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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SHARKS v CANUCKSMay 20, 2011Patrick MarleauAntti NiemiJoe ThorntonSAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Game Three San Jose – 4 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Joe, tonight you saw a lot more of the Sedin line versus Kesler. Can you comment on that, what kind of difference that made in the game? JOE THORNTON: Well, they're both good centermen, both good lines. Yeah, we try to play the same way, doesn't matter which line we play against. To be honest with you, just a normal game for us. Go out, try to work hard, try to produce for the boys. Q. (No microphone.) JOE THORNTON: Todd never tells us who we're playing against, to be honest with you. If we're not starting, he'll just kind of yell down and say, Hey, you got this line. That's pretty much it. Q. Antti, can you talk about what you were experiencing, seeing, what you had to do during that five-on-three? ANTTI NIEMI: Well, I think we had a really compact three guys there and we wanted to keep them outside. We did a pretty good job on that. Q. Were you taking experience from past playoffs or key moments or were you saying, I'm comfortable with this situation? ANTTI NIEMI: Yeah, for sure, a little bit. Most important thing is who is on the ice and what they are probably trying to do. Q. Patrick, could you talk about the offensive roll you're on, just confirm the JR thing is a total coincidence? PATRICK MARLEAU: Things are just starting to go in. I'm playing with some pretty good players obviously. Just getting into some good areas. The puck is starting to go in. Q. Can a player feel his confidence grow in a series? PATRICK MARLEAU: Yeah, it's nice to produce and help a team win. What it boils down to is wins right now. Do whatever it takes to win. I think each line played really well tonight and we're going to need that again next game. Q. Joe, could you talk about the importance of that fourth goal, maybe take us through what you were seeing as the play was developing. JOE THORNTON: Yeah, very important. Five-on-three, they didn't capitalize on theirs. You never know. It's 3-1 up to that point. You really don't know at that point if that's going to be the game winner, but you take every shift in. I just really saw Patty and Boiler just kind of work it back and forth. Boiler had a good shot earlier. Hit the crossbar. Patty just laid a perfect pass over and Boiler got all of it, I guess. Q. I know it's all about the game and focusing on the 60 minutes. How much of that determination out there tonight was just to avoid getting to a place where no hockey team wants to be in a seven-game series? JOE THORNTON: Every game for us right now is Game 7. We realize how important tonight was. Next game is just going to be more important. Every game for us is Game 7. We realize what's at stake. The guys showed up and the fans were into it. They gave us an extra boost. But we know the importance of winning tonight. Q. Joe and Patty, you've had other very good first periods in playoffs. You scored three goals instead of one or sometimes none. What was the difference? You can point to the power-plays, but you created them. Explain the difference. PATRICK MARLEAU: Well, I think each line was going good. We had our forecheck going. That's why we were able to draw those penalties. It's not just the power-play, it's the people that draw the penalties that allow us to go out there and score those goals. JOE THORNTON: No, we just had our legs. Put pucks in where we could get them back, drew some penalties. When we got our power-play, we executed well. But, yeah, just putting pucks, being hard on pucks, retrieve pucks hard. We did that early. Q. You statistically have dominated the first period. Statistically they've controlled the third period. Big deal or not? JOE THORNTON: No. We're just after wins. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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