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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BRUINS v PENGUINSJune 1, 2013Claude JulienPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Game One Q. When it comes to making a decision on Ference, how much does it help when he has the team‑first mentality? CLAUDE JULIEN: That's the thing I'll have to deal with when the time comes. Q. Just kind of a thought, when you stepped on the ice this morning, how good did it feel knowing that you were finally going to play a game tonight‑‑ not you, but the team. CLAUDE JULIEN: I'm done. But no, I think it's great that this series is starting. I think both teams feel the same way. It's been a good week, but time to get some rest and heal and hopefully make it an even more interesting series by having that break. But I think we're excited. You know, this is the best time of year to be playing hockey, we all know that. June and hockey seem to go hand in hand: Beautiful weather and a great sport to be part of. So, you know, it's great to be here. I know our team is excited about it, and I have no doubt they are, as well. Q. Some people consider your team underdogs. Just wondering your thoughts on that and whether you relish it or resent it? CLAUDE JULIEN: I don't even pay attention to that really. None of us do. It doesn't really matter. There's always going to be that situation. What you have got to focus on is going out there and just playing, because at the end of the day, it's the results that count, not what the perception is. So that's what we're looking at, hopefully getting the results that we want. Q. Wanted to ask you about Matt Bartkowski, all of the distractions playing in his hometown, how do you think he's handled it in terms of coming back here? CLAUDE JULIEN: Fine. Like I said, he's got that demeanor about him that he's focused on what he has to do. He's here in this city, but he wants to spend time with his teammates, and that says a lot about a player. While he doesn't want the distractions; more he just wants to play. I think he's become a mature player over the years. He's grown as a pro on the ice and also off the ice. Q. Your faceoffs, how much of a luxury is it having as many options as you do in faceoffs, not just with players, that they can make left draws or right draws; and when you and Peter constructed the roster, was that designed to get different options left or right? CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, like Gilly, you always like to have those options. Doesn't mean you always have them but it's been great that way. We have a lot of guys that are good on draws, but not just guys that are playing center, guys that are also wingers. Peverley is one of those guys that is really good on faceoffs, as well, and he plays a wing. Seguin is very capable, and if you've watched guys like Lucic and stuff like that, they are not bad, either. So we have got some guys that really take a lot of pride in that and for me it's always been an important part of the game to start with the puck and by winning draws, that's exactly what happens. Q. Eastern Conference Finals, second time in three years, have you had a time to maybe grasp how incredible this is for your team and what it means, and the sense that you get that now that you are finally here, how the guys are doing. CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, I think you're proud to be part of the last four, but more importantly, I think it's almost like we are not done here. We haven't accomplished anything, and at the end, there's only going to be one winner, and you want to have a chance at that. So we are only halfway there, and I think our guys have been pretty good about not getting too ahead of themselves and have handled it well, so we know we have had a tough series here and we need all our energy spent on what we need to do to win here versus how satisfied or happy we are to be here. Q. When you have decisions to make, be it line combinations, matchups, d‑pairings, your think I'm on that‑‑ I know this is a consensus thing and you deal with your coaches on these decisions, too, but do you find for you personally there's a better time to come up with a clarity, be it the drive to the rink, the flight, or just downtime or do you prefer to do that right in the setting? CLAUDE JULIEN: As far as preparing for that? Q. Not preparing for it but when you ultimately come to the decision, it's going to be X, Y, Z and it's going to be this pairing, where do you finally crystalize that? CLAUDE JULIEN: It's right near the end. During the week, you talk about it and then eventually you come up and make a decision. But just because you make a decision doesn't mean you stick with it, either. I think it's one of those things where you have a decision, but you also have Plan B if you need to adapt and everything else. You just have to be ready. . That's the advantage that we've both had as teams here is we've had a whole week to think these things through, and sometimes, you know, you're out of one series and into the next and you don't have that much time. Then you've got to prepare on the fly and then make those decisions quickly. But we've had a chance to ponder those kind of things and look at it, and then we said, well, if it doesn't work, we can always go to this and that, and we are ready as much as they are. But again, you know, matchups are one thing, but I said that this morning to someone: I'm not going to get 100 percent of my matchups, and neither is he, and that's the thing that you have to accept. And then that's when you have to rely on your team and your players to know that they have got to do the job whoever they are out there against. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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