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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v CANUCKSJune 10, 2011Max LapierreRoberto LuongoVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Game Five Vancouver – 1 THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. Roberto, yesterday when you spoke to us you sounded pretty confident. Obviously you knew something a lot of people didn't about your focus and your frame of mind going into today. ROBERTO LUONGO: It's not the first time it's happened, so I know what I need to do to get ready and have my "A" game. I thought we all played well and stepped up our level of play to take it to a new level to win this game. We do whatever it takes and that's what we need to do if we want to win the last one here. Q. Max, looked like you were mortally wounded when you had that encounter with Zdeno Chara. I wondered how you were able to carry on after that. Describe the emotion of being one win away from the Stanley Cup. MAXIM LAPIERRE: I think we know it's going to be the biggest game of your life in Boston, and Boston is going to be ready. We're going to have to be ready for a challenge. Q. Roberto, did you go for a walk on the seawall? Did you do that to get ready for the game? ROBERTO LUONGO: I did it today. I don't know if they have any seawalls in Boston, but I'm going to look for that. I put my hoody on and my headphones, and I don't know if somebody said anything. I can't hear. But I just focus on the journey and everything I need to do to be ready for the game and that's what gets me prepared. Q. Max, is that a set play, the way you scored your goal? Is it something you guys talked about trying to use the endboard to your advantage? MAXIM LAPIERRE: Not really. We got lucky, good bounce. It was challenging there for us, right spot at the right time. Q. Max, can you talk about living in the moment and trying to walk that fine line. You're trying to play a game with an edge. You're not trying to take a penalty yet you end up scoring the biggest goal of your career. Talk about the thought process and how you ended up preparing for the game like tonight. MAXIM LAPIERRE: The main thing is having fun. When you come out and have fun, your game plan, it makes things way easier. This is what the whole team did tonight. We came out confident and played a really good game tonight. Q. Roberto, can you talk about from a goalie's perspective how difficult it is to play a shot off the endboard? ROBERTO LUONGO: It's not hard if you're playing in the paint. It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen. He might make some saves that I won't, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we're in a good position to bury those. Q. Max, talk about, first of all, the regrouping of the team, the job this team did regrouping from two bad losses in Boston to win this game. You personally picked up at the trade deadline, now you're the hero of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final. MAXIM LAPIERRE: We did it all year, we came back strong after a bad game. But it's the Stanley Cup final. Nobody said it was going to be easy and we just had to regroup and bounce back and this is what we did tonight. We were patient with the game plan and we had our break and it was good. Q. Coming here at the trade deadline, you're the hero of Game 5 Stanley Cup? MAXIM LAPIERRE: I just think I'm lucky. I had the chance to come play for this team. Q. Roberto, just to follow up on Nick's question, Henrik said for the most part, fans leave you alone when they see you out like that. Was there any interaction with fans today and is that something you do before every start? ROBERTO LUONGO: No, I don't do it before every start. Sometimes I need to clear my head and put things in prospective. Usually people don't bother me. I don't know if they're talking or not because I have my headphones on and I can't hear anything. So it's nice for me to be able to do that and focus on what I need to do and don't have any distractions. Q. Lou, talk about how you've been down this road before, surviving Chicago and making it through that series, did that help you focus and prepare for this game? ROBERTO LUONGO: Of course. Like I said before, you learn from your experiences. Whether they're good or bad, you always take something from it and try to use it moving on forward with your life. Obviously that Chicago series was the perfect example. You know, it's tough two games and you got to find a way to get it done because obviously, we're still in it and we still have a great opportunity ahead of us. It wasn't time to put your head down or whatever it was. Best of 2-out-of-3, and that's the way I looked at it. We got a great opportunity here coming Monday night. Q. How did it feel when the final buzzer went out? ROBERTO LUONGO: It was not about the shot, it was about the win. I am happy that Max used his skill to put the big goal in and whatever it takes to win. Whether it's 1-0 or 8-1, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. So right now, we're up 3-2 and we have a good opportunity come Monday night. That's what we're going to focus our attention on starting tomorrow. Q. Max, can you talk about your line and how far you guys have come. You guys are now going to the big line in the Stanley Cup finals. MAXIM LAPIERRE: I think we try to keep things simple. We want to put the puck deep and use our forecheck game and be good in our zone and things will come. When you play good defensively, you get your chance on the other side. Q. Roberto, do you ever wonder how often you got to keep proving yourself, because it seems like no matter what you do, every time you have a bad game, back comes the scrutiny? ROBERTO LUONGO: The only thing I have to prove things to is myself, my teammates, and my family and friends. That's who I play for. I play the game because I love it and I want to win the Stanley Cup. So that's the only motivation I need right now. I try to block everything else out. Sometimes it's hard to do in a city like this. You can't let those things affect you because then they will affect your game. Q. Roberto, can you just talk about the saves you made on Bergeron on the PK in the first period and the PK coming through as a whole the way it did early in the game? ROBERTO LUONGO: Seems to be a theme lately, we have to have some big kills in the first period. And when we seem to be, you know, getting out those, it gives a momentum. I think it was four straight today or something like that. It was huge. Guys blocking shots and everybody was on the same page. When we do that, it's easier for me to do my job. I don't have to worry about anything else but the shot. I thought today guys did a great job at making sure there were no second and third chances. Q. Max, the coach and several of your teammates said after Game 3 that the team was falling into bad habits as far as focus and too much energy after the whistles. Were you guilty of that? Did you feel that your focus was better tonight? MAXIM LAPIERRE: I think we were just trying to play our game out there. We know we're a good team when we play whistle-to-whistle, but I don't have much to say about that. We're not making a big deal about it in our room. Q. Who taught you your goal celebration? MAXIM LAPIERRE: It's been six months I'm thinking about a goal, so it's been a long time. I had so many in my head I didn't know what to do, so just start jumping. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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