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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DEVILS v RANGERSMay 25, 2012Peter DeBoerNEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Game Six Q. Do you think the fact there's so much to correct from the last game will help your players stay in the moment tonight? COACH DeBOER: That was your opinion, that we had so much to correct? We won the game. We had some corrections to make, but I don't think it was that monumental. Yeah. Q. What are you feeling today and why? COACH DeBOER: I feel good. I feel confident. Where else would you rather be? I mean, I don't think anyone predicted at the start of the season that we would have a chance to play a home game to move on to the Stanley Cup Final. And we're in a great spot. We worked awfully hard to get to this point. And where else would you want to be? Q. Coach, they say a lot of times in hockey the hardest game to win is the last one in the series. Is there any extra difficulty (indiscernible) closing out of a game versus just any other game in the Playoffs? COACH DeBOER: I don't think any extra difficulty other than the difficulty you put on yourself, that pressure that you put on yourself. I don't really buy into that, that it's the hardest to win. I mean, it's the hardest to win because of the pressure you put on yourself to do that. And for us, it's business as usual. We just have to play our game and win a game. Q. How long do you think it took the team to buy into what you were trying to tell them the (indiscernible)? COACH DeBOER: I think there was buy‑in right from the beginning. I think it took at least half a year for us to start to play seamlessly with it. I didn't sense any nonbelievers in what we were trying to do or how we wanted to play. But it took us a full 40 games to move around the ice seamlessly within our system. Q. Sort of piggybacking on that question, as a coach when you come into a team that has a long history of winning and you have some veterans that have been around, is there any feeling that you have to prove yourself as a coach, at least to those veteran guys? COACH DeBOER: I don't know about prove yourself. I mean, you walk in and it's like any job. They want to know how you can help them get to where they want to get to. And you don't have a long time to grab their attention or their trust to do that. So having a pedigree or having‑‑ playing in the league for a lot of years gets you in that door, you know, I didn't have that. But once you're in the door, it's how quickly you can sell them that you can get them to where they want to go. I think my staff, my assistant coaches, did a fantastic job right from day one with that. Q. The goalie, what are the possibilities that you have, the extra possibilities you have with the way he played, the way he handled the puck? COACH DeBOER: His puck‑handling ability, I can't overstate the value it's brought to us. It's why a big part of our game and some of our system play is based around the fact we have the best puck‑handling goaltender of all time. (Indiscernible), and we'd be foolish not to plan around that. So it's a big part for us. There's also a pressure guide in these types of situations, and that has a calming effect (indiscernible). Q. The Rangers are going to come in here. It may be their last game. Should be coming in here intense, trying to put everything in the rink. What do you do to be able to have your team manage that intensity? COACH DeBOER: I think that intensity has been there the whole series. I know it's an elimination game. So it ratchets up maybe a little bit. But this has been an intense series. I think everyone's known from Game 1 what's on the line every night. It's a real whirl there. I don't expect a lot different, who is going to handle the situation the best and with the most composure. Q. When you did come in and you had this veteran forward (indiscernible) over the years, what was your sell (indiscernible)? How did you sell that you were going to get what you wanted to get done? COACH DeBOER: I guess you get the job because of a belief system. I think that's what Lou saw. And I think when you believe in how the game should be played and you have the conviction in that, I think it sells itself. I don't think there was any premeditated salesmanship. I can tell you if I was a used car salesman, I'd starve to death. So it's not my salesmanship. I just think it's the fact that you believe how the game should be played. You have a conviction in that, and I think that the players see that and they bought in. Q. Before you got here, fairly common perception that Volchenkov wasn't a team‑oriented player. Can you tell me why you got (indiscernible) that perception and (indiscernible) what you were seeing? COACH DeBOER: I don't know why. I think it's media‑created, if that was the perception on him. I didn't see any of that. I said from day one he's been all in, team first, great teammate. I didn't see even a hint of that, and I haven't seen it at all this year. So totally false, and we wouldn't be here without him. Q. (Indiscernible)? COACH DeBOER: We're not counting on that again. And we expect him to have his best game in the series. That's what this time's all about. You want them to throw their best game at you and we want to bring our best game and may the best team win. Q. Any changes to the lineup? COACH DeBOER: No. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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