|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKSJune 5, 2010Simon GagneIan LaperriereCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day DAVID KEON: Questions for Simon or Ian. Q. Ian, you were talking a couple of weeks ago about how you waited all your life to get to this point. Now you're only two wins away. Does each day get harder for you to think about this? IAN LAPERRIERE: Yes, but we know, and I know that we're halfway there. It's on paper and also it's going to be our toughest challenge, our toughest games. And tomorrow is going to be the toughest game so far. And after that it's just going to get tougher and tougher. I really try to just think about the next day and go shift by shift, period by period and not try to think -- I think everybody is like that. We don't think too far ahead. We just go game by game. Q. Simon, can you take any positives from the first two games here? SIMON GAGNE: I think so. A little bit. Sure the first game, I think both teams were not too happy about their defense play. But the second game I like the way we played, especially the second half of the game. I thought that the third period we played the game we wanted. Good forecheck, put everything at the net, created a lot of chances offensively; and at the same time, played well in our zone. We lost the first two games here, but there was a lot of great things happened in those two games. Now it's up to us. It's 2-2. It's up to us to try to play a better game here in Chicago for 60 minutes. Q. For either of you, I'm just wondering, do you see the difference in Chris Pronger now as opposed to during the regular season? He's been so dominant, it seems, in this Series, the hits, the blocked shots, the ice time. Is there maybe a little bit more intensity to his game, or is he just playing the same? IAN LAPERRIERE: I think he's the same. I'm just shocked he's not up there for Defenseman of the Year. I saw him game in and game out and the way he plays and the minutes he plays. It's amazing. It's not like he's a little guy out there who skates and doesn't touch anybody. He plays 30 minutes and he runs everybody over, and everybody run into his elbows, I should say. But he's amazing. He's one of a kind. And we're lucky to have him on our team. Q. Simon, Chris mentioned that in games you guys seem to get better as the games go along. Get stronger. And then in the Playoffs each of these Series you guys have gotten stronger, and the record shows that Game 4 and on. Why do you think that is that you get stronger as team as these Series go along? SIMON GAGNE: It's a good question. Looked like that's what happened with us the whole Playoffs. We are a team that getting better and better every game, and not that we didn't play well the first two games. But you saw a our team get more comfortable and more confident on the ice and able to play our game. We saw team facing a lot of things this year. Being down 3-0 against Boston, be able to come back. Even last game of the season. I'm sure it's not the first time you guys hear that, but we were in tough situation where we were down 2-0 going to Philly, and we were able to, you know, go in Philly and get those two big wins. That showed a character of the team. And that's the way it's been the whole Playoffs. Hopefully it's just going to get better and better right to the end. Q. Both of you, would you say that going down 2-0 here brought out better play in Philadelphia? Much like the Boston Series? SIMON GAGNE: No, we know at that point we had no choice to go in Philly at least to go one game at a time. We're a confident team in Philly. We're a tough team, I think, to beat in our building. We know it was able to do. Yeah, we were down 2-0. I don't think we got outplayed the first two games. We were right there. It was only one-goal game. We knew we had to come in our building and win those two games and tie the Series. We had no choice. Our team kind of responds a lot with those type of moments. It was great to see. It was two big wins. Now we're back in even Series. It's the best of three. So it will be fun to see what's going to happen. DAVID KEON: Thanks, guys. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|