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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v BRUINS

May 19, 2011

Guy Boucher

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Game Three

Boston Â– 2
Tampa Bay - 0

Q. You talked about this team falling out of the structure, out of the system tonight. Do you think that the Lightning stayed within the structure?
COACH BOUCHER: Yeah, except for one big mistake to start the game. If it wasn't for that, I think it would have stayed 0-0 for quite a while. So yeah, one bad mistake and it cost us, and then we were chasing the rest of the game. But I think it looked a lot more the type of game that people were expecting.
And their goaltender made some great saves in key moments and we couldn't get that goal back. But, yeah, obviously both teams were a lot more structured.

Q. Guy, go through that first goal again.
COACH BOUCHER: Oh, well, we were supposed to have somebody in front of the net obviously, and that person wasn't there. So it's a very simple read. But when you're eager to get on the ice sometimes, that will make you make some mistakes, and obviously it's a costly one, and we paid for it.
But the rest of the game, I thought we played a great game in our zone, and we corrected that. It's too bad that that goal went in, that second one. Obviously seeing how difficult it was to score against them tonight, that second one obviously hurt. Usually, two goals for us, we still keep the same jam, the same momentum and enthusiasm about coming back. We always do.
But obviously that was a tougher one to take.

Q. Having gone through the corner on that, was somebody supposed to come down there?
COACH BOUCHER: Somebody is supposed to be there, but I'm not going to blame somebody for -- it's a team thing. We want to make sure it's a team mistake that we correct.

Q. Is there anything in particular they were doing to limit your transition game?
COACH BOUCHER: They were doing the same as us. You're right, we were both limiting each other's transition game. I think last game, their team and our team moved the puck pretty quick and guys were gone, and so I think we're both aware of each other's strengths offensively. And obviously you don't want to give the other team any freebies, so we didn't give them any freebies and they didn't give us any freebies, and that's why it was a tight game. It was down to who was going to make that one lethal mistake and we made it early.

Q. At the same time, the guys in the locker room were talking about not doing enough of the same offensively to kind of overcome what Boston is doing defensively. Do you think that's fair?
COACH BOUCHER: Well, yes and no. I think we had scoring chances, obviously. And some of them could have gone in. Their goaltender played outstanding. Obviously gets a shout out. But their players played well, too, a lot of boxing out.
So it's obviously a much tighter game, which means that it's going to be a low-scoring game.
So you're looking for those opportunities and things that you normally do, but they were harder to come by. And so everybody was fighting so much harder defensively that there wasn't many holes there.
And they know that we're tied defensively, we know they were tied defensively. Teams now, we've passed the first and second round of the boxing match now, and we kind of felt each other, and now I think both teams are back to what they normally do. So it's going to be some tight games, and the next game is coming up. I don't expect anything else.
And their goaltender is still going to do great, and ours too, and it's going to come down to those -- one little detail that will make the difference.
That's the way it should be at this time of the year.

Q. It seemed like the consensus in the locker room was there was a lot of quantity instead of quality for shots. Did it just seem out of sync?
COACH BOUCHER: No, I wouldn't say out of sync. No, no, just there's another team in front of us. It's not like we were playing a phantom team and they were just going to let us run around and have our break-aways. Last game we had four break-aways and two two-on-ones. That's what's off this last game. And I think it was off for them and for us, and today is more of a playoff game between two teams who pride themselves on doing well defensively and playing tight. That's why we're here. If we weren't like that, we wouldn't be here.
And they played well, and we played just as well. But it came down to one mistake here and there, and the mistakes they made didn't cost them, because they didn't make mistakes. We did have some quality chances.
But it didn't turn our way today.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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