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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v BLACKHAWKSJune 21, 2013Claude JulienCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Julien, please. Q. David was saying that he thinks his line is would like to pick up a little bit more. What have you seen from the top line? COACH JULIEN: Well, they've been pretty good I think throughout the whole Playoffs, and certainly wouldn't be the guy to complain about their performance so far. They've been pretty good. But at one point you get to the Finals and everybody wants to give a little bit more. I think they're so different. They're a line that's very proud of what they've accomplished in these Playoffs so far and would like to finish on a good note. If we can get a little bit more from those guys, it would be a bonus. Q. He was also saying he wanted to see the team getting back to playing Boston Bruins hockey. What does that mean to you? COACH JULIEN: Well, I think, number one, I don't think we want to overreact. Those comments are comments made by players who want to play well. From my end of it I think we've played pretty well, our game. And because we had maybe a tougher outing last game, that's not to say, again, we didn't compete and we weren't in it, because we were. It took an overtime goal to decide the game. But I don't think we felt we were as good as we could be, and that's what guys are saying right now. We'd like to be a little bit better as a team throughout the whole game, and that's what we're going to strive for tomorrow. Q. What do you feel has been the reason for the success of the power play of late? COACH JULIEN: Well, again, I think we've added some new personnel in there, and we're moving the puck well. Right now we're playing with a lot of confidence on the power play. It's like anything else, confidence is a big part of the game, and when you start feeling it, you try and hold onto it as long as you can. Right now I think our guys are feeling it and feel confident about how we're handling the puck and moving it around. I think we're making some good decisions on the power play and it certainly has gotten better. For all the struggles we had with it, what better time than now to be pretty decent on it. Q. A few of the players talked about whatever the situation, they stay pretty level. Did what happened in Game 7 in your mind in the Toronto series, did it help that? Did it change that at all? COACH JULIEN: Well, I don't know if that's why we're calm. I think we've been a fairly calm team the whole way through. We've had our ups and downs. Are we disappointed when we struggle, absolutely, but I don't think there's ever been a panic where we're concerned. That's not to say when it was 4‑1 in Game 7, we didn't start thinking, Uh‑Oh. You're looking at the clock and you're running out of time. But there was no panic in that we've got to do something here and try to keep the guys calm on the bench and focus on that next goal, I guess, my participation in that. Once they got that second goal, you could see the guys just kind of taking over and saying, Hey, listen, we've got time here, let's get it done. It's a combination of a lot of things, but panic isn't something that our team does. Q. Chicago has been pretty good at home throughout this entire playoff run. How much confidence does it give you guys that you've already won a game there? COACH JULIEN: Well, I think as far as our team is concerned, I think we've been good on the road throughout the whole series. We're a team that doesn't mind playing on the road. That's not something that we fear. And whether we won or if we hadn't won, we never won in Vancouver until Game 7, but we never doubted ourselves. That's just the way it is. I think over the years, and including this year, we've been a pretty decent road team. We're going into tomorrow's game with as much confidence as anybody else would. We know it's going to be a tight series, a tight game, whether it's high score or low score they seem to be tight games. So I don't see that changing personally. Q. In general, when you are able to expose a cultural weakness, how do you exploit that this time of year? COACH JULIEN: Well, I think you guys exposed them because we scored five goals on that side. I don't think it was done purposely on our end of it. We happened to shoot there because that's where the opening was at that time. But I think you can score on other areas, hopefully on Corey Crawford on just the glove. It's one of those games where a lot of them went on that side. But at the end of the day, you're looking for ways to score goals, and whether it's cross toss or tips or screens or whatever, it doesn't really matter. Q. What's your personal approach towards coaching? How do you motivate players and know when to get in their faces? COACH JULIEN: I think a lot of that is being yourself. There's no doubt you have coaches that you've looked up to and everything else. But to say you want to mold yourself in regards to what they are I think is getting away from your personality. I've always said I've got to be comfortable; in order to be comfortable I've got to be myself. As a player I felt things. As a coach I kind of remember those things. At the same time you are the coach. You are the guy that gives the directions. So it's a fine line. I say it all the time. Guys I've been around have heard me say it a million times, that fine line between respect and authority. I think you've got to respect your players because you want them to play for you. But at the same time you're the authority figure that makes the decisions, whether good decisions, tough decisions, whatever they may be. Q. Is part of that just being (inaudible)? COACH JULIEN: Yeah, I believe in that, and my era, you had one coach, and he didn't have to say much. But you didn't take that personally, you just went out and played. If your sweater was hanging before the game or when you got to the rink, it meant you played; if it wasn't, you didn't. He didn't have to have a conversation with you in the office and tell you why you weren't or were or anything else, and you just accepted it that way. It's changed. Nowadays players want to know what can I do to get back in the lineup, and you evolve with time. Anybody who doesn't want to evolve with this game is not going to last. So you've got to be open‑minded and be ready to do that, as well. Q. For a lot of this run you've been able to send out Chara (inaudible) how does that open things up for you and the rest of the lineup when you know that two guys are defensively responsible and you're not necessarily playing (inaudible)? COACH JULIEN: Yeah, and there have been times where they've played together. I think David's line for the most part in the Playoffs, when you look at their plus/minuses, have given us that, as well. At the end of the day, the line that's out against the other line has just got to be better. So if that's not the perfect match‑up, it doesn't really matter to me. I know a lot of people seem to think that I'm making the hard match, and the hard match is probably coming more from the back end than the front end. But that part of it, as I said numerous times, I trust a lot of our forward lines, and a lot of them have gone against top lines. Whether they've been third or they've been fourth, and when our low line was together, I felt the same confidence in those guys. Q. Why do you feel Boston is a perfect fit for Dennis Seidenberg? COACH JULIEN: Well, because what Dennis Seidenberg brings, we like. It's about a guy that comes to play hard every night. As I said before, scouts have done a great job at detecting the fact that the bigger the game, the better he was, and I think every team looks for that. We got him, and his size, his strength, his battle and everything else just seemed to fit what we're all about. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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