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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BRUINS v PENGUINSJune 5, 2013Claude JulienBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Three Q. Just one of the general themes in there today in the locker room was even from the forwards, defense, defense, defense, and our offense comes after that. Even though you scored nine goals in the first two games, how much has that team carried you guys? COACH JULIEN: It's been good for us. I think when you look at our team, it's built that way. We take pride in that part of our game, and that part of our game has also given us the opportunity to be better offensively, turn that puck over quick and then everybody comes back and we go up the ice as a unit. That's been a big part of our game, and when it's good, it provides us with some good offense. Q. Your team has been on sort of both sides of this situation, whether it be up 2‑0 headed home or down 2‑0 headed on the road. How much of that experience plays in right now and how much do you think they've learned that just because you're coming home to your home building, nothing is etched in stone? COACH JULIEN: No, it doesn't matter what situation it is. I think our guys are mature enough to understand that whatever we've been through, whatever the situation is right now, we have to be a good team in order to win at this stage of the season, and we can't afford to let our guard down, whether it's the respect for a team you're playing and the ability of that team to take advantage of you if you're not ready, or whether it's just from within our group, to want to be a good team every night. That's what's important right now, is that we stay focused on the present and don't live in the past and don't look in the future. I've said that before. We've been good when we've kept our eye on what's going on right now, and that's what we've got to do. Q. Your players are talking about the system in there, and some describe it as a very easy system, and then Paille said it's complicated, McQuaid sort of hints at the same thing. How would you describe the system? COACH JULIEN: It's not complicated, so I'm going to have to have a talk with Dan there with that. It really isn't. What we try and do is eliminate the gray areas, make it black and white, and it really is easy, and he probably said complicated because he doesn't want to tell you what it is. But it isn't, and this game shouldn't be a complicated one. Guys have skills, you try and put some structure together, but the one thing you don't take away is their ability to use their imagination and their skill and their hockey sense to make plays. Defensively is where you're extremely structured, and then you want to make sure, like you said, that you have layers and guys come back the way they should be positioned. But when it comes to offense, a couple of rules, but the rest is about letting them do their job and let them use their creativity. Q. To that end, you talked a little bit about the importance of puck management at the beginning of the series, and to what end does having offensive minded D‑men help you in that regard and not only to maintain puck management, but put puck pressure on the opposing goalie? COACH JULIEN: To win a hockey game you need everything, and puck management is one of those things we talked about defense, we talk about scoring goals, we talk about being strong in the puck, everything else, and puck management, at one point was part of our game that we were struggling with a little bit with New York and gave us some issues, and then when we had to be better against Pittsburgh because if you didn't have good puck management and if you don't get continued good puck management, you're going to run into trouble with that team. Q. (No microphone.). COACH JULIEN: Yeah, they're good. Andrew Ference came back in and you see him skating the puck back up the ice. Some guys are better at skating the puck up the ice than maybe others, but others are great passers, they see plays, they see the openings well in the neutral zone, make good passes and they use their offense from the offensive blue line and in, and that's a guy like Johnny Boychuk, Johnson, Zdeno and those guys. Q. When a team goes in and puts up stunning scores, the third game is always tight as a fist. Are you guys gearing up toward a game that's going to be one of those every 10 feet of the ice is going to be a battle kind of thing? COACH JULIEN: Well, that's the way it's been from the start for us. Every part of the ice is a battle, and that's how we've been able to come back 2‑0. Like I said, we respect every part of our game to be good because it needs to be, and I keep saying that over and over. The team that we're playing is a good team, and they've been a great team all year. I guess right now we're up 2‑0 because we've taken that respect and brought it to our game and made sure that every inch of the ice is important, and we've taken that approach. Q. How much do you have to anticipate the adjustments that they're going to make for this game coming back down 2‑0 or is it the same as what you anticipated going into game 2? COACH JULIEN: I think we have to continue to play our game, but we should expect some changes here and there, and if those things happen, I think we'll be ready for it. But I've said that all along in the Playoffs. We really want to focus on our game because I think that's where all the focus has to be, and that's where players' focus needs to be. As far as coaches are concerned, we have to be ready for adjustments, and if there is some, we've got to be ready to tell our players. Q. In terms of Krug, are there specific things about his skill and hockey sense that outweigh his size, and when you're going to throw him in an NHL playoff game, how do you know he's ready and do you put him in positions where he can succeed? COACH JULIEN: Well, I think it's pretty obvious when you look at him, even in this Pittsburgh series, the plays he makes. He's got a good sense for the game, he sees the openings. He's calm with the puck, he doesn't throw it away for nothing. Does he make mistakes? Just like everybody else, once in a while. But as far as do we know what we're going to get, I think we have an idea, but until he shows it, you never know, and that's why we told him right off the bat to go out there and just play his game and not to play on his heels, and we were going to correct whatever needed to be corrected. You have to have confidence in the guys you put in your lineup, and they need to feel that confidence. We were able to do that, and he was able to give us what we wanted. Q.  (Inaudible) took a shot at pie this morning. How is he? COACH JULIEN: He's fine. Just didn't want him falling in front of the door when he went out of his crease, and I told him you're making me look bad. I told him‑‑ I told everybody you were normal, but I did tell him he had a temper, so I said, you're okay. No issues. Q. Just with Adam, he's had so many ailments and things over the years, concussions, whatever. Just how nice is it as a coach I am sure to have a big defenseman back there but personally that he's been able to play and stay in the post‑season here? COACH JULIEN: Yeah, he was a pretty important part of our team when we won a few years ago and probably flew under the radar because of how well other players played. But when he stays away from injuries and he gets his momentum going in his game, he's a really reliable defenseman, and you've seen him at times play against top lines because he's capable of doing that. Certainly in the position that he's in right now in that third pairing, he gives us a pretty good player there. Q. Could you do a quick comparison of the three series you've had here in terms of opponent speed, Leafs to Rangers to here? Up on the ninth floor it looks like this is the fastest team you've played, but that isn't always the case. Can you give a review there? COACH JULIEN: Well, it's always hard to kind of analyze because the first round is very different from the second. I said that, the first round to me has always been the toughest round to get out of, all the teams that make the Playoffs are excited about it, and it seems like it takes a little bit of time to build some momentum or it takes something to happen, and we used our example in Game 7 of Toronto, used Chicago for what they've gone against Detroit coming back from a 3‑1 deficit. There's certain things that gives your team the ability to get better, and I think our team has just gotten better round after round, but our opponents have given us everything they have. For Toronto to bring us to 7, and New York, sure, it was a five‑game series, but I said it all along and I'll say it again, there was no quit in that team. They might have run out of firepower and as you can see they had some key guys that were not 100 percent, but we're playing a team right now that has all the firepower in the world and can turn the series around very quickly if we're not careful. Different series have different, I guess, approaches as far as how you look at a team, and right now with our team I felt it too much has been really about how are we going to play tonight, and after tonight it'll be the next game. I like the direction our team is heading into, but the challenge is keeping it going in that direction. I think when you look at the skill level that they have, too many guys that can score goals, you can look at‑‑ when you see necessarily the Crosbys and the Malkins but the Dupuis and the Kunitz, they can skate Letang from the back end and Martin can carry the puck well, there's a lot of guys, and I'm sure I'm for getting some, but there's a lot of firepower and a lot of layers in that department that they have. Q. Any reaction to the competition committee's recommendation to make visors mandatory for players entering the league next season. Is there a stigma against players that wear visors? COACH JULIEN: I'll answer your second part quickly. There is no stigma. I think I'm proud and encourage guys to wear advisors, and I'm one of those guys that really believed that when a young player comes up playing minor hockey with a advise or and he's used to it, why take it off. I know there's been some accidents with the visor, but there's been more things, incidents saved by the visor than there has been from the other side of it, like a seatbelt in a car. How many lives does it save, and every once in a while you'll hear, well, he was caught in the car because of his seatbelt. But you know, to me I think it's a good thing that they're encouraging that visor and that it's going to be grandfathered in. I believe in it, and I'm on that side. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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