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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BRUINS v PENGUINSJune 6, 2013Brandon SutterTomas VokounBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Just kind of curious about the physical and emotional toll of the game, how you feel today and how you got through it and did you do something different when you got to the second, third, fourth intermission, eat a little more, drink a little bit more? How did you deal with it that way? TOMAS VOKOUN: Yeah, obviously you've got to drink a lot. I think everybody is different. Some guys have a banana or shake or stuff like that. Obviously these games are really tough to lose from our perspective, but we're not done yet, so we've just got to regroup, and today we have a day to relax and kind of get our strength back, and another big game tomorrow. BRANDON SUTTER: Yeah, just kind of the same thing. Like he said, just try to get your fluids in you and stay hydrated. When you get to a point where a game goes that late, I think a big point of that too is today getting that rest and trying to follow that same regiment, you've got to rehydrate and refresh yourself and just trying to recover. Q. Not too many teams have come back from a deficit like this. Can you draw from inspirational stories or what can you use as motivation for overcoming such a deficit? TOMAS VOKOUN: I mean, I think you've got to look at it as winning the next game, and obviously it's not a good situation, but on the other hand you're still alive, so we have a game tomorrow. We want to win that one, and we all know what I'm sure we're going to get thrown at us, the percentages or how many times it happened in the past. Like I said, I think us as a team, we're looking to win the next game, and that's about how far we're looking. BRANDON SUTTER: Yeah, just never really been in that situation before like you were saying. First time in the Playoffs for me, so obviously the first two rounds went our way, and right now it's not going our way through three games. But by no means are we just going to break down and give up now. I think, like he said, if you were betting right now you're not betting on the Penguins down 3‑0. We're not going to quit and the percentages are obviously against us, but we've got a good team, and we're taking this day by day right now and we're trying to get ourselves today ready for tomorrow. Like Vokey said, we're focused on winning one game right now and going from there. Q. Brandon, when you're facing a goalie like Rask is right now, stopping just about everything, how does that affect or can it affect the way you guys target your shots, maybe try to be too fine in some situations? How does that work? BRANDON SUTTER: Well, I think you definitely want to get as many pucks at net as you can. I think last night we did a good job of that. We went to the net, we got rebound opportunities which we didn't have the first two games and doing a better job of that, and we've just got to stay with that. I think last night was arguably the best one‑on‑one goalie battle I've seen in a long time. I think both goalies played outstanding. Vokey gave us a chance to win and it just didn't go our way. Like you said, we've got to do a better job of getting more than pucks towards Rask and try to get in front of him a little more and we're still looking to get some greasy goals off of that and try to bang one in. Q. Of all the issues that could have arisen with this team, would you ever have anticipated that scoring goals would be so difficult, two goals in three games? That's so uncharacteristic for this group. TOMAS VOKOUN: Well, I think you have to give some credit obviously to Boston, their goalie. He played real well. You know, it's still a game, and in every game there's a certain percentage of good or bad fortune involved. Sometimes you do the right thing; it doesn't always mean it's going to directly be success. It doesn't really matter, but I don't even know how many times we hit the posts. They hit some, too, but they also got some goals. They were kind of good fortune on their part, but saying that, it's not an excuse, but that's just‑‑ I think it's the reality of the situation. We had some good looks. When you get me as a goalie, when the puck hit the post, you definitely‑‑ obviously you play your position and you try to play your positioning so it's hard for the guy to see the net and score in it, but once it goes by, you're just hoping. I don't think nobody is that good in the world can rely on that. I'm not saying that's something bad on their goalie, it's just saying once you're beat, it's either going in or it's hitting the post or it's going wide. In those games against Ottawa, I think we had some nights when the puck went our way, the rebounds came to our stick and we bang it in the open net, and we haven't had that fortune in this series so far. I don't think no matter how talented you are, if you don't have that little bit of good luck around the net, it's really hard in this league. BRANDON SUTTER: Yeah, again, just like he said, obviously the goals for haven't quite been going our way right now, but I think through the first game, in Game 2 we didn't really feel like we created enough offense, and I think last night we feel like we did. Again, it was a goaltending battle, and both teams had chances to score. We feel like we did a lot to create that, and we only ended up getting one. But on any given night some of the chances we had go in, and it could be five or six goals. I think we need to stay positive with what we did last night offensively and build on that. I don't think we're concerned about not being able to score, at least with the way we played last night and the offensive opportunities we created. I think we'd be much more concerned if we weren't getting the chances on offense. We've got to find a way to get a few in obviously, but by no means are we going to panic about not scoring goals. Q. Both of you are new on this team this year. I wonder if you could describe the difference with the roster you have, the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup and what you don't want to let slip away, especially this way. TOMAS VOKOUN: Definitely. I mean, aside from obviously media and people around, we feel like we have a great team and a good bunch of guys. You don't know how many chances like that you're going to get, and no matter‑‑ I'm obviously older, some guys are younger, but you just never know where your career is going to take you. Having a chance like that slip away, it would be tough I'm sure. Everybody on this team is going to do everything they can tomorrow, and hopefully past tomorrow to try and not let that happen. On the other hand it's a sport, and only one team can win. If you leave everything out there, you can only know that yourself, and I don't think there's anything else you can do. It's a sport, and you've got to accept what the result is. BRANDON SUTTER: Boy, it's obviously been a pretty special year in terms of the regular season and how well we played. Definitely is a talented group, and for me it's the first year of a winning season where you're in the Playoffs, and you get that first seed going in. We were pretty confident all year in our abilities, and I think even though now that we're in a bit of a tight situation, I don't think we need to lose that confidence. Even though it's a short season this year, there's still a lot of ups and downs throughout it, and I think we've done a good job of staying pretty level headed through it all. That's, I guess, thanks to our coaching staff and our veteran players for keeping us intact during tough times, and right now is no different. We're just going to keep playing, keep fighting, and like you said, we don't want this to end, and we're still trying to chase the Cup, and I don't think that's going to change. Our mindset is the same as it was going into Game 1 or Game 2. We've just got to win a game, and once we do that we're on with the next one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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