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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKSJune 1, 2011Alexandre BurrowsAlexander EdlerRyan KeslerSami SaloDaniel SedinHenrik SedinVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Game One THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Henrik, outside of the obvious which gives you a 1-0 lead, what has winning Game 1 of the last three rounds done for you, knowing you've won a game, that you have the lead? HENRIK SEDIN: Well, I think it's a really big game. It means apart from being up 1-0, it gives you confidence, it shows you can play against the other team. You don't really have to change a lot of things. You go out, you're up 1-0, the next game they're going to have to make adjustments to beat you. That's an advantage, for sure. Q. Henrik, you said yesterday that eight days off was too much. What would have been the right number? Is the extra days off added to the nerves or anticipation of this? HENRIK SEDIN: I don't know if it's too much, but it's plenty enough. Four or five days would have been good. I mean, we like to play games. We don't really like to practice as much. It would be nice to get going earlier. But this is the way it is. It's not a disadvantage. Q. The anticipation going into it? HENRIK SEDIN: It's fine. I think it's been nice to get a few days to get the big winning in San Jose and then move on to this thing. I think a lot of times in playoffs, you play every second day, you can't really enjoy the wins. So I thought it was good to get some time to do that. Q. Daniel and Sami, the three of you have played big international games, big playoff games. The three of you are the longest-serving Canucks about to play in a Stanley Cup final. How does this rank, the anticipation, compared to all the things you've done in your career? DANIEL SEDIN: I think this is obviously the biggest game you can play. I think you look at Olympic finals, World Championships. But when you play this long, with good friends and teammates, it's the biggest game you can play. I mean, you played 82 games just to get in, then it's a long run in the playoffs, too. For sure the biggest games you can play in. SAMI SALO: Yeah, for sure. It's like the Holy Grail. Very long road to get to the playoffs. Only a few players have a chance to play for the Cup. Nothing compared to the Olympics or the World Championships. Q. Daniel, could you describe the emotions and nerves right now. What is going through your mind the morning of the game? DANIEL SEDIN: I think we're pretty calm. There's going to be some nerves tonight obviously. If you don't have nerves tonight, I think something's wrong with you (smiling). We're excited. We're going to have fun, enjoy every moment of it. So we're ready to go. Q. What would it mean if Manny Malhotra plays tonight? DANIEL SEDIN: It would mean a lot. Even when he's been injured, he's been there, been with the team, given advice to players, been in the locker room. He's been there all the time. But I think having him play and having him in the locker room would mean a lot to our team. HENRIK SEDIN: Same thing. He's a guy that can help us no matter how many minutes he plays. He's been so key to our faceoffs and PKs. We'll see what happens. Again, he's day to day, as he's been the last week or so, so we'll see what happens. Q. Sami, I know you talked a little bit yesterday about your family situation. Can you talk about the importance of the series to you and your son, as a hockey dad yourself? SAMI SALO: Yeah, for sure. Everybody in the family's obviously very excited. We haven't seen this before. You know, everybody's very supportive. For sure I know my passed-away father will be cheering up somewhere. Q. How difficult is it to play against Chara? HENRIK SEDIN: I don't know. I haven't played a lot against him. We'll see. He's big, he's strong. But he's not like a lot of the other big guys. He can make plays and he sees the ice really well, doesn't make a lot of mistakes. It's going to be a tough matchup. But I think for us, the key for us is to get up to our potential. If we can do that, I think it's going to work out. Q. Has the anticipation and hype matched what you thought what it would be? DANIEL SEDIN: Well, we knew it was going to be big, of course. The fans are excited. The whole city's behind us. It's been awesome, the whole playoffs. Especially now the last days before the finals, it's been unbelievable. So, like I said, we're going to enjoy the moment and have some fun with it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We have Ryan Kesler, Alexandre Burrows, and Alexander Edler. We'll take questions, please. Q. For guys that have played in big international competitions, Sami and Daniel Sedin spoke about this being the biggest for them. Can you discuss whether you sort of feel the same way or differently in that regard. RYAN KESLER: No, I definitely feel the same way. Obviously the Olympics was one of the biggest stages I've ever played on. I believe this is bigger. I've said it before: we worked extremely hard all year and I've played with these two guys next to me for close to five years. I played with Alex longer. Every year we work for the same goal. To finally get here and to finally have a chance at achieving our goal, it's something special. Q. Ryan, there's a good chance that your line might be matched up against Krejci's tonight. Can you talk about that challenge. RYAN KESLER: I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves there (smiling). That line's very skilled. If I am, in fact, matched up against that line, it's going to be a tough challenge, just like every series. Q. Talk a bit about how you relish that. RYAN KESLER: I take a lot of pride in the defensive part of my game. Being matched against really good offensive guys like that, it's definitely a challenge. I definitely relish the role. Q. Ryan, there's a possibility that Manny might play tonight. What would it mean if he's in the lineup? RYAN KESLER: If he is in tonight, it would be special. But if not, you know, he's working to play in these playoffs. Whenever he's ready, we're going to welcome him with open arms. Q. You guys have won seven straight Game 1s. You haven't trailed at any point in these playoffs. How much more important does that make Game 1 tonight? ALEXANDRE BURROWS: Obviously you always want to start a series on the right foot and get the first win. We've had home-ice advantage throughout these playoffs. We like to feed off our crowd, feed off that energy, have good first games. At the same time we have to focus on what we got to do to be successful. If we do that, we'll get the result we're looking for. Q. Alex, do you expect this to be the most physical series to date of the four you will play and how much do you relish taking the body? ALEXANDER EDLER: Yeah. I mean, it's the playoffs. It's always physical in the Stanley Cup final. So I'm sure it's going to be tight out there. It's going to be a lot of hits, a lot of physical plays. I think that's the way it should be. It's the Stanley Cup final here. I think that will be good. The crowd will like it. We will like it. Q. Can you describe what you're feeling, what you're thinking going into this Stanley Cup final Game 1, something you've been thinking about for many years or decades. RYAN KESLER: Well, I'm excited. You know, like I said before, we play to play in June. It's going to be fun tonight. Obviously there's going to be some butterflies, all that good stuff. But as soon as the puck drops, we've done a good job all year of staying in the moment, taking it one game at a time. We're going to enjoy this ride we're going to be on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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