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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SHARKS v CANUCKS

May 22, 2011

Alain Vigneault

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Game Four

Vancouver Â– 4
San Jose - 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. At the end of the regular season you said we haven't gotten a lot of five-on-threes. You got some tonight. Salo in that spot instead of Ehrhoff seemed to make a difference.
COACH VIGNEAULT: Well, I think without a doubt Sami's shot is a big weapon. We tried it last game on those five-on-threes. I thought we had some great scoring chances, but their goaltender made some unbelievable saves.
Tonight we were able to throw a couple little things at them that maybe caught them off guard on that five-on-three. Sami's shot was available and we used it twice real quickly and it worked.

Q. Alain, when you get a parade of penalties like that on both sides, is there any way to predict a game like that?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Well, obviously in any hockey game you prepare your power-play and your penalty killing. We killed the penalties that we had to kill at the beginning. I thought that gave us a little bit of momentum and confidence.
The five-on-threes that we got, one the referee has to call, too many men on the ice, it's obvious. The other one they shot over the glass. Referees didn't really have to make those calls. They're automatics. Five-on-three did what it was supposed to do.

Q. Coach, can you talk about Henrik's ability to set up, in this game in particular?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Yeah, I mean, Henrik's probably biggest asset is the fact that he can see plays and make plays when there's a lot of pressure. Again, tonight that line did that for us.
They're our offensive players and we need them to produce and they did tonight.

Q. All season long you said your team has been very good at being able to focus on the game at hand. This next game is obviously a big one. Are you confident your group can put that out of their minds?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Give me half an hour to have a little bit of fun here and then ask me tomorrow about that. I want to enjoy this a little bit here.
But to answer your question, I am very confident about that.

Q. The PK to start the series, gave up five power-play goals to the Sharks, then since then pretty much shut them down. What has been the difference?
COACH VIGNEAULT: You know, sometimes that happens. We gave up four power-play goals to them on four shots. We were in good position. We were doing the right things.
Sometimes, whether it be our power-play or their power-play, it just clicks for whatever reason. We were able to fight through that, 'cause obviously that's challenging. Tonight we were really tested early. Our guys were able to respond and get the job done.

Q. You go with Tanev and Ballard today. Your thoughts on their contributions?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I thought both of them, considering the stage, both of them played well. I had a really tough decision to make there, not dressing Andrew Alberts. I told him before the game. Andrew is a great individual. It was really a tough thing for me to tell him.
At the end of the day, I wanted a right defenseman, a guy that's used to playing the right side. Neither Keith nor Andrew have played a lot of right side.
When Chris was called on to play for us this year, he played real well. I thought Keith played his best hockey with Chris. That's why I made that decision.

Q. Can you just comment, apparently over 4,000 Vancouver Canuck fans came down here.
COACH VIGNEAULT: That's phenomenal. In warmup, during the anthem, to hear our fans in an American city chant, 'O Canada,' it was just incredible. It reminded me a lot when we went on that California swing, Anaheim, L.A., and ended up in Phoenix, where I think we had something like between 5,000 and 10,000 fans following us.
Really appreciate the support we're getting right now.

Q. Talk a little bit about Salo's role, obviously the two goals, but he did take on a lot more responsibility.
COACH VIGNEAULT: He logged some very important minutes. Sami is one of our veteran players. He's been here for a long time. A very important part of our core group.
I think he understands that, you know, you don't get too many opportunities. Maybe he doesn't have a lot of opportunities left, considering he's getting a little bit older. So obviously he's very motivated right now, playing real well for us.
Nobody is going to ask me about my goalie?
Thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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