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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKSJune 9, 2011Alain VigneaultVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Vigneault. Q. Alain, is it safe to say that Roberto Luongo is your starting goalie for game 5, 6, whatever game we're in? COACH VIGNEAULT: You can bet on that, yep. Q. Coach, why do you think he has struggled the last two games? Has it been mostly because of him or has he been not getting the help he needs in front? COACH VIGNEAULT: This is not a one-man affair here. We all know that our whole group can play better, and, you know, will play better in the two games. In Boston I liked the way we started the game. For some reason, in the second period they've been able to, you know, come at us and capitalize on some of our mistakes. We're excited about the opportunity that's in front of us. Geez, we are one of the last two teams playing for the Stanley Cup finals, playing with home ice advantage in this great city with these great fans, doesn't get much better than this. Q. Roberto, some of your other top players have struggled in this series, whether it's Ryan, Henrik. Can you win the series with those guys not contributing the way they've contributed in the past? COACH VIGNEAULT: They're elite players, and if we've gotten to where we are today it's because our top players have been, on most nights, the best players on the ice. We're no different than anybody else. Obviously we need those guys to play up to their standards, and they will. We faced adversity throughout the season in many shapes and forms. We are playing against a real strong opponent right now, we've got a lot of respect for how the Bruins play and what they bring to the ice surface. But we're also a very good team and we've proved it in the past and we're going to set out to prove it tomorrow night. Q. A question about your attack on Tim Thomas in terms of getting more quality shots on him from in close. What can you do to prove that? COACH VIGNEAULT: He's a good goaltender that plays an aggressive style. We've talked about going east and west, maybe using the back of the net a little more, all of the things you say when a goaltender is having success against a team. You need more pucks to the net, more traffic, better net preference, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. All those things that you hear coaches say all the time are things we they'd to do. And there are a couple of other things that we're going to address with our team tomorrow, and hopefully it will be beneficial for us tomorrow night. Q. Based on the way the last two games have gone, do you feel you have to do the coaching job of your life to turn your team back in the right direction? COACH VIGNEAULT: No. You guys should know, especially people from Vancouver, should know the core group and the strong leadership that we have in that dressing room, the accountability that we have in that dressing room. Guys aren't happy with how they've played. They're aware of it and they're going to come ready tomorrow and they're going to live in the moment and seize this opportunity. This is the hardest thing professionally any one of us has ever done. It's a tough trophy to win and Boston is trying real hard to win it. And we're trying real hard to win it. Q. How much did your group learn from that Chicago series where you were outscored 12-2? COACH VIGNEAULT: That's part of the adversity that any team that has playoff success is going to go through, Boston faced their share of adversity, we faced ours and both teams are going to try and hit it head-on tomorrow night. Q. I know in that coaching fraternity you guys lean on each other a lot. Even though you've been on the plane most of the day, have you heard from any of your friends? COACH VIGNEAULT: Not from the coaching fraternity, I've heard from a lot of friends, but we're doing a lot of work right now and we're spending a lot of time in the air, so not much time to talk to my buddies right now. Q. Early in the playoffs you got big-time point production from your blue line and that hasn't been the case so far in this series. Do you need those guys to come up with a big goal? COACH VIGNEAULT: We haven't had much offense throughout this series, it's not just from the blue line. We're a team that, if you look at how we play and how we've played in the regular season and in the playoffs, we're a good team that can play well both offensively and defensively. So right now, it's not a goaltender thing, it's a team thing. It's not just our offensive players. It's a team thing. We all need to execute better. And if we do that, then we're going to be in good shape. Q. It's similar to the Chicago series, in that series you didn't start Roberto. Can you explain why this dynamic is different? COACH VIGNEAULT: I just felt at that time with Chicago there was a special situation, the fact that we had lost twice to them before in the playoffs and felt that we needed to change momentum a little bit. My gut at that time told me that putting Schneids in was the thing to do. There is one thing, Roberto is the guy, he's my guy and he's playin'. It's that simple. Q. Coach, all year long -- COACH VIGNEAULT: You don't like that French stuff? Q. No, it's fine, I was honored that I was the last English question! All year long your team prided itself on playing whistle-to-whistle, not talking to the referees or getting involved in the scrums. In the last couple of games there has been evidence of those things occurring. Is that a concern of yours? COACH VIGNEAULT: When the game was in reach, we were playing whistle-to-whistle and weren't getting involved in scrums. In both games in Boston for whatever reason, when the game was out of reach, emotions ran high and boys will be boys sometimes, you know? Stuff happens, and stuff happened at the end of the game in both those games. It is what it is. Q. Heading into Game 4, the power play was really close you looked at video -- COACH VIGNEAULT: I lied (Laughter). Q. How do you feel now? COACH VIGNEAULT: I've got a lot of trust and faith in these guys. Before this series our power play was 28%. I think it was one of the best in the playoffs. The best in the regular season. These guys have done it all year for us and they're going to do it again. Q. Alain, referring back to the stuff that happened after the end of the game, earlier today Brad Marchand said he regretted doing the handwashing thing at the end of the game. Is that a minor thing, just one of those things or is it motivation for you guys? COACH VIGNEAULT: Last time my counterpart said we don't tolerate that in our team they went out there and did it a couple times, so I won't go there. Just say boys will be boys, and at times it's emotional out there. You do things that are sometimes across the line, sometimes on the right side of the line. It's just hockey. No day-to-day question from you guys? I like that today, you guys are learning (Laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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