	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 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v BRUINS

May 13, 2011

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Both of you, if you could explain how you go after a goaltender who has such an unorthodox style and unpredictable in his technique?
VINCENT LECAVALIER: Well, we know he's good. I mean, we're just going to do like we did the first two series. It all comes down to shooting the puck at him and getting the rebounds.
Especially him, he's going to make that first save. He's a great goaltender. So we'll definitely try to get those rebounds. I think that's what their team is going to try to do to Rolly. He's unorthodox, but he definitely got it done this year. He's been playing very well.
STEVEN STAMKOS: I think we just can't overthink out there on the ice. We know he's a good goalie. He's really aggressive. He's played really well for them. He's going to make some pretty good saves. We can't let that get to us, get down and think that we aren't going to beat them.
You look at both the goalies in this series, they played unbelievable, but they haven't stopped every single puck. We know we got to get lots of pucks to the net, like Vinny said, just don't give up.

Q. What about your own goalie, can you tell us what kind of difference he's made since coming to your team?
STEVEN STAMKOS: You know, I had a chance to play with Rolly before. I think the guys who played against him maybe didn't realize how good he is till he got here, then he stole some hockey games for us.
I think the thing that separates him is his leadership abilities. You don't see that. We see that in the room every day before practice, he's stepping up, always talking. He's obviously a veteran guy in this league who has been to the finals before.
He notes how to react in every single situation. We know how good he is on the ice, but it's his leadership abilities that have helped us to get here.
VINCENT LECAVALIER: That's what I was going to say, so same answer (laughter).

Q. Can you maybe talk about the week, how it's gone, how you've managed the long layoff?
VINCENT LECAVALIER: Yeah, it was great. I mean, I remember in '04, after the first round, we had nine days off. Then after the second round against MontrÃ©al, we had 10 days off. I mean, I think it's great just to kind of get away.
The playoffs are so tough mentally and physically, especially for us going against Pittsburgh, then right after, two days later, playing a Washington team. Even though we won in four, I mean, it was a tough series. We were playing a great team.
Coach gave us three days off. It was nice just to get away. I'm not going to say not think about it. You do think about it, but just to get away with your families, don't skate, don't think about anything.
This week I thought we practiced well. We came back on Sunday and we had kind of a short little practice, just to get back into it.
I think overall it was a great week for us to kind of relax, but slowly getting our tempo back to obviously playoff hockey.

Q. Now that you're up to this point, can you sense the anxiousness on your team to get this thing started?
VINCENT LECAVALIER: Oh, definitely. I mean, we all want to play the game. It was nice to get a few days off. It's nice to get back at it. It's a great challenge, a great team. But we're excited to start.

Q. Vinny, going back to '04 for a second, you emulated the great Western Conference powers of the '90s, two number one lines, just like Colorado, Detroit, Dallas. When you look at the team now, you try to envision that you could be a championship club, how do you frame it in your mind? What makes your team special right now?
VINCENT LECAVALIER: I think what makes our team special, I've said that often, but what's different about this team than any other team I've played on is that everybody has a big role on a team. You don't just look at the guys that are scoring goals, the offensive guys. I mean, you see guys like Bergenheim, Moore, Hall, Nate Thomson playing great on the PK. Those are guys that made a huge difference against Washington.
Everybody has a big role, defensive core and our goaltending. That's what made our team successful so far. Everybody feels part of it. Everybody wants to win for each other because they are such a big part of the team.

Q. You're both offensively skilled players. The challenge of facing Chara for seven consecutive games, do you look forward to that challenge?
STEVEN STAMKOS: I don't know if you look forward going against Chara every night. It's going to be a challenge, and I think we're ready for it. He's obviously a great defenseman in this league. He's a great shut-down guy. What makes him good other than his obvious size and physicality is his long stick. You think you have a step on him, then comes that seven-foot stick knocking the puck out of the way.
It's going to be a challenge. We have to adjust our game, get in front of the net, keep the puck away from him. He makes great passes as well.
It's not going to be easy. But you're going to have to go against defensemen like that. We've gone through multiple different guys. We had Letang and Orpik, Mike Green, Carlson. Now you have a different monster in Chara. You have to adjust your game and hopefully it will work out for us.
VINCENT LECAVALIER: A little bit like what Steve is saying here. He's a huge defenseman. Strong, long stick. It's tough to play against him. We're going to try to definitely put the puck behind him as much as we can.
He's got offensive skill, defensive skill, he's got everything about him. A great defenseman. We're going to have to try to tire him out as much as we can, try to make him skate because we know he definitely plays a lot of minutes.

Q. (No microphone.)
STEVEN STAMKOS: The same rink as any other rink. Obviously Tampa hasn't had success in this rink before, but that doesn't really matter now.
It was nice to fly out this morning and be able to get a chance to skate after the flight. Usually we practice in the morning, then fly. So it was nice to switch it up, get a good skate in.
I think it was our best practice of the week. Guys were crisp, passes were good. It's been a fun layoff. It's great for guys to get rested and recovered. Everyone goes through bumps and bruises in the playoffs, but definitely nice to get back to the rink and start getting the legs going, feeling the puck. At the end of the day, we have to play a game, that game is tomorrow, I think it's good they got some time off as well, so both teams are in the same boat. Nice to get back to hockey, anxious, guys are looking good.

Q. Bruins took three of four from you in the regular season, pretty good games. What were you able to pinpoint that they were able to have so much effectiveness? What areas do you need to improve upon against that team now?
VINCENT LECAVALIER: I just think regular season, playoffs, is two different things. They played well against us in the regular season. They came out hard. They're a physical team. They got a good offense.
But we don't want to really put too much emphasis on the regular season. This is a new season. We're going to be ready to play tomorrow, so...
STEVEN STAMKOS: Yeah, I mean, you look at all the teams that have had success against the other teams in the regular season, then you come playoff time, totally different story. Pittsburgh played us pretty good; Washington dominated us a couple times. These guys dominated us in an 8-1 game. There's different people in the lineup now for both teams.
I don't think Rolly played against these guys. He's been a big factor for us this year. It's totally different.
We're not worrying about the regular season now. We're focused. We've got this far and want to keep going.

Q. You mentioned Roloson's leadership ability this year. You referred to the fact that Brewer had a similar type of impact. What kind of impact has he had off the ice as much as on the ice?
STEVEN STAMKOS: He was the captain in St. Louis. We knew about the leadership qualities. I personally had never played with him, so didn't know what to expect. I think day one, he was kind of cracking jokes, calling guys out in a good way. We knew from there he was going to be a real vocal guy for us on the ice. You can hear him from the offensive zone when he's in the defensive zone.
That's a thing he really brought to our team, lighten the mood up, especially with the defensive core, really communicating on the ice. Rolly is a good communicator, too. I think this that's a good leadership quality. There's types of leaders. He's a guy that leads vocally, then he backs it up on the ice.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.
Questions for Dwayne and Martin.

Q. Marty, needless to say, University of Vermont fans are buzzing. Can you talk about the fact that 15 years after you and Tim made a Frozen Four, now you're on the opposite sides here?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: Well, I think it's been talked about a lot this week. I'm proud of where Timmy has gone with his career obviously, what he did, battled to be where he is today. He's earned every ounce of recognition he's getting. Obviously he's on the other side right now. We're both trying to get to the same place.
We've talked about it a lot this week, the University of Vermont connection, whatnot. But the bottom line is we're both here to do our job and to play the best we can to help our team win.
I haven't talked to Timmy or anything. We'll probably talk when we shake hands.

Q. After you did graduate, you didn't have a chance to talk too much. When you caught up, did you ever envision a day where the two of you would be in this position?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: No, I mean, you're just trying to find your own way in the NHL. I think we're at that point. We're both fighting for a job in the NHL. I think as you move along in your career, you get to this level, there's always a possibility. But it's not something you really focus on. You wish each other success and health. You happen to play against each other, it's game time.

Q. Dwayne, earlier today, Tim Thomas was talking about nine or ten years ago when he was struggling to make it to the NHL, he looked to a guy like yourself as a source of inspiration. Just wanted to get your take on hearing that and knowing maybe Tim Thomas used you as a source of inspiration to get to the National Hockey League.
DWYANE ROLOSON: It's great that he did. We crossed paths -- we played against each other when Marty was a freshman. Timmy was up in Vermont. During the lockout we played against each other. It's great to see what he's done. He's done a great job. The battle through all the adversities that he's had to get here, he's done a great job. Probably dealt with a lot of other adversities that he didn't account for getting to this step. Probably made it a lot easier for him to deal with.

Q. Looking back at your entire career, what was the biggest win you've been personally a part of?
DWYANE ROLOSON: I don't know. They're all big, if you ask me. It doesn't really matter which one it is, they're all big. I look back at all the wins we had, even minor hockey. We had a good minor hockey team. Rob Blake was on our team. We won five championships. Then junior and college. Every win is big. Every time you're in a playoff and you win a game, it's always big.
I think every win's a big win.

Q. When you look back at 2006 when you were with the Oilers, does it really bug you now that you got injured in that final?
DWYANE ROLOSON: It was out of my control. Still is out of my control, how it happened, what happened. For me to dwell on it and focus on it is just wasting my energy and my focus.
For me, our team didn't win. It's unfortunate we didn't win. But at the same time you got to forget about it and go on.

Q. Dwayne, after such a long layoff, how anxious are you to get back on the ice and in a game situation?
DWYANE ROLOSON: I think everyone's feeling the same way. I'm sure they're feeling the same way as us. It is a long time to be off, but at the same time, it's what happens. It's playoff time, so you got to deal with all the adverse advertise thrown at you.
We've done pretty well being able to get away, to be able to relax, but also at the same time come back and focus and refocus, prepare ourselves to play a big hockey game tomorrow night.
I think our coaching staff, management, ownership, have done a great job to prepare us, get us ready to go.

Q. Marty, how do you go after a guy like Tim Thomas? Such an unorthodox style. Is there a particular way to focus in on him?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: I mean, there's so many good goalies in this league. If you don't battle and work at the net, it's going to be hard to beat 'em. We know that. He's a competitor. We have to compete. If you just think you're going to throw shots from the outside with nobody at the net, hope it goes in, you're mistaken. We got to have people there.
We've watched enough playoff hockey, been part of playoff hockey, a lot of goals happen because pucks are thrown at net with people there. We just have to battle. We know he's a battler and we're going to have to battle him.

Q. Dwayne, Tim Thomas and Coach Julien touched on this. Experience, age, how does that help you as a goaltender at this level?
DWYANE ROLOSON: I think it's very valuable. You can be thrown into almost any situation and can look back and say, Yeah, I can relate to this, or, Yeah, I've been through this before.
I think when you are going through adversity, especially during playoff time, you can look back and say, Yeah, okay, don't worry about it, this is how it's going to happen, play out. You can deal with it and understand what's going to happen, not lose focus on your task at hand, and that's winning hockey games.

Q. Marty, was there any part of the season where you thought, You know what, maybe this is something special because from Yzerman, Boucher, to get where you are now, did you think it could be this special?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: I don't think it's something overnight that makes you realize you have something special in the locker room. I think it's gradual. Obviously, all the changes that have been made from the top to the bottom, from Mr. Vinik, Mr. Yzerman, Coach Boucher, all the way down to the players.
Training camp, early on, I realized, We're going to turn this thing around. Did I know at that time I'd be talking to you guys in a conference final? No, I didn't know.
But as we went along, we fought through some adversities, injuries, get wins with key guys missing, we get Rolly, get rolling again, adversity after the All-Star break, then finish strong. When we finished the season strong, I thought, You know what, we're going to carry this into the playoffs.
When you start in the playoffs, 16 teams are battling for the same thing. People expect who has a better chance than the other. But in reality it's anybody's game.
I liked our chances when we got in the playoffs. Just leave it out there and see what happens.
But we got something in our locker room for a long time now. It's been a great bunch of guys to be around. The additions they made with Rolly and Brewer, guys that are playing key roles on our team, we didn't just add great players, we added great people. The really added to the great group we had.

Q. Marty, back to '04, you were structured like the great Western Conference teams, dominant center icemen. You were a Hart Trophy guy. Vinny just said it's about the importance of everybody's role, no matter who they are on the team, what number they wear, that's been the special aspect of this club. When you frame in your mind that you could be a championship team, how do you think of your team, what makes you guys that good?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: You know, I think we're a well-prepared team. I think it starts with the preparation. When we go into a game, we feel we're ready to play that game. Everybody has a role on the team. That was clear-cut early on, what your role was going to be on that team.
In the playoffs, you got to play your role and more. You can't just be satisfied in playing your role. You have to bring more than just your role. We're seeing that in our team. Every line is contributing. Our so-called third line with Moorsy, Down, and Bergy, they played some dominant minutes for us. You can't rely on one or two lines in the playoffs. You want to go far, you need everybody, and we've had that. That's why we're here today.

Q. When it comes to age, you talk about the experience factor, how that helps. At this point in your career, how different is this for you in terms of knowing you don't know how many more chances you're going to get to do this? Tim Thomas talked this morning, too. He said when he was younger, guys used to say, Cherish these moments.
DWYANE ROLOSON: Well, I don't think for me personally it's any different than our '06 run in Edmonton because, like Tim said, everyone alludes to it, Marty and I talked about it with our team before playoffs started, you never know when this is going to happen for me.
Last time for me was '06. For Marty it was six or seven years ago.
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: Four years ago.
DWYANE ROLOSON: So you never know. You got to cherish and relish every moment of every situation. So for me, nothing's changed. You have to enjoy it, have fun with it, do whatever you got to do to help your team win. The bottom line, if you can do that, you're going to have success.

Q. Dwayne, being back in Boston, not far from where you went to college in Lowell, what kind of memories do you take out of that experience? What did that experience mean for your development and your career?
DWYANE ROLOSON: It meant a lot to me. I was 20 years old, nowhere to go really. Had an offer, a couple offers, to play college hockey. Getting an opportunity to play at Lowell was huge for me. It allowed me to develop as a person, as a goalie and as a student.
I look back at the memories I have of university, still to this day, my friends at university are still my close, personal friends. You grow up together. You learn a lot together. We had a lot of fun together.
I think we were well-coached with Bill Riley and Bruce Crowder at the time. When Bruce came in, there was a lot of changes, but at the same time we learned a lot about pro hockey with Bruce playing pro. He was preparing each and every individual how to play pro hockey if they had that opportunity.
I remember looking back after my junior year sitting in the coach's office with Coach Crowder discussing my future, whether I should leave or come back. He said, For me, I don't want you to leave, but for you, you probably want to leave. I'm going to give you the resources to make that decision.
He helped me make the decision to come back. To this day when I look back, it's the best decision I ever made.

Q. Are you aware of the story that Tim was close to coming to Lowell, but knew he wouldn't be able to play because you were coming back?
DWYANE ROLOSON: Yeah, Marty told me that a couple times.
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: Thanks for that.
DWYANE ROLOSON: I heard that through Marty and Stammer this week, through some of the media resources. I don't really look at the media or watch the media.
You know, it's great for Tim. He had a lot of success in college. They had a lot of fun up there, I'm sure. I know when we played them, they were a heck of a hockey team up there. I think they spanked us 8-1. They had a great program and they still do. It's great to see.

Q. Marty, as much as Eric Brewer has brought to your team on the ice, the leadership he's shown, how do you feel he handled the balance of asserting himself?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS: No, he's a veteran in this league. The way he plays the game, you respect that. I think he leaves it out there every night.
You know, obviously he comes to a new team, there's always going to be a feeling-out period. I feel that the guys on our team, Vinny, Ohlund, myself, we're easy-to-approach kind of guys. We're not trying to run things a certain way. Everybody has input.
Obviously the younger guys look up to us in key moments. (Indiscernible) is one of the guys we look up to. He's played at international level, Olympics. He's played a fair amount of games in this league. He was a captain in St. Louis. You have to grab the resources you can have, and he's one of those guys that we like to know what he thinks about things, what his feelings are on a few things because he's lived it.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.
Questions.

Q. Being off for so long, can you sense anticipation to stop dealing with us and get out on the ice?
COACH BOUCHER: Dealing with you is no problem. But, yeah, it's been a long time. It's been a long time for everybody. I think the fans can't wait for it to start, players can't wait for it to start.
But the reality is, in practice you can't reproduce the atmosphere of an NHL playoff game. I think there's a lot of emotion in those games. When you play them every two days, you kind of stay on an adrenaline level that's required to play those games, which we don't have right now. I guess Boston doesn't have it either. We're on the same field I guess as they are. Nine days, for us it's going to be 10 days, it's difficult.
We tried to reproduce part of it in practice. If you want to reproduce it all, you're going to get injuries in your practice, so it's been difficult.

Q. When you have a goalie like Tim Thomas who is so unorthodox, do you have to get the message across not to be too fine, don't change the way you approach it the first two rounds?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, I'm sure we're no different than any other team or any other coaches. We do study the other goaltender. I'm sure they studied ours. There's tendencies and things you want to focus on.
But I think the players play the game, everything is done in fractions of seconds. It's quite difficult to all of a sudden change their ways.
We do want to focus on a few things. But the reality is, whatever we plan against Tim Thomas, he's probably going to find a way to counter that. I think you want to watch out and not focus too much on the other team's goaltender.
But, yes, we're aware of the mountain we have to climb when we play him. All the other teams have had the same thing all year long and it's been the same thing in the playoffs. It's in everybody's head. Let's not kid ourselves. He'll be real tough to beat.

Q. Can you explain what kind of calming effect Dwayne Roloson has had? I'm sure you've answered that before.
COACH BOUCHER: I've answered that a few times, which is good (laughter).
Well, I think the first thing is it's not just him. I think people want to put a certain date on why we start to have success. The reality is, when Dwayne came in, we were first in our division, so we had success before.
But him coming in, Brewer coming in, Bergeron coming in later on during the season had an effect, first of all, filling I think holes in terms of strengths and weaknesses on our team.
There's a leadership aspect also that was extremely important in our room. I think when you meet Roloson, Dwayne is a very confident man, has experience, but he's also not afraid to voice his opinion in the moments that are key, I think. There's a lot of people that talk all the time, talk at the wrong times, say the wrong things. But in his case, he's right on at the right time for the right reasons. That's a great quality of a leader.
I think Brewer came in also with that type of attitude and brought a lot to our team. I always say success comes and it rises and falls on leadership. These guys came in, really made our leadership core grow and helped guys like Lecavalier, St. Louis and Ohlund, had a tremendous impact on our team, not just the pucks he's stopping.

Q. What does he have to do to be on top of his game?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, I think the biggest things I want to address with him, after knowing him a month, is actually to try to hold him back a little bit. He was staying on the ice forever, working so hard. He's so in shape, he works so hard. He's one of those horses you got to hold back a little bit, which is good. You don't want the opposite.
I think that's what he's had to do I think in the last month and a half to two months as we kind of shorten our practices for him, because he was on 45 minutes before everybody, and he was staying on 45 minutes after everybody. If you have an hour and a half practice, that's a long time on the ice working that hard. So keep his energy for the games. Still practice hard, but a shorter amount of time.
I think it's worked out pretty good. He's one of those guys that knows how to match himself to ice very well.

Q. He called it the best practice of the week.
COACH BOUCHER: Today?

Q. Yes.
COACH BOUCHER: They're all good (laughter).
Well, what we wanted to do this week is, first of all, not kid ourselves. Beginning of the week, not going to have great practices. If I was going to get mad because things weren't perfect, I would be a very un-wise leader.
I think we wanted to build it up as the week progressed. That means we're going to start the week with very low execution and intensity not at the standard we usually have it. As the week progressed, we got more competition, more drills where we have physicality and speed. I think we got that today in our planning where we wanted all of it.
We looked okay. But like I said before, when the game starts tomorrow, it's a whole new reality. We're aware of that. Marty St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, we've discussed that. They've lived it before. That first period is going to be a shock for everybody. Hopefully it's the same for the Bruins. We know they're home, they're going to be with your fans, it's going to be a very difficult first period.

Q. Kind of flown under the radar, Teddy Purcell. What have you seen in his game?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, depends which radar you're talking about. Our radar, for us, he's been real good. He's got points. If you look at his points, you can certainly assess his play by looking at his points, but it's a lot more than that.
We started the year as a guy with great vision, great skills, but his intensity level wasn't at all where it is right now. His confidence and speed wasn't where it is right now. His involvement physically wasn't where it is right now. His confidence to play with first and second liners wasn't there either, and his consistency wasn't there. There's a lot of things that have changed over the span of this year.
He worked really hard. He's one of those guys that did a lot of one-on-ones with some of the coaching staff and kept at it. We always knew he had it, it was just if he was going to bring it consistently. Certainly look at the last two months, he's been great. That's why he's playing in our top two lines.
He's a great power-play guy, and he continues to be so, yeah. Everybody is talking Bergenheim and Moore, but he's one of those guys that certainly stepped it up.

Q. You've had experience in other leagues in the playoffs. Are there things you have learned for NHL in that?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, obviously, I think until you live it, whether you're a coach or you're a player, until you live the playoffs, it's something you think you know, but you don't. The intensity level is just unreal. For youngsters who are dreaming of winning Stanley Cups, there's a big, big, big gap between junior and college hockey compared to what you need to be, not just to play in the NHL, but to compete in the playoffs.
You can ask a guy like Stamkos, who has been everywhere, has won, played for Team Canada, been in major events. If you ask him about his first few games in the playoffs, he'll be the first one to tell you there was a learning curve and you needed to learn fast because of the demand physically and mentally of what it takes.
We're kind of lucky in a sense to play a team like Pittsburgh, because they made us learn real fast what it takes to win in the playoffs. Had a lot of respect for the relentlessness that their players had. You could see 15 of their players had won the Stanley Cup before. It was clear the way they were playing, not just the small details, but they took no shifts off.
It was tough to beat them, but at the same time I think it was necessary for our organization and our players that we would meet a team like that, definitely.

Q. The template structure of your club, where the talent is, you look at a lot of past Stanley Cup champions, dominant center icemen, a million examples. Watching your guys practice, I see Stamkos on the same line at Lecavalier. How can you shape the confidence around your group knowing you're not structured in the traditional way that so many Stanley Cup champions have been in the last 20 years?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, sometimes you want to learn from the past, but sometimes it's your biggest enemy because if you're trying to reproduce what others have done with what they had, you're not going to make it because you don't have that.
I think since I've been in the NHL, I hear a lot about stats all the time. If you focus on all the failures of the past, you're certainly not going to have success. Whether it was the first series or the second series, what we've done during the year against a certain team in their rink or in our rink, you know, you might as well stay home. If you haven't had success before or it hasn't happened before, you're certainly not going to be the one that's going to be the surprising one that's making it happen.
That's always been my philosophy, in this league or another one. You make it what you want to make it where you are at that moment. That's why I don't believe in momentum from game to game. Within the same game, same period, yeah. But every second and every moment that you have is an opportunity to change things or to mold things.
I know I've heard in Boston, we're 4 wins out of 35 in franchise history. Obviously, if we focus on that, we could have just stayed home.
I tend to think if 4 games were won, we have a chance. If it's never been done before, then let's find a way to do it. So for me, I really watch out for stats and for a past. For me it's all about today. If we have a bad day or bad period, the next period doesn't have to be like it was the first period. Everything's an opportunity.
I don't know if that answers your question. So-so? I can do better (laughter).

Q. Nate Thompson came up through the Bruins' system. Can you talk about what he's meant to you in these playoff rounds?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, Nate, they call him Nate Boucher. I call him 'Textbook.' He's a player, first of all, I was extremely surprised by in training camp. I heard about him. I was told that he didn't have great speed, but he was working hard. But then when he got to training camp, he seemed fast to me. So I figured maybe he's just 'cause I'm a rookie coach. Everybody told me he progressed over the summer, worked hard on his speed.
I think right now he's a speedy guy. When you couple that with his relentlessness, when you couple that with his toughness, the fact that he wants it so badly, you get a player that's going to give you so much, not just defensively. If you look at his game, he blocks more shots than anybody. He'll pay the price. He's injured; you'll never know it. This guy pays the ultimate price for everybody.
I call him 'Textbook,' because when you deal with him, you're going to get exactly what you ask. That's rare. Since I've called him that, the guys put a sign in his locker 'Nate Boucher.' That's why I want to go on about him, but I have to watch out.
He's certainly been a huge part of our team. If you watched the first two series, I know other names have come up, but our penalty kill have come up, but him and Hall have been tremendous on it. They block all the shots. He's going to take it in the face if he has to, and not everybody is going to do that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.
COACH BOUCHER: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v BRUINS

May 13, 2011

Guy Boucher

Vincent Lecavalier

Dwayne Roloson

Martin St. Louis

Steven Stamkos