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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v BLACKHAWKS


June 13, 2013


Marian Hossa

Patrick Kane

Nick Leddy

Brent Seabrook


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Patrick, just as far as Dave Bolland, what he was able to do, would you consider that his best game of this whole season?
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, for sure.  The thing about Bolly is you always see him step up in big games.
He had a huge goal to make it 3‑2.  Obviously helped out on the winner, too.
We've been accustomed to him showing up in those big games.  It was good to see, for sure.

Q.  Patrick and Marian, first you had to solve whatever happened in Minnesota with goaltending, Jimmy Howard, Jonathan Quick, took a rest.  How is it to go against these elite goaltenders and find a way to beat them?
MARIAN HOSSA:  Well, yeah, especially this series, really hot goaltending, unbelievable season, post‑season even stronger.
Pretty much against Quick, we have to put the pucks from bad angles, going for second or third chances, that's how we're going to beat him.  We have to keep shooting pucks from bad angles.  Good example.  Third goal, lucky bounce, going in.  That's the type of goal we have to score to beat him.
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, I mean, I agree.  I think the thing with these goalies, especially the past couple rounds, is they're so quick, get across, don't give up on any plays.  When you do get those chances, you have to bear down and make sure you capitalize on them.
Like Hoss said, he's hot right now, playing very well.  We'll take anything we can get on him.

Q.  Brent and Marian, in the dressing room before the third overtime period, what sorts of things are going on in terms of getting hydrated, food, changing out of wet equipment, physically trying to be as good as you can be?
BRENT SEABROOK:  I think you just said all the stuff that the guys were doing (laughter).
It's a long game.  You know, I think guys were really focused on getting drinks in their system.  Guys were eating stuff.  Guys were changing out of wet equipment and all that.
We got a great equipment staff, great trainers that give us every opportunity to get good things in our body, taking care of drying equipment out, drying skates and stuff like that.
You know, it was a big job by them last night.  It was good to help us get on the ice and play the way we could.
MARIAN HOSSA:  Pretty much what Seaby said.  We got great stuff.  Everybody in overtime was running for us whatever we needed.  It was unbelievable.
Seems like we had more trainers than the players in the dressing room at that time.  So that was nice to see.
Basically anything we asked for we got.  So we are pretty lucky.

Q.  Brent and Nick, how do you treat the next two days as far as getting back with all the minutes you played?  How happy are you that it happened to be a two‑day break in between these two games?
BRENT SEABROOK:  I think having the two‑day break between Game1 and 2 is huge.  Same as last night.  Get a lot of rest, stay hydrated, getting as much as healthy, good food in your system as you can.  Just get ready and focus for the next one.
NICK LEDDY:  I think Seaby said it perfect.  You just kind of know how your body feels at this point, what you need to do to make yourself feel better, recover.
I think you just try to stick to those things.

Q.  Patrick, seemed like the first five or six minutes, you were trying to hit everything that moved, everybody on the roster.  Got away from that later in the game.  Did it feel like you needed to get back to the way you guys play, not play their game?
PATRICK KANE:  No, I thought we had a great start, to be honest with you.  A few big hits that got the crowd into it right away.
I think that's probably just adrenaline more than anything coming in to play, especially first game of the finals.  Your first couple shifts, you see a lot of players running around and hitting each other.
I thought we had a great start to the game.  I think that probably wears off a little bit as you go into your overtime periods.  You can kind of see the pace fall off a little bit as time went on during the game.
If we have that start again in Game2, I think we'd all be happy with it.

Q.  Patrick and Marian, can you describe how you're feeling today, how you slept last night after going for such a long time in the game.
MARIAN HOSSA:  To tell you the truth, fall asleep around 3:00.  Woke up early.  I think my neighbor decide he going to drill in the morning.  That was unpleasant (laughter).
You know, hopefully is going to get his message for next time, he won't drill.
Feel a little tired today.  We are lucky, like Brent said, we got extra day, you know, to recharge the batteries and get back on Game2.

Q.  Patrick and Brent, is it easier to get over a game like that last night because you won it?
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, I think so.  It's one of those games being down 3‑1.  You come back to tie it 3‑3, you feel like something was left on the table if you didn't come back and win it.
The game went a long time.  It's definitely a good feeling winning in the third overtime when it does go that long.
Huge win, for sure.

Q.  Patrick and Brent, Andrew Shaw is a young player, hasn't scored that level of goal in the NHL before.  You both recently scored overtime goals.  What is he going through?  What's happening in between his ears?
BRENT SEABROOK:  He'd be a better guy to ask that question.  It's definitely exciting to score a big goal like that, being able to score that at home.  You love scoring goals, and there's no bigger goal than that.  I think Shaw is feeling pretty good today, probably had a pretty tough night trying to fall asleep.
I thought it was big for him and big for our team, obviously.
PATRICK KANE:  I'm sure he's going through his text messages, responding today.
But for sure, you know, after Game5 in L.A., I think you find it tough to sleep and you're riding high on adrenaline, especially after scoring an overtime winner.
But it was a huge goal.  I'm sure he's very excited about it, and we are as a team, too.  Definitely enjoyable.

Q.  Brent and Marian, could you talk about the play of your goaltender, his resolve.
MARIAN HOSSA:  Crowe is so strong for us.  He prove it in overtime.  He make some really huge save.
I thought they had lots of odd‑man rushes at the end.  He was there for us.  He won the game for us basically because could be long time over.
So, you know, I think he's in his best form I ever saw him play.  It's impressive he's playing so strong for us.
BRENT SEABROOK:  I think Crowe has been huge for us throughout the whole playoffs.  Last night he wanted to come out, I thought he was great early.  Throughout the whole game really.  I thought his overtime periods were unbelievable.  He gave us an opportunity to come back and get chances and keep us in the game.
I thought he was huge for us last night.

Q.  Patrick and Marian, after falling behind 3‑1, then tying the game, getting the game winner, how much momentum offensively can you carry over for the rest of the series?
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, I mean, every game's different.  I think you learn more about your opponent as time goes on, as you get deeper into a series.
I think, especially last night, a team you haven't seen all year, playing them the first time, sometimes it's more of a feeling‑out process, trying to see what they're accustomed to, what they do defensively.
But, you know, we scored four goals.  I know they only gave up two goals in the last series.  Hopefully it's something we can build off of.

Q.  Brent, can you describe what Corey Crawford's demeanor was like as that game went longer and longer.
BRENT SEABROOK:  To be honest, it was the same as how he is when he's getting ready for the first period.  You know, he's a pretty focused individual.  He gets in a zone and he tries to stay in it.
I thought last night, you know, just looking at him before the game started, he looked ready, he looked confident, he looked excited to get out there.  I thought he carried that right through the actual game and right into overtime.
I thought, you know, he was the same.  He stayed even keel.  He gave up three goals in regulation.  Nothing fazed him.  He was ready to go.  That gives us confidence as players, especially as defensemen, when he's playing that well, in a zone like that.  So it was nice to see.

Q.  Nick and Patrick, about power plays.  The Bruins struggled in the power plays in 2011 and still won.  In this final, both teams have struggled on the power play in the playoffs.  Do you have a theory as to why it's hard to score in the power play at this time of year and why it doesn't seem to have that much of an impact on winning and losing?
NICK LEDDY:  I think you really got to try and keep things simple, not try and do too much out there.  I think during the season we can kind of get away from that at times.
But at this stage, you know, everybody's playing great team defense.  I think we just got to try and keep things simple.
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, for whatever reason that is, I don't really know why.  I know in 2010, we had a great power play, it was huge to our success of helping us win.
We've had stretches throughout the post‑season where we've moved it around pretty well.  Sometimes you just can't find the back of the net.  I think maybe another reason seems power plays are down throughout the year and in the post‑season for whatever reason.  When you do get the man advantage, you're not in a complete rhythm when you get out there.
Yeah, for whatever reason, the past two teams to win, even us and Boston this year, haven't had great power plays.
It's something we want to improve and feel we can help our game even more if we can keep it going.

Q.  Marian, you've played a bunch of different places.  Noisy neighbors aside, does this feel like home to you, Chicago?
MARIAN HOSSA:  Oh, yeah, for sure.  I've been here mostly, what is it, four years.  So definitely I love the city, love the atmosphere here.  Great team, great organization.  I feel really like at home here.

Q.  Patrick, you played four‑plus hours of hockey last night.  How did the ice hold up at the end?  Was it different than other games?
PATRICK KANE:  No, I thought it was good.  Really no complaints from any players or anyone.  I mean, obviously the building was hot.  As time goes on, you know, especially with no commercial breaks, it's going to be tougher to keep the ice in good shape.
For whatever reason, there's really no complaints about it last night.

Q.  Patrick and Brent, obviously on the ice, Andrew Shaw is a handful.  Can you describe him in the dressing room.  Is he that energetic there, as well?
BRENT SEABROOK:  He's a handful in the dressing room, too (laughter).  Yeah, he's a high‑energy guy.  He likes to have fun, get guys going, jumping around the room, bouncing around.  Yeah, he's pretty much the same he is on the ice, just without skates on.
He brings excitement to the dressing room and is big for us.
PATRICK KANE:  Yeah, I sit next to him.  There's times where I almost got to tell him to shut up because he just asks questions and doesn't stop talking when you're next to him there in between periods.
He's really excited to be here.  He's a kid that I think he got passed over twice in two drafts.  We picked him up in the fifth round.  He came in the next year and played.
Speaks to his character, how he can put all that behind him and come in and play in the NHL right away and really be a factor.
He does a lot of good things for us, whether it's hits, being an agitator, even scoring goals.  He probably scores more goals off his shin pads than he does his sticks.  I'm sure he'll take them, and we will, any way we can get them.
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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