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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKS

June 2, 2011

Claude Julien

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Claude, just wondering if you had a chance to see the replay of the Burrows' fight?
COACH JULIEN: Obviously, I had a chance to look at it because we watched the game tape, saw what happened. As far as I'm concerned, the League has made a decision on it and we move on.
I think what's more important for us is to prepare for the next game instead of putting our attention on something that's already been ruled.
Let's move on here. We're not the type of team that whines and cries about things like that. We just move on and that's what we're going to do.

Q. Talking about moving on, this is something this team has thrived on no matter what kind of defeat you've had. What is it about this group of guys that they're able to turn the page so well?
COACH JULIEN: Well, that's because that's the way we've approached it all year. Throughout the season, you get your ups and downs. When we had our downs, we know a lot of people were disappointed, we were criticized. Inside that dressing room, we knew it was a long year, we could right the ship with time. We did that. We got into the playoffs.
Having done that all year, you don't change your approach. You lose a game. We know how important that loss becomes. But right now what's more important is not yesterday's loss but how we're going to react to it on Saturday.

Q. Maybe there were some nerves last night with the team, hesitation. Did you see that at all at any point in the game?
COACH JULIEN: I would say whatever nerves there was, it was on both sides. I don't think there's a team there that seemed more nervous than the other.
I would say that our team is and will play better. It's capable of playing better and definitely will play better next game. That's a thing that we believe in. We also understand we have to play better if we intend on winning some games here.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about what you like about Zdeno Chara playing in front of the net?
COACH JULIEN: There's not much not to like about Zdeno Chara when you have him on your team. You appreciate him for everything he does. Obviously on the power-play he's given us a different look. I thought he did a pretty good job.
As you know, when you get put in that position, there's always things that you better yourselves at. Obviously he's moving around pretty good at trying to be a screen in front and also not trying to get sucked into penalties.
They were pretty hard on him yesterday at times. He just got back up and did his job. I anticipate he'll only get better at that position as we use him there.

Q. Johnny Boychuk has been on the ice for the last seven goals scored against you. Are you concerned about his play and decisions?
COACH JULIEN: Let's put it this way. At this time of the year, I'm not going to come in here and criticize my players. So I'm not going to answer that question as far as we're going to deal with it internally. I think what we have to do here is regroup as a team and play better.
Right now I'm not going to stand here and start answering questions about people criticizing individuals. I'm going to stay with the team concept. I think if you ask him, he knows he probably could have played that last goal a lot better. We all know that, but we all need to move on right now.

Q. Could you talk about Andrew Ference, what his value is to your team.
COACH JULIEN: He's been solid for us. He's been a player that for the first time in a long time has been a pretty healthy player for us all year. We knew how good he was. Throughout the last few years he's had to battle some injuries. Every time he came back, it took him a while to find his game again. When he did, he went back down to an injury.
This year he's been pretty healthy overall. He's certainly showing his value right now. He may be a smaller defenseman in stature, but he certainly plays like a big guy. Very physical, smart. His battle is second to none for a guy his size.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH JULIEN: I think his personality is fine. You get the typical answers from players when you're asked questions. He's one of those guys that thinks those things through maybe a little bit more, will elaborate a little bit more on his answers, which I think makes you guys pretty happy.
So I think he's been pretty honest, as well, as a player in answering those kind of questions. I know he's been through some tough times where he's been criticized. A lot of it was probably not founded. He stood tall for himself and I think players respect him for that.

Q. The way that Tim Thomas plays at the edge of his crease sometimes, he gets bumped around a lot. Where is the gray area there? At times Tim does play outside the crease.
COACH JULIEN: Well, that's his style. I mean, if he gets a chance to challenge, he challenges. The rule is pretty clear. You're entitled to your ice. If he steps out and he's got that ice, he's entitled to it. That's what he's done through the whole process.
Now, we all know that goaltenders are to be protected. If you're going to say he's out of his crease, he's fair game. That should be the same thing behind the net. I think the league has ruled that the goaltenders need to be protected. If he's entitled to his ice, and he's got it, then afterwards I don't think people are entitled to run over those guys.
If Luongo comes out of his net, he's got his ice, it's his, it belongs to him.
The rule to me is pretty clear so I don't see any issues there.

Q. Claude, would you like to see your team be more physical in Game 2? Are you entertaining the idea of putting out a more physical lineup than what you did in Game 1?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I expect our team to play better. So that's in all areas, whether it's physical, whether it's what we create on offense, everything else. I mean, I'm not going to look at one area because I think we can be better in all areas. That's what I said when I said earlier that our team is and has to be and will play better next game.

Q. If you focus just on your shots last night in terms of quality and volume, do you think you made it a difficult night for Luongo or more routine?
COACH JULIEN: No, I don't think we made it as difficult as we should have or could have. So it's something that has to be a little bit better in regards to that. Like I said, there's a lot of times we come out of a game where we've been out-shot, people are up in arms. Yet you look at the scoring chances, we've done a pretty good job.
I think the same applies for them last night. We might have out-shot them, but they had the better quality scoring chances than we did, and that's reality.

Q. Claude, during your playing career, you certainly didn't back down from anyone. In the context of the Burrows/Bergeron incident, do you remember anything in particular that you may have been involved in that you look back now and may be comparable or even laugh at?
COACH JULIEN: Obviously things were a lot different in those days. In those days I remember a lot of gouging, a lot of biting. It was fair game at that time. Obviously, the rules have gotten a little tighter. Those kind of things right now are deemed unacceptable.
Like I said, I just find that it's too bad that something like that has to happen in the Stanley Cup finals. I think there's better ways of resolving issues than getting to that issue. It is what it is and, like I said, we're moving on here.

Q. As good as your team has been all season, were you surprised at all that when the game last night became more of a five-on-five game, that's when Vancouver began to take over the game?
COACH JULIEN: Yeah, it was pretty simple. I think they beat us at the five-on-five game last night. I think our special teams were good if not better than theirs, to be honest with you.
We had more scoring chances on our power-play. Our penalty kill did a great job against a pretty potent power-play. Special teams wasn't an issue, but five-on-five they were no doubt a better team.

Q. Do you see your power-play coming along in the last little while?
COACH JULIEN: It's amazing just because of how it's been before, it's still being kind of questioned today.
I think our power-play was very good last night in moving the puck and creating some chances, and was dead even with Vancouver's in my mind. We had more scoring chances than Vancouver did on the power-play. If we're going to criticize ours, we should criticize theirs at this stage of the playoffs.
Right now, the way I've looked at it is that our power-plays on both teams start from scratch in this series and we'll gauge on how teams do in the special teams department. Right now we're dead even.
We had some scoring chances. We moved the puck well. I thought Zdeno did a great job in front of net. I think our penalty kill did a great job against a power-play that is supposedly so potent. I thought our penalty kill did a good job.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH JULIEN: That's the respect there is in Boston as far as the Red Sox are concerned. They're big fans of ours and we're big fans of theirs. That's something that has been going on for a long time now.
That's what Boston is all about. They're supportive of all their teams. Obviously, hockey for the longest of times was something so big in Boston. It kind of lost its luster in those difficult times. I think right now what we're seeing is it's certainly coming back in the right direction. It's been a lot of fun being part of it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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