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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v COYOTESMay 21, 2012Dave TippettPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Tippett. Q. Dave, it takes 20 guys to win, but that first line for you guys, so much offense this year, obviously getting targeted in the playoffs. Do you need to see a little bit more offensively from that group? COACH TIPPETT: I thought they were better last game. I thought that was the best game in the series. I thought that certainly was Ray Whitney's, he was around some chances. But you're absolutely right, it's been a line that has been very strong for us throughout the season. Anything they can do to help chip in would be greatly appreciated. Q. Dave, you come home with a little bit of momentum, feeling good about yourselves. You're greeted by a road team that's yet to lose. Does that factor into the psyche? COACH TIPPETT: We're in the same boat we were the other night. If we don't play well and we don't win, we go home. What the other team's record is inconsequential to us. We have to play well. Q. After what happened yesterday, talk about the spirit of the team at this point. COACH TIPPETT: Well, our spirits are certainly better when you win a game. Your back's against the wall still, there's an awful lot to be accomplished here. We recognize it's a hard mountain to climb. But our guys, we got the first one, we got to come home and, like I say, use the energy of our building, get ourselves in position to take another one. Then we'll just keep going from there. Nobody's looking past tomorrow's game. We have to continue to get better if we're going to have a chance to get ourselves back in the series. That's all we're thinking. Q. Dave, when you had a player around the trade deadline, there are some dangers to that. We saw that a little bit with Nashville. What convinced you when you were bringing Antoine in that he would be a good fit, both on and off the ice? COACH TIPPETT: Don did a lot of homework on him, not just watch a lot of video of him playing, but a lot of homework on his personality. We always talk about we need players that are going to fit well into our group. Everything Don heard about Antoine was very good, very good teammate. Sometimes you get players that are outcasts in the dressing room. That wasn't the case. He was at the forefront of leadership, things he was trying to do. Good experience with the playoffs with Ottawa. We felt it was a player that fit well into our group, personality and play‑wise. Q. I know it's a long way from what you're thinking about, but this is nine playoff gates you will have contributed to the company bank account here. COACH TIPPETT: You're asking the wrong person about that. Q. Do you feel you've done something in terms of making this a more valuable commodity? COACH TIPPETT: The only bank account I worry about are wins. The business side can take care of itself. That's inconsequential to us. It's great that there's a buzz in the city, we created a buzz because of the wins. If you think this team is in here winning because it's raising money, that's the wrong attitude. Q. The win yesterday and building some positive momentum going into tomorrow game, do you think this is the first time the Kings might have some self doubt? COACH TIPPETT: They've played well right throughout. So I don't anticipate them to feel like their game has fallen off. They'll come in, play a hard game, play a solid game. You don't go 11‑1 in the playoffs having fall‑off. We recognize they're a good team. They're going to come play well. We have to play the way we can and give ourselves the best chance to win. I think it will be a tight game again. That bodes to how we want to play. Comes down to a couple good plays here or there, a couple big saves, and we can find a way to win. Q. Yesterday you talked about what Shane Doan has meant to you behind the scenes. Even though he only played his first game in the series yesterday, the same with Adrian Aucoin, what he means to this group. COACH TIPPETT: He's been around our group for three years. He's one of those guys that's a solid, veteran player. When you put him in situations in a game, he's not going to get spooked by anything. He's going to come and give you solid minutes. He jumped back in. He's been battling some injuries here really the last month or six weeks. You give him credit. It was killing him being out. Jumping back in, I thought he gave us some solid minutes last night. Q. One more question about the frontline.  Looked like during the playoffs you've had suspensions, injuries with that group. Yesterday you put them back together. Was it kind of like, Do or die, guys, let's go firing with what we had all year? COACH TIPPETT: That's the case right there. You've seen them. They've been at times a dominant line. Throughout the playoffs it started with Vrbata getting hurt early in the playoffs, Hanzal has been nicked up a little bit, then suspension. They just haven't been able to generate the same kind of chances they did during the regular season. Like I say, I thought that was the best game of the series last night. There were some positive steps. I think there's some positive things they can build on from there. Hopefully they get better in the next game. Q. Do you expect to have Adrian tomorrow night? COACH TIPPETT: We'll see where he is. He wasn't on the ice today. We had three or four guys stay off today. We'll see how he came out of it. Every game there's some nicks that you have to deal with. We'll see where he's at tomorrow morning. Q. Shot blocking, do you need more of that to be successful? COACH TIPPETT: That's one of the things we talk about, we have to do some things of a competitive nature that allow us to win. There's one‑on‑one battles, there's blocking shots, there's doing things that enable you to win a tight hockey game. Our guys have been pretty good at that. If you look at our penalty killing, especially, there's Korpikoski, Gordon, Morris, Rozsival. These guys are fearless when it comes to blocking shots. To me that's what you have to do this time of year to win. Q. Do you get a sense that Radim as the series progresses is getting a better feel for the series, seeing the plays develop much better as he goes? COACH TIPPETT: I don't know if it's much better as he goes. You look at the game last night. The one thing Vrbata is, he's an opportunistic player. When he's contributing, he capitalizes on them. He had a couple opportunities right in the slot last night or yesterday afternoon, one that he bobbled, another one he missed the net. If those chances coming like that are an indication that his game is improving, I would agree with you in that sense. Now the next step is to make some of those chances count. Q. Do you feel the blueprint for yesterday's win can carry over or that's just maybe a building block for other areas you know they're going to come harder? COACH TIPPETT: The only thing, I liked the way we were more competitive in some one‑on‑one battles. We gave ourselves a better chance to win because we won more battles. If we take a step backwards and decide that we're going to do things soft and easy, it's probably not going to work out for us. You have to recognize they're going to come in with the mindset they're going to battle for their ice and battle to win. If we're not ready for that challenge, I don't like our chances. Our players know what we expect, how they have to play if we're going to be successful. Then after that, it comes down to you got to have some people make some plays, Smitty gives us some big saves and gives us a chance to win. Q. Your goalie has a road shutout in each series now. For him to say he has to play his best game of the playoffs, does that give you an indication of what's inside there? COACH TIPPETT: I just want him to say that today, too (laughter). No, he was very good. He's been outstanding through the whole playoffs. Hopefully that continues. Q. Special teams time in Game4 probably didn't help you to roll four lines. Maybe making some changes on that Gordon line for Game5? COACH TIPPETT: Which one is the Gordon line? Q. Gordon, Chipchura and Pouliot. COACH TIPPETT: We'll see where we are injury‑wise tomorrow, and see what we have to do there. They didn't get much because we had a couple injuries, a couple guys leave during the game for stretches. Chipchura and Pouliot didn't get much, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Q. Hanzal was one of those guys. COACH TIPPETT: He missed a little bit of time. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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