|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BRUINS v PENGUINSJune 7, 2013Claude JulienBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Four Boston – 1 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Obviously Adam coming through with the game winner tonight, how satisfying is that? COACH JULIEN: Yeah, I think it's nice. I think everybody in the dressing room are really happy for him. He went through obviously a tough situation in the fall. To be able to come back and play with us, not only that, but score a big goal for us tonight, is certainly a big boost to his morale. Certainly he's got the players and his teammates behind him as far as being happy. There was no hesitation there in awarding him the jacket tonight. It just goes to show you how our guys really appreciate all the different little things that every player does on this team. Q. The Bruins have dominated the last two series. Does it feel like you're playing better hockey right now than you did in 2011? COACH JULIEN: I might tend to disagree a little bit with you on that. This series here against Pittsburgh was not a 4‑0 series. I really felt that the breaks went our way in this series on a lot of occasions. You just have to look back right at the end of the game where Malkin has the open net and Zdeno makes the arm save. They dinged some shots off the post. If those go in, it's a different series. That's the unfortunate part of this game, you know, sometimes as a team, you don't get the breaks and you wonder what you have to do. I think that's where Pittsburgh was a little snake bitten that way, and we were the team that was taking advantage of our breaks. That's not to say we didn't play well, because when you allow two goals to a team like that in four games, your team certainly deserves some credit. I think defensively our guys did a great job against their top players of taking away time and space. When we did allow them to get some scoring chances, we had a goaltender that stood tall for us. You look at both games here in Boston, it could have gone either way, really could have. The first game in Pittsburgh was one of those games where I thought, you know, in the third period was a turning point for us. It had been pretty even till the third period. Then we scored some goals that put the game away. The second game is one I'm sure they would like to have back. But if you take that one away, it was a pretty hard‑fought series. Like I said, sometimes breaks go your way. I said it two years ago, you don't win a Cup or get a chance to play for the Cup without getting breaks along the way, and we got those. Q. What does it mean to you to go back to the Stanley Cup Finals for a second time? COACH JULIEN: What it means to us, it means a lot. We pride ourselves on our game. We work hard at it. As you saw, there was a lot of commitment in this game tonight. You looked at the blocked shot from Gregory Campbell, to tonight when the game was on the line. I think our guys really paid the price and did what it took to get there. The peaks and valleys of a season sometimes pay off a lot more than people give credit for because you certainly grow from those tough times, you learn from those things, it makes you a better team down the road. I thought this year had its ups and downs, it was a tough schedule. But right now we're probably playing some of our best hockey of the season. Q. There was some external criticism of your system earlier in the season. Given what your team accomplished, this round especially, do you take any personal satisfaction out of how this system operated? COACH JULIEN: Not at all. Like I said, you know, I don't even know that there's criticism about the system there. I've been here for six years. I think I've been fired five times. You know, those kinds of things really are not important to me. What's important is the results. As long as the people I work for appreciate what we do, that's what matters. At the end of the day winning hockey games for our fans and for the city is what matters to me. That stuff is really no bother to me. Q. I know it's a broken record to keep asking, but Tuukka just seems to be getting better every game. When you see a goalie in the zone like that, what is it like for you watching that? COACH JULIEN: Well, I think it's great. I mean, you know, Timmy did it for us for numerous years. To a certain extent you got to hope that Tuukka learned from that as well, seized the moment when he had the chance. Although they're different personalities, both have good personalities, don't get me wrong, but different personalities, I think a lot of Timmy's commitment and desire to be the best he could be every night has rubbed off on Tuukka. Tuukka has learned from that. Right now he's in a zone that you hope he can hold on to. Without that kind of goaltending, you don't get a chance at winning a Cup. Q. It seemed at the very start of tonight's game with power plays and things, it took a while for you to get four lines out. Once you did, seemed to turn it. I wondered specifically what you thought about Daugavins, what he gave you. COACH JULIEN: I think he played a pretty good game for a guy who has been out for probably somewhere around a month. We know that the playoffs have a different intensity and everything else. For him just to step in there, when I say 'cold', four weeks without being in a game situation, he played a strong game. Strong along the walls, hit the posts. Personally you're hoping he would get that goal because it would be a big boost for your team and for himself. You know, I think he answered the call extremely well. I thought he played a solid game for us. You're right, at first it was hard to get all four lines going. If you weren't on the power play, or if you were, they were coming back with their top line. We had to use a lot of the same players early on in the first half. Once we were able to settle down a little bit, get into a bit of a roll, our four lines is what makes us a good team. Q. Jagr talked about how he bought into the system. Was there a certain point where he saw that transition? Talk about how he's evolved in the time he's been here. COACH JULIEN: It just goes to show you, as I said, he's without a doubt a Hall of Famer, a great player for what he's accomplished. But he's going to be a Hall of Famer because he's a smart player. Where he is right now in his career, the most important thing is to give us a chance to win. For him to be able to do that, he's got to play in our system so he can be in sync with everybody else. He's done that. Hasn't been a big difference as far as what he can bring, because once he gets in the offensive zone, he's still the same player. I think it's more the defensive side of his game. He's coming back and doing what he needs to do there to help us out defensively. That's a credit to him. For what he is, for how long he's played, for a guy to do that is pretty amazing. Tonight, same thing. We talk about Daugavins. He's been so snake bitten as far as goals are concerned, hit a crossbar, could have made it 2‑0 for us, right now he's happy to be part of a team that's going in the right direction. He's bought into that. I honestly think the credit goes to him. I haven't had to twist his arm, I haven't had to do anything. Just felt that was the best way for him to help our team. Q. How pleased are you with your penalty killing unit, and, conversely, how concerned are you? COACH JULIEN: I think if you look at the stats, I think most of you guys probably saw, I think there's only been two goals scored on the power play in these last series, Conference Finals. I think before tonight's game, it was 4.6. It's a little less after tonight. Both teams didn't score on the power play. When you go into playoffs, you play the same team a minimum of four and a maximum of seven, it gives you a lot of time to make adjustments game after game. That's what we did with Pittsburgh. We knew they had such a good power play, that we had to be extremely good if we wanted to get a chance to win this series against their power play. We made adjustments even after every game. You know, till tonight, this morning, we talked about different things, as well. They did the same to us. Were there some scoring chances? Absolutely. When there was, I think goaltenders on both sides made some big saves. I'm not really worried about the power play. If it was only our team, I'd be worried. It seems to be a trend throughout the playoffs here. Five‑on‑five is when you play the most, the biggest part of the game. That's where you got to score your goals. I just find that power plays seem to be a little overrated as far as that's concerned. When you look at five‑on‑five play, you play 50 minutes of five‑on‑five, you better be good at scoring goals in that area. Q. Winning isn't easy, let alone winning consistently. Talk about what the win means for you and your staff, all the work you have put in. COACH JULIEN: Well, we're no different than players. We want to reap the rewards of our work. In order to do that, you have to have guys that believe in what you're trying to accomplish here. I know I can speak a ton about my assistant coaches. People don't see them behind the scenes, but they put so much work into dissecting video and everything else. You know, what we show to players compared to the work they put in that area is very minuscule. We try and minimize things for the player, make it as simple as we can. But the hours that are put behind that laptop are unbelievable. It always feels good as a coach to see my assistants and my staff get rewarded with an opportunity to go for another Stanley Cup. Q. You talked before the series that you had a week off to evaluate, really get to get inside the Penguins. Looking back, how much of a value do you think that was? COACH JULIEN: Well, it was in numerous ways. I said that before the series started, that we needed our rest. Keep going back to the end of the regular season schedule, six games in nine days. That could have been a disaster for us. It probably came close to that when you look at the Toronto series. To be able to win the series against New York in five, get that week off, really gave us our second wind. That was important. It gave us a chance to prepare for the Penguins, and it also gave our guys an opportunity to get some rest. We knew we had to be at our best to beat this team. That's exactly what happened. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|