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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: KINGS v DEVILSJune 3, 2012IIya KovalchukLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ilya Kovalchuk. Q. How confident are you guys right now? ILYA KOVALCHUK: It's sort of two, two games for us. I think the second game we play much better than the first one. We have to do the same thing. We have to work hard and the breaks will go our way, too. Q. What is the message coming from some of the veteran guys? What are they saying? ILYA KOVALCHUK: What are they saying? They saying we have to keep working. We not going to give up. We in the finals for a reason. We in the situation before. We just have to go out there and try our best and try to get a win. Q. I know you were frustrated last night when asked about the power play. What specifically do you think could help? ILYA KOVALCHUK: I think we have to be simple. That time of the year, power play has to be one pass, shot, screen, then those kind of goals, they going to go in. We try fancy stuff, it's not going to work. We talk about it today. I think it's going to be different tomorrow. Q. (No microphone.) ILYA KOVALCHUK: It's not easy. But we were good on the road all year long. We're just going to go out there, like I said. We're two games down, but we didn't lose everything yet. We have to have four wins to get a Cup. Does not take just two. Q. Two overtime games, both go their way. What is the difference in your mind? ILYA KOVALCHUK: It's tough to say. Sometimes it take just a little bounce their way, and that's what happen. We got some chances in overtime. I got really good chance right before the third period ends. They got the first two wins. What else you got to say? We have to put that behind us and go out there and play the best we can. Q. Do you find you're finding a little more room or has it been the same throughout the series? ILYA KOVALCHUK: I think in second game we got more chances. But I think special teams, that was a huge difference for us. All playoffs long, we were going on the power play. If we're scoring, we get momentum. At least we have good chances. Let's get good momentum for the rest of the games. Those two games we were off. We got to be better. Q. Is there something that allows you to believe that you can do that? ILYA KOVALCHUK: It's not hard to believe. We're going to take it one game at a time. It takes four games to win the series, not two, not three, not one. They were good the first two, but we'll see what's going to happen. Q. How far do you think you are from playing your best game? ILYA KOVALCHUK: I think five‑on‑five, shorthanded we play really well. I think five‑on‑five, that goal in overtime, it's a tough break there. He make a great play, so... But, you know, all the game long, we were pressuring, forechecking well. Like I said, the power play got to be better. That's the key in those kind of games. When you have the power play, even when you're not scoring, you have to create momentum. Q. What do you have to do better on the power play? ILYA KOVALCHUK: We got to be simple, like I said before. We tried to do too much. We tried to spin, make a pass through five guys, four guys, it's not going to happen. We just have to make the one pass and get shots through. Q. Is that what frustrated you last night? ILYA KOVALCHUK: After lose, I cannot be happy. I just know we can be better. In the next situation, we will be. Q. They haven't faced too many deficits. What would the difference be getting a lead on them? ILYA KOVALCHUK: It's always important. Not just against them, but against anybody, to get a lead. I think that's what we have to do the next game. We can't allow them to score first. Q. Late in the last round you were getting five, six shots some games. You haven't seemed to have gotten as many shots so far. How do you feel you're playing compared to those other games? ILYA KOVALCHUK: Last game I played little better, but still I don't think any of us can say we played good game. I personally feel the same way. We're all can be better and we will. We really care about each other. It's not just one guy, not two guys. All of us have to stick together and play as a team. Q. Do you feel you left some shots on the table last game? ILYA KOVALCHUK: Yeah. You know, couple maybe I should have shot. I passed the puck. But we want to give the puck to our D, they create traffic in front, helps us score goals. Sometimes you got to be a little more selfish and take those shots. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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