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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: KINGS v DEVILSJune 8, 2012Darryl SutterNEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Sutter. Q. Talk about your decision to go with Simon Gagne, what you've seen from him. COACH SUTTER: I think offense is always at a premium.  If you can get a guy back to close to where he was, and I think the farther you go in the playoffs, the more those top‑end guys you can have in your lineup, as long as they're up to speed, the better your team is. It's tough to take kids out. You wish you could play everybody. Q. You've had better success with your power play the last two games. Some of the players thought it was because you're going with line combos instead of power play combos. COACH SUTTER: Actually, we did it in Game3 because the score was 2‑0 at that time, didn't keep the forward on the point. In the last game, actually the goal we did score was Mike Richards on the point with Drew. It's more time and score and those sorts of things. Q. Do you have the same mindset as after Phoenix Game3? You said, We lost a game, it happens. COACH SUTTER: It's hard to talk about because sometimes you lose games and you played better than you did when you win games. That's the way the game is. I think we probably played better in Game4 than we did in Game2. So, you know what, move on. Q. Can you compare the demeanor of your club going into Game4 and now going into Game5. COACH SUTTER: Day before the game, I'm not sure. I mean, we got home so late. Game3 and 4, you're not really practicing, you're just trying to get them ready for the game. So today's different because obviously we get in here last night, try to get our feet under us today, go from there again. You know what, we haven't changed. I haven't seen a big change in our team emotionally for almost two months now. I think we've been able to handle different situations. I think they've learned, because of the breaks we had before Series 2 and before Series 3, the breaks they had, they had to learn to get their space, get back to being focused and reloaded. They've done a good job of that. You leave it to your veterans, reinforce it with the kids. Q. Can you talk about the logistics of traveling all the way across the country. It eats up a whole day. The little things you do to normalize the system. COACH SUTTER: I think the nutrition and the hydration and those things are really important to the players. I think their routine of that is just as important as the time change. What you have on the plane, everybody travels so nice now, it's pretty good. You're checking on the pilots most of the time to see how fast they're going. Q. In earlier rounds, Dustin Brown was able to make plays that either changed games and changed series. Is he not making those now because of what he's doing or how the Devils are playing? COACH SUTTER: I think probably both. But he's still the physical guy, the hard guy to play against. I think in the earlier rounds you're talking about him more because he was more of an offensive guy. You got to be careful of that because he's a 20‑some goal‑scorer that scores big goals for you. We still need him to do that. We still need him to be a physical guy and to be strong on the walls. Everybody always asks about our captain, those things. It's something we get asked a lot about. But it doesn't change, right? He has an identity. If he plays in that identity, that's what he does for us. He complements Kopie and Justin. Q. What is the best way for your team to make sure that the Devils don't begin to play with a ton of confidence with one win behind them? COACH SUTTER: Well, I don't think our team is going to struggle with confidence. We're not concerned with their confidence, and they're not really concerned the other way, right? So I don't think that's really an issue. I think it's the finals, and that's why they're here. You know, like we tell the players, I said it to you guys, really the series could be 2‑2 or 1‑3. There hasn't been a gap in it. You look at the first two games, six periods of 2‑1 hockey. The other night is 1‑1 with just a few minutes left. There's not enough of a gap. You look at the third game, the shutout game, there's no score. Second period, you know, you score the two. There's not enough of a difference in the series. Brodeur was awesome I think the other night. We need probably Jonathan to be that tomorrow. Q. There's three games that have been toss‑up games. Is there a feeling on the ice of just how fine the line is between winning and losing in this series? COACH SUTTER: Yeah, I know our guys understand it very well. They know it's just the little things that you have to try to accomplish during your shift that might be the difference in a game. I think our players have been right on top of it. You can see how serious both teams are. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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