	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKS

June 5, 2011

Claude Julien

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Julien.

Q. Claude, one of the attributes of your team is your physicality. Couple players from Vancouver hobbled last night. Do you think if you can continue with that wear and tear that might help change the series around?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I think what we have to continue is to bring that part of our game to the table every night. It has been part of our makeup. If that's the case, so be it.
I don't think we plan on changing that part of our game. There's other parts that we feel are more important that we get better at. But the physical part is going to be there. I suspect it's going to be there right till the end.

Q. When you have a goalie like Tim, there's going to be instances where he's aggressive and gets himself into a tough spot but make spectacular saves. Do you have to accept that in your goaltender and not expect to change him in any way? Do the players have to adjust around that?
COACH JULIEN: I think all year long we've played in front of Timmy Thomas. To me he's a Vezina Trophy winner. We are here right now because of his contribution, which has been really good. For us to be sitting here having to answer those kind of questions is ridiculous to me.
He's won a Vezina Trophy already, as I mentioned. He's probably going to win one this year, in my mind anyway, for what he's done.
The question is, is his way of playing is really looking for something to talk about. Yesterday he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game. So if we want to focus on that last goal, which I think a lot of other players could have done a better job, I think it's focusing on the wrong thing.

Q. Talking to Zdeno just now, he says that he's used to playing the minutes that he's been playing for a long time. Do you worry about any wear and tear given where we're at in the season or you're confident he can continue to log what he logs?
COACH JULIEN: Well, like you said, he's been used to it all year. To me he's handled it all year. Where we are right now, we have to look at it this way: he's got all summer long to rest. Now is not the time to start giving him a rest.
We're in a fight here for a Stanley Cup. He's capable of taking it. We feel he is. If he wasn't, we wouldn't be giving it to him. I don't see an issue there either.

Q. Two very close games, but late in each game Vancouver probably had the edge. What can you do to counteract that going forward?
COACH JULIEN: Well, obviously first game I thought in the third period they were the better team. Looking back at the game, having a chance to look at it again, I thought even the first half the third period we were a pretty good team. Maybe the last 10 minutes after they scored they picked up a little bit of momentum. Let's not talk about the overtime, it didn't last long enough, right?
Basically it's something that we have to improve on as far as our game is concerned. I thought we had good momentum when we did the right things that our hockey club should be doing.
When they took the momentum away from us is because we gave them an opportunity to take the momentum away from us by turning pucks over and our puck management that I talked about yesterday. So that's going to have to be better. We're all well aware of that. I've made it clear for the last two days. Let's see where it takes us.

Q. One of the unique aspects of this series versus the other ones you played is the distance you're traveling between games. How much thought was put into the way you'll handle that and how important is it for the players in preparing for Game 3?
COACH JULIEN: Well, we're not going to hide the fact that we don't travel as much as they do. They're probably used to this more than we are. So I think it was important for us to really look at it in a way where we had to make it the best possible way for us.
Our travel today was planned accordingly. We wanted to get back on eastern standard time as quickly as we could. So that's the purpose between us leaving at the time we did, getting here at this time right now.
But our players seem to feel pretty good right now. They said that they really didn't feel it. We'll see tomorrow morning when they show up at the rink and maybe ask them again if they're still feeling the same way.
No matter what, we're going to have to battle through it. There's no way around it. We have to fight through those kind of things.
I don't want to use this as an excuse or disadvantage. I want us to I guess challenge ourselves to be able to fight through that kind of stuff.

Q. You mentioned the turnovers and puck management again. When you emphasize that, is it going to be possible for your guys tomorrow night to come out and play focused and relaxed enough knowing that it can just be a very small mistake that they can exploit and turn into a goal?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I would say that's part of my job to make sure they go out there tomorrow with some confidence and we make the right adjustments. I say 'my job,' as a coaching staff we have to prepare them accordingly. Those guys go out and play. But what happens before that is our responsibility.
You got to put them in that position where they're going to make those adjustments. I shouldn't say 'adjustments,' more of those corrections. At the same time, they got to have the right frame of mind going into the game.
We're going to make sure that we do that tomorrow, that the guys are ready to go.

Q. Have you been pleased with the amount of scoring chances you've been able to generate first two games? What can you do to improve that number?
COACH JULIEN: We're never pleased with the amount of scoring chances you have. You always try to get more. I think you have to ask your players to maybe create more obviously in that area.
You also have to give the other team credit sometimes for how they defend. So that's one of the areas I think that if we can improve on, make it a little harder for them to defend against our offense, it's certainly going to help our chances, obviously.
I thought we got a little better yesterday, but not good enough.

Q. With regard to matchups, often top lines in matchups, they cancel each other out. It comes down to some secondary scoring. Below your top six forwards and things like that, is that group below generating what you think it can and what you think it will?
COACH JULIEN: Well, it's going to have to. I think that's one of the things. Late in the game yesterday, kind of reunited Peverley with Kelly and Ryder. They had some success earlier on in the playoffs. I thought they seemed to be a pretty good line. That was encouraging for us.
Again, it's about mixing and matching. I'm going to have a better opportunity here in these next two games of having more of my say in regards to that. We had to change on the fly sometimes yesterday. Even our D pairing, we'd have one from each pairing. Depending on who they put on there, instead of having two D's coming off, you'd only have one.
That's what you got to do on the road. You got to try to get the matchups you want. At home it's a lot easier.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297