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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKS

June 4, 2010

Jonathan Toews

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Four

Flyers Â– 5
Blackhawks - 3

Q. You guys were hoping to steal at least one here. It proved to be a very difficult place to play?
JONATHAN TOEWS: I mean, it's unfortunate. It would have been nice to have gotten at least one on the road. We have had a lot of success before coming in here.
So it's frustrating when you're that close. But tonight was kind of like the other night where it was too little too late. We obviously need to be smarter and more solid in the first period, and our penalties are catching up to us.
You know, we have small details for a game that we can change and we bring some energy. We're very confident that we're going to see things go our way. Even just being up 2-0 in the Series was far from over. So we're not going to kick ourselves and make it out to be something bigger than it is. It's tough. Going back to tie up the Series. We'll regroup and be excited --

Q. Does the third period give you confidence that you can take that momentum back to Chicago?
JONATHAN TOEWS: Yeah. I mean, we know what can happen when we play like that. As defensive as they were, later on in that game, when they get a lead, they're the type of team that knows how to shut down and take away scoring opportunities. And we still found ways to get around their net later on in the game.
So if we can do that early on in the game, I'm sure it will be a different outcome. Little things we want to change, and we're not going to let it frustrate us.

Q. Why so much trouble with coverage?
JONATHAN TOEWS: I don't know. It wasn't good enough again. I don't know if it's their crowd that gets them going, but we have to find a way. We have to motivate ourselves to come in here and be quicker and better off the start.
So we know when we come back, we'll be ready for that when we do. Again, we'll put this one behind us and really get excited about playing in our building again.

Q. The first period of this game, their third line had some questions against you. Can you talk about that matchup?
JONATHAN TOEWS: Sometimes we're thinking too much about scoring. We forget about who is behind us. Again, they're doing a great job of taking advantage of those opportunities. Again, the second half of the game, like we showed, if we limit those chances and those turnovers against, well, you're not going to see as much from those guys. We'll be tougher on them. Again --

Q. How about the line juggling in the third period. Did it give you guys a bit of life?
JONATHAN TOEWS: Yeah. I mean, we had to do something. I think we all just picked it up. Doesn't matter who you're playing with, you can't make that an excuse. You have to go out there and try and generate something with your line mates. That's what we did.

Q. Can you guys win this if your line is not producing points, do you think?
JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, obviously not. In the first two games, it was great. We got contributions from all over our lineup. But it's tough to have that go on every single night. You need to get your power-play going, your top couple of lines.
Yeah, it is frustrating. But what are you going to do? You're not going to sit there and cry about it. You keep going out there the next shift and you try and do something. The second you start scoring goals, well then people get off your back pretty good.
I think you do a lot of good things out there, but it doesn't mean nothing if you don't produce, if you don't score. We know that. We knew it was going to be a long Series. It's tough. Not everything is going to go your way. If it did, well, the Series would have been sewn up, 4-0 right now. That's not reality. It's frustrating. There's going to be a lot of adversity. You have to find a way to battle through it.

Q. How much of the first couple (Indiscernible)?
JONATHAN TOEWS: We're not happy about it. Again, we got ourselves to blame. And that's it. It's one of those little details that you can look at and say it's going to make a world of difference if we clean that up and get rid of it and get it out of our game.
Sometimes not everything is going to go your way. That goes the same way with the calls. We only have ourselves to blame for that.

Q. Is it frustrating you guys almost gave up the puck, Hjalmarsson got it on his stick on the first goal, reversal in your own end in the second goal, your guys making plays, not making plays, rather than almost the opposite.
JONATHAN TOEWS: Yeah, I mean, hindsight is 20-20. It's easy to say should have done this, should have done that. It's about being more prepared in the first period. We got to understand this building, especially as loud as it gets, as crazy as it gets in there, they're going to be ready to feed off that energy.
We have to find a way to rise above it and not let it get to us. Later on in the game, we stopped worrying about little things, worrying about the calls, worrying about this and that, and we focused on our game. Keep working, we're going to get some breaks. We have to be confident about that and believe in it.

Q. Can you match their aggression? They seem to be so aggressive the third period the last couple of days. And now the first, they just came out smoking.
JONATHAN TOEWS: Yeah. I mean, it is what it is. We're not happy about our start. So we'll improve the next time.

Q. Jonathan, what do you think about the stick work? It seems they've been getting away with a lot, especially Pronger and the others. High sticks and everything else.
JONATHAN TOEWS: Yeah, again, that's out of our control. Whether we get calls or not, it's going to happen. We can't whack back. The retaliation penalties are definitely what stands out, especially to the officiating. We've got to try our best to get under their skin, make sure that they're whacking us back instead of us taking the stupid penalties.

Q. When Sharp scored in that first period, and they came back and scored on the delay, how did that change the momentum for you guys?
JONATHAN TOEWS: It's just stupid. We shouldn't be giving up a goal like that right after we get a big one. Should be going into that second -- that first intermission thinking we're right where we want to be. Just down a goal. Not having played our best period. But to give up another goal like that, that's a tough thing to come back from against a team like that. We don't want to put ourselves in that position again.

Q. What happened on Leino's goal that gave them a big lead? 4-1?
JONATHAN TOEWS: It shows you if you throw pucks to the net, it's bound to go in. We did a better job of doing that tonight with throwing the pucks at the net, instead of passing up shots. We have to get some breaks to go our way. We work as hard as we can, but you know, you have to find a way to get it in there.

End of FastScripts

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