	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 STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKS

June 4, 2010

Ville Leino

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Four

Flyers Â– 5
Blackhawks - 3

JAMEY HORAN: Questions for Ville?

Q. Ville, just talk a bit about your physical play, your team as a whole, especially in the first period, you seemed to wear on them and generate a few turnovers from their defense.
VILLE LEINO: Yeah, we wanted to get on the body early on and show we want to win this game. They were hitting pretty hard too. I had a few on there myself.

Q. Ville, your goal there, hits, the back of Kris Versteeg. Can you talk a little about where you intended to shoot it.
VILLE LEINO: He was standing right there, in front of the net. So I figured maybe I can shoot straight in, I tried to hit him on the back, and it went in.
I missed the shot a little bit there. Hit him on the back and it was a lucky goal.

Q. Ville, with that goal, you've set a franchise rookie record. Do you feel like a rookie?
VILLE LEINO: No, but guys are giving me a hard time at the locker room for that. I'm 26 now. I play the Finals last year and the Playoffs last year. I don't really feel like a rookie. I guess rules are rules.

Q. Ville, I apologize if you already answered this. Did you talk about the collision with Campbell and what happened there, and what did you injure on that play?
VILLE LEINO: I just had a hard hit. It knocked the wind out of me for a bit. Just get a little treatment at the room. It's not a big deal.

Q. Ville, just a follow-up to the other question. Could you talk about becoming the all-time rookie scoring leader? And what are your thoughts on that?
VILLE LEINO: It was a special moment. It was a fun game. It was a nice little moment. I will remember it always. Good win there too. So it was a great game.

Q. Ville, obviously with all the attention paid to your offensive contributions in the Series, I think defensively you have had a magnificent Series. Five takeaways the last game. A couple more tonight. How much of a source of pride has that been for you even apart from what you've contributed offensively?
VILLE LEINO: You want to give everything you got to the team. And you want to be accountable defensively too. It's not enough if you are good offensively if you get scored all the time. I think everybody is doing it now. Everybody is a good example to the other guys.

Q. Talk a bit about the third period and their comeback.
VILLE LEINO: Yeah. It shouldn't be like that. Obviously, the other team is chasing, coming hard. It's always they'll get pressure. It's their last push. We had a little stupid penalty there. They scored on 5 on 3. It was a fresh game again. It was pretty stressful at the end of the game at the bench. But luckily we won that game.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your captain and what it meant to the team to see him step up and get a goal like that, and a gritty kind of goal that kind of swung the momentum for the game?
VILLE LEINO: It was a huge goal. He took the puck and just put it in. He's a great leader and a great player. Just what we need -- need on this team. I think the whole line was good today. Carter had a goal there. He could have had another one too. I think it's they're coming there.

Q. Ville, was there ever a point after you got here and even when the Playoffs started that you wondered whether you would get a chance and maybe lost confidence in yourself? What does it feel like to be sort of at the place you are now contributing so much?
VILLE LEINO: My confidence was at an all-time low there for a while. It was tough when I got here. I didn't get a chance right away. I played a few games, and after that I didn't play again. It was just tough. Obviously, you go through emotions there and think maybe you won't ever get a chance.

Q. Ville, what did you feel like after that hit there? It looked like you were dazed a little bit early in the game and then you just came back to the bench and then you felt okay at that point?
VILLE LEINO: Like I said, I got the wind knock out from me a little bit. Obviously, I had a little spasm in my back. But it was -- I got to get treatment on that. I'm fine right now. We got to rest tomorrow. We'll have treatment tomorrow again, and I'll be 100% next game.
JAMEY HORAN: Thank you, Ville.
VILLE LEINO: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297