, because you think it's over. But we came back and got that last one.

Q. Peter, can you talk about the impact of the Briere line tonight, all three guys get goals?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: They were dominating at times. The puck is on their sticks. They're generating scoring chances. You know, when we popped any one of those guys down with Giroux and Asham, which we did a couple of times, it produced a couple of goals for us.
They seem to be really on their game right now. Offensively they're getting a lot of looks, a lot of chances.

Q. Coach, Giroux, he didn't have a great time in Chicago. Two games, his numbers weren't great. Tonight he had a big night, obviously, with the huge goal. Can you touch on him and maybe what was different about him tonight?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: I think he loosened up a bit. You have to remember, it's the Stanley Cup Finals. I think he came in - [Hyphen] we talked about it. Just lighten up a little bit. At this point of the year, you know what you have to do in order to be successful. There's a lot of work. There's a lot of intensity. There's a lot of competitiveness in the battles.
In the same sense, if you tighten it up too much, you seize up a little bit. We talked about just having some fun tonight, come out and letting everything roll. Go after him, and I think he took that advice, because he was smiling all day. He came to the rink and went out and played a great game. Sometimes you need to loosen up a little bit. Talented kid.

Q. Peter, you've got three one-goal games going in this Final. Do you expect in the rest of this Series to have every game go down to the last couple of shots?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: It's tight out there. It gets tight both ways. There's not - [Hyphen] you really got to work for the scoring chances. It's not as wide open as you would think for two fast, hard-checking teams. It's hard-checking to defense too. There's not as much open room out there to create offensively as you would think.
The games, I think they're going to be tight. They probably feel like they could have won tonight. We felt, I told you earlier, I wasn't just giving lip service, we felt we could have won the two up there. It's good hockey. It moves back and forth quick.

Q. Can you talk about the play of Scott Hartnell tonight? He had a lot of hits and seemed to play a huge role in tonight's game.
COACH LAVIOLETTE: He's been excellent all through the Playoffs. He's been excellent for us. Especially the last four or five games, really started to notice him physically and on the scoreboard, he's playing with a lot of confidence right now. That line was terrific.

Q. Peter, two games if a row and the team seems to get stronger as the game goes on. Third periods you start to dominate and even in the overtime. Your system, what is it about the conditioning of this team?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: At this point, yes. I mean, we seem to go up and down the ice, and as games wore on - [Hyphen] I thought that was in the Montreal Series as well. It seemed the longer the game went, the better we were. We still had a lot of jam and a lot of speed to our game, so I would agree.

Q. Coach, you had such a tremendous third period but couldn't bust through for the tie-breaking goal. I wonder what the mood was like going into the overtime?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: I think if you're getting the chances, you're going to be - [Hyphen] you know, you're going to be not happy. Obviously, you would have liked to have scored a couple more in the third and ended it and not have to go to overtime. If you're doing the right things out there - [Hyphen] we didn't at first. I still think in the neutral zone we need to be a little bit better.
But we got opportunities in the third period, and we need to keep taking those looks.

Q. How good was Pronger tonight?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Pronger was excellent. I thought our - [Hyphen] we played a lot of those big four out there. They were terrific. Pronger was excellent.

Q. Peter, can you talk about your range of emotions in the overtime? Did you feel confident in the overtime?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: I said this morning and I still - [Hyphen] I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning feeling the same way. I am 100% confident in the guys in the room to be able to win any hockey game against anybody. I think there's that confidence in the room from our team as well.
Obviously, you have to go out there and do at will of work and play well. We have a very good opponent that we're playing against.
You know, like I said, you hope the goal goes in. It ended up not going over the line. We don't get it. We go back to work and we keep plugging along. The third period was good. The overtime was good, and we have to keep our nose to the grindstone.

Q. Were you okay with the Carcillo charge in the first period? Or is that an example of him going over the line?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: I don't think Danny went over the line one bit. I thought it was a good, clean hockey hit.

Q. Coach, just a follow-up on the Hartnell question before. The big hit on Hjalmarsson, another one. He had a big hit on Seabrook, I believe. A good assist. Did he set the tone for you tonight?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: We tried to play physical. They're trying to play physical. It's going back and forth pretty good. You're going to take your licks on whoever you can out there. Scott Hartnell had a good physical game for us tonight.

Q. Coach, I know this is probably difficult, but is this the most resilient team you've been a part of after all they've already done in this postseason?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: It's not even the postseason. It's been for a long time. Like I said this morning, 2-0 for us is comfortable. We're okay with that. We know how to battle through it. We knew how important the game was tonight. Once we wake up tomorrow morning, we know we have to hold serve on home ice. I think the guys will be fine with that.

Q. Peter, I know Braydon has had a really solid Playoff for you. In these Finals, he really seems to have ramped up his physical play. Have you noticed that as well?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Yes, I have. I thought Braydon has played physical. Everybody has to play physical. When you're playing Chicago, they are a fast moving team. Don't want to do a drive-by. They'll take the puck and do something else with it. It has to be done physically.
They're capable of a lot of good things. So you have to make sure you're ready to finish your check out there. It's not just about Danny Carcillo finishing his check or Darroll Powe. Everybody has to finish their checks. I think Braydon has done a good job.

Q. How good was Leino, and how much of a gift does it seem to be to be able to pick up a guy like that for so little, playing on the top two line?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Right now he seems to have so much energy out there. You can double shift him. You can double shift him without taking him off the ice. He seems to have a lot of jam right now. I think what everybody is impressed with and certainly we are as well is his ability to hang on to that puck and make plays.
It's really beneficial for a team when you're trying to create offense to have a guy that can stop and start and cut back and do a whole bunch of different things with the puck. Because other things open up. He's able to see the ice. He's got a terrific skill level. It was a tremendous pick-up for Paul Holmgren, to get him here for the Playoffs.
JAMEY HORAN: Thank you, Coach.
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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