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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v BRUINS

May 20, 2011

Claude Julien

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.

Q. Claude, with regard to the difference in tempo between games 2 and 3, if you don't mind backing up, what was your dialogue like with the team throughout about trying to get the game back the way you'd like it? It seemed like neither coach could stop the runaway horses that night.
COACH JULIEN: We couldn't. There's no doubt about that. It just seems -- that's what I said yesterday before the game. I said when you get into these situations where a game opens up for some reason, as hard as you try, it's really hard to reel the guys back in.
Almost takes I guess a momentum of its own. And obviously both teams seemed to be stuck in that mode in Game 2. But I thought we did a much better job yesterday to play closer to what our game has been all about.
And it seemed to suit us and fit us a lot better. So hopefully that continues.

Q. First of all, how is David Krejci, and have you had a chance to see the hit, what you thought of it?
COACH JULIEN: David is fine. We had a bunch of guys stay off today. It's more of an optional and short skate. So there's no issues with David. He's playing tomorrow with no issues at all.
I guess if you have time to look at the replay -- you can look at it in slow motion and do all that stuff -- you can say, well, it was a good hit. And it's happened to us before from our end of it. And sometimes you get called for penalties.
The one thing that we always said is that the league is very sensitive to head issues. So sometimes they're making a call.
And maybe it wasn't the right call. But at the same time, they could have had a second penalty on that same play where the goaltender touched the puck outside the area.
And the referee was there, and I think he didn't call it, because probably trying to make up for it. So this is about being smart about those kind of things, and there was no issues from my end of it.
And kind of made up for it, so I think it all evened out in the end. And that's what we talk about when you play the games.
For the most part you're always going to get some tough calls going against you or against the other team, and at the end of the night, most of the time it all evens out.
So it's just one of those situations.

Q. You talked earlier in the week, in the season and series here, about trying to get the best out of Tomas Kaberle. And he seems like he has turned the corner these last few games. What do you see on his game and what's he improved at? How do you feel about where he stands now?
COACH JULIEN: I think he's played really well, you're right, in the last couple of games. And we had a conversation about maybe taking some pressure off his shoulders about everything that wasn't going right about the power play. Fingers kept pointing at him.
He's more than just that. He's a good puck mover. He can play a pretty good game when he's on top of it. And we have confidence in him. And I told him that, that we know he can certainly help us.
I think he's relaxed a little bit which has given him some confidence in his game. And I think the last two games he's been a better player.
He's passing. He's more poised. He's a little bit more aggressive. And he's not sitting on his heels. And I think that's made a big difference in his game.
And we say it almost every day when we talk about players, it's about confidence. That word "confidence" plays big.
And whether he feels it from others or whether he plays with it, that makes a big difference in the players' reaction.

Q. Back to the official's part. Is that something as a coach you have to sort of learn to accept, not to get wound up when you don't like a call or you see a call that's not made? Is that something you've had to sort of come to grips with?
COACH JULIEN: Yeah, but I think if you'd seen me before, I still react. There's no doubt you get upset at times and it's almost a bit of a natural reaction. But you try not to -- you try not to and you try not to overreact. You realize the consequences it can have on your bench as well, and you want to keep your guys focused. Sometimes it's a lot better to keep that reaction at a minimal, and try and keep your team focused.
Most of the time, if it's -- I've seen most of the bad penalties you manage to kill. So it's about going out there and doing a job and bailing a guy out.

Q. Zdeno Chara is playing career high minutes in the Playoffs. How would you assess I guess where he's at right now in terms of maybe him elevating his game to where you've seen him before?
COACH JULIEN: Well, Kathryn, I think last night was probably one of his better games in this series. But you know, people have high expectations of Zdeno Chara, obviously. But when you play 30 minutes in the game, you're going to make mistakes at times.
You know, it's a normal thing. If we want to play him 20 minutes, he might play 20 great minutes with no mistakes, but we'd rather play him closer to 30 and live with the few mistakes that are there.
When you play that much, it's normal that those things are going to happen. So Zdeno and Seidenberg have been good for us. And for the amount of minutes they've played, there's no complaints from our end of it. I think they've been solid Ds.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about the effort you got from Milan last night? He had the system the first goal, he didn't get in the system the second goal, but he kind of made it happen with that dump-in. Clearly at times he was laboring last night. Can you just talk about the effort he gave you last night?
COACH JULIEN: He was good. His forecheck, he chip pucks in. He went after the puck aggressively, and when you see a guy like Milan coming at you, it makes you nervous and can put you on your heels. So he created a lot of turnovers last night.
But the other part as you mentioned is when he got the puck. We talked about that. It was important for him to be strong on it and not to lose it, which I thought he did in Game 2 a lot. He got stripped from the puck. Earlier in the game, he lost a couple of battles along the boards, and I just kind of reminded me him that the biggest asset of his game is about winning battles. And I thought he did a great job of refocusing and bringing that part of his game back to that game that night.
So I thought he was a really good player for us. As you said, he's just battling a minor injury, but he's battling through it.

Q. Tim Thomas, obviously the term battling gets thrown around with him a lot. Seemed like earlier in his career, he was sort of battling to prove he belonged, but now is it sort of proving to everyone that he's as good as we say he is?
COACH JULIEN: There's that. And you have to remember, where Tim is right now, he's never been there. He's accomplishing things that he hasn't accomplished yet, like a lot of players on the team, like a lot of us. And we want to move forward.
There's a lot more than -- for him, it's nice to win Vezina trophies, but to win the Stanley Cup would be nice for him as well. So everybody is kind of pushing in that direction. I think he's one of those guys that, where he's at in his career, his age and everything else, when those opportunities come, you want to make sure you make the best of it.
And he wants to be part of the success, and he's done a great job at allowing us to play with confidence in front of him, and he's been great at bailing us out when we've had breakdowns.

Q. I know you preached the one shift/one game at a time mentality. But how do you kind of walk that fine line this time of the year when you're two wins away from getting to where you want to go, but you still need to kind of concentrate on the next game?
COACH JULIEN: I'd say because we don't say exactly what you just said. And we don't even talk about that, honestly. Right now, all we've talked about is how important a game tomorrow is for us.
We don't want to live in the past. Yesterday was yesterday.
Tomorrow is what we want to talk about. We want to live in the present. And today is about getting some good rest and making sure that tomorrow we're well rested, we've got the energy and the focus to do a job. That's what we've been doing since the start. And that's what's helped us get through it.
The same thing in Montreal. We lost the first two games. We went to Montreal not thinking about the two losses but what we had to do that night. It's really helped us get through things, and that's what our guys are all about right now.
So I don't have to worry about what you just asked, because we're not thinking that way.

Q. This is the last update on Bergie. How much of a relief is it that you wake up and he's fine?
COACH JULIEN: Well, he's question mark for tomorrow. If you see him in the warm-up it's because he's playing. He's fine, Joe. (Laughter).

Q. On the Bergeron vein, talk a little more about the impact that he made in that game, faceoff circles and getting in his normal line, going out and playing almost 20 minutes after not having played in two weeks.
COACH JULIEN: I really felt that Patrice looked like a guy who hadn't missed a step. And you would never have known that he almost spent two weeks without playing a game. And as he said to me yesterday, first period, maybe with the puck, too, he didn't feel quite comfortable, but as the game went on, he just seemed to find the groove.
You could tell just by his skating, by his battles and everything else, that he really felt good. And to us, to me anyway, watching him from behind the bench, he looked like a guy who never missed a game.
And he was right where he left off. I thought that was pretty impressive of him to be able to come back that way. And when guys go through what they went through, they would have a right to be a little cautious.
And he wasn't cautious. He was confident. He knew he felt good. He knew he was okay and he went out there and played like nothing happened.

Q. (Question off Microphone)?
COACH JULIEN: Well, we've always said that he's one of our best two-way players. So you redeem one of your best players when it comes to that. And that's a big boost for a hockey club. But, again, I would say it's important to give credit to the rest of the team, too, because we all did a good job as a group as far as not giving outnumbered situations, making sure we didn't get caught down low and stuff.
I thought our guys reacted well. By not giving those outnumbered situations we're also able to have a real effective forecheck going on that night.
I really like the way our guys were focusing and how they read off each other.

Q. People obviously get excited when Tyler scores and whatnot. But on the Ference goal there, it seemed he held on to the puck a little longer along the board with two guys on him, something maybe he wouldn't have done early on in the season. Do those kind of little things that he's starting to do now, do those things come with confidence of scoring, do you think?
COACH JULIEN: It is. It is confidence. And he's gotten used to playing our game now. And you gotta remember last year this guy was such an elite player in junior hockey that he just went out there and played. And as a coach, when you have a player like that you let him play.
And once he got here, he understands that he can't just go out there and play and just be all over the place. He's really understanding what has to be done at this level and the choices of plays he has to make in certain situations. And did a great job at keeping that puck. And he did the right play obviously putting it behind the net.
I was impressed with that 30-foot stick of his when he tipped that goal in, I guess. So that was even more impressive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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