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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v COYOTESMay 21, 2012Shane DoanPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Shane Doan. Q. (No microphone.) SHANE DOAN: I think we're starting to get more and more guys playing the way we need to. I think that's what makes our group strong and unique, and hopefully we can get even more guys going. Q. Shane, can you talk about the play of goaltender in Game4 when you needed it. SHANE DOAN: It's funny. At the end of every game, we have a pretty good routine going as a group that's a lot of fun to do. You talk to him. At the end of a big game, it's unbelievable the way he is. Whenever we've needed him all year, in the real big game, he's been unbelievable. There's something special about him that I'm sure glad he's on my team. He's a guy that rises to the occasion. He's fun to have on your team. Q. Back on home ice, how important is it to defend home ice because the Kings are so good on the road? SHANE DOAN: Obviously they've been playing well on the road and they found ways to win a lot of games on the road. Got to find a way to stop that. It's funny, say 'find a way' a lot of times, but we have to win. Have to make sure that we're better and we win. Q. Maybe for the first time in this series after you pull off a victory, the Kings are facing some adversity, have some self doubt going on in their head? SHANE DOAN: I'm sure they're a pretty confident group with everything they've done on the road. This next game, it's the biggest one of the year for us. Going after that will be even bigger. This next one's huge. You win this next one and then it's, Wait a minute here, what's going on? We got to find a way to win that one. Q. Being down 3‑0, did that almost work as a calming influence? Game4 was your best game. SHANE DOAN: No, yeah, as a group, I don't understand how we tend to push it to the limit. If it's playing in a game when you got the lead, you give up the lead, have to win it in overtime. If you're outside looking in at the playoffs, in the playoffs, you struggle a little bit, let everyone catch back up to you, scrape away at the end to crawl back in. That's the way our group is. We joke we need to change our slogan: it's hockey the hard way. We've made it the hard way at every turn. Hopefully next year it's hockey the easy way. We're comfortable being in a situation that's difficult. You don't always want to have to be going there. Q. How about tomorrow night, how important is it for Marty to have a good game, neutralize Kopitar? SHANE DOAN: He's going to be huge for us. He's been big for us all year. He's a guy that loves the competition of it. I think, yeah, I expect great things out of him and Vrby. I expect them to have a great game. They're such a big line. They've carried us probably 80% of the year. I think I expect huge things out of them. Q. (No microphone.) SHANE DOAN: It changes where you need secondary scoring. You look at everything the Kings have done, it's great. They've been good. That King/Stoll/Lewis line has arguably been the best line of the series. The level is so intense. There's so little room, you have to have other guys step up. We need other guys to step up. Obviously, it would be big to get some scoring from everybody. Q. You come home feeling good about yourselves, then you're met with a 7‑0 road record by the Kings. How do you reconcile that? This is the perfect storm for them? SHANE DOAN: I really think it's tough to come into a building and do it three times. They did it to Vancouver. We acknowledge that. Tough to do it again. We got to find a way to win that next one at home. That's really all we're thinking about. No one is worrying too much about other than finding a way to win that one at home. Q. How big does Smith's ability to handle a puck become? SHANE DOAN: His ability to handle the puck is something as a team we count on so much. It's funny that your goaltender's ability to make passes, get you out of your own zone, that's not something a lot of teams count on, but we really do. He does an unbelievable job of getting the puck out, making plays. You know what, his athleticism is unbelievable. When we got the lead, it makes it that much more, because teams are trying to get a forecheck going, he's able to at times relieve that pressure and get it out. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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