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NHL STADIUM SERIES: PENGUINS v BLACKHAWKSFebruary 28, 2014Dan BylsmaCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day DAN BYLSMA: We have a couple updates. We did go on the ice today with the family skate, just a casual skate, some might still be on there right now. The penalty in the game last night, the major was rescinded by the league, secondly. And then today, upon further review from the doctors, we've decided surgery for Paul Martin on his hand would be a better avenue for recovery, a quicker recovery, so he did that. That happened yesterday. Right? Yesterday, not today. Yesterday that happened. I saw the pictures. Quicker healing, so roughly the same timeframe, but... So that is all. I've seen the pictures. Q. Brooks mentioned that he was actually more excited for the opponent than maybe the outdoor conditions. You guys heard that from a lot of opponents. How do you feel it's sort of an equal match‑up and sort of measuring sticks, and with that environment is it important for a team that has Stanley Cup aspirations to have those in this stretch? DAN BYLSMA: Well, I think the outdoor schedule, in this case, you're playing a Western Conference team. We don't play them very often. They are Stanley Cup Champions, and, again, one of the best teams, best records in the league. So, I think before the schedule comes out and after the schedule comes out, before we find out this is going to be an outdoor game, yet you know you're playing the Blackhawks, first and foremost, and you circle that as a day of a big game on your calendar. Yeah, I agree with Brooks, I think the outdoor game and playing outside in the elements, but first and foremost, it's the Blackhawks and playing a team that may be the best in the league. Q. Is there anything you can take from the previous outdoor game into this one, whether it be weather, depth perception, anything like that? DAN BYLSMA: For a few of our guys, this is going to be the third time they've been able to play outdoors. I think sometimes the elements are always a little bit different. But having said that, you can probably overcoach this game, and that's something I think I'll remember from the last one. You're dealing with elements; you're dealing with different ice conditions; you're dealing with snow. We had rain last time. We had a lot of water on the ice. To overcoach I think it would be a mistake. That's something I think the guys played in Buffalo, and they had a little bit like the big house this year, and they had the snow on the ice and we were dealing with the snow during the game. It really does need to be a little bit more of simplifying and understanding that going into the game and having that expectation about how you're going to execute and what you need to do and then dealing with the elements. Q. You guys went two years between losing shootouts; you've lost two in a row. Is there any coaching in terms of the instruction of the moves that coaches can do for players? And then strategy‑wise, how do you kind of adjust? Jussi is 0 for 5 this year, and of course, he was one of the best in NHL history until this year. Is he in a slump? How do you coach that? DAN BYLSMA: Well, on our team, if you're asking if I go to the players and instruct them on moves, that's laughable. Really, I congratulate you for saying that with a straight face. In terms of our team, Jussi is a guy his life numbers are really very, very good. His numbers this year aren't as good. For us, we had James Neal sitting on the floor at the fifth spot a little bit, and his numbers are almost as good as Jussi's are now careerwise. Realize, Chris Kunitz is a 36% shooter lifetime. He's sitting back there, having not gone. We have a number of good players that can shoot. So (Indiscernible) shooting, he would have been fourth. And Mueller kind of had been waiting back there in the fourth spot, waiting for a chance to shoot. So we have good shooters throughout. We have a couple more we can go to. I don't teach the moves, and good shooters have two or three moves, and Jussi has, speaking of Jussi, he's got three that are lethal moves that he can go to at any time. They kind of read the goalie. The goalie scout, the goalie we're playing, the past history against them. Our goalie likes to have certain information, and he likes to know certain things. He's aware of that going into the game. He gets his information on the bench from Craig Adams. I told Craig the shooter, Craig handed it over to Marc‑Andre, and they kind of‑‑ that's part of the way Marc likes to operate when it comes to shootouts. I still like our chances with the crew we've got going into the shootout, but I'd like to avoid those things if I could. Q. What did you learn from coaching? What did you learn from Patrick Kane coaching on the team? Is there anything you saw that you didn't know about him before that experience? DAN BYLSMA: Well, I would say that having conversations with him prior to the games and even during the games I've learned quite a bit about his competitiveness. You kind of see the smile. It's certainly a ton of skill how he plays the game, but I was impressed by it and learned just the competitiveness that he has and brings to the game. Skill‑wise you see it live. He's a head shaker. Some of the stuff that he does, bringing the puck up on the power play and distributing the puck. I had seen it, I had watched it, but he's just got some nasty skill at the puck. I guess I call it head shakers because he pulls up and pulls toss, and puts it on someone's take, and you have three or four guys on the bench just shaking their head at how good he is with that puck. So those are a couple of things with Patrick that was evident. Q. Is it at all significant when a player like Tanner who when you want to play physical has the major rescinded that would allow him to maybe be into the next game with the same mindset you need? Is it frustrating that you know they rescinded a penalty that led to an opportunity to tie the game? DAN BYLSMA: In this case, Tanner was‑‑ sometimes a player gets a penalty and they know they might have done something or they know it was maybe a little bit borderline or their arms came up. They have a sense of it. Tanner was flabbergasted that he got a penalty. He was confident that he didn't‑‑ didn't have his arms up, didn't have his elbow up. He knew the point in the game, and he knew it was right after we'd taken the lead. He was adamant that he didn't think he had done anything that should have been drawing a penalty. I think even right after the game when I talked to him, he felt like he couldn't believe that he got a penalty. Getting it rescinded, I think it confirms that for him. But he was pretty confident right away that I don't think‑‑ he didn't think he did anything. The live part, I talked to the referee on the ice and saw the replay on the JumboTron, which wasn't a great replay of it, but they don't have the benefit of the replay. The stick was up. The stick came and smacked him across the head. There was a loud noise. On the bench, it was kind of away from the puck. I asked Craig Adams on the bench, was it dirty? He said, oh, he knew there was a really loud smack on the helmet. That's what the referee saw. That's what happened. It hit him right across the head and there was a big loud smack on the helmet, and maybe that's what the referee saw, heard, and called because his stick was up there and his stick did make contact with his own head. So it's tough to say it wasn't a head shot. His own stick going up there, and to have to make that call, it turns out to be a tough one for us at that point in the game. We had to kill that major off, and it ended up being a goal they score, but I'm not going to say it was an easy call for the ref to make. He saw a shot to the head, and that's what he's trying to call. Q. Is it easy to root for a kid like Brian Gibbons? What have you seen with Sid on Sid's line? DAN BYLSMA: Well, I think it's just I sawGibby turn pro, and heard about the way he played in college and heard about what kind of player he was, and his progression has been over the course of two years. He's really learning and starting to bring that game the last half of the year. But what he's brought to that line, you know, Sid's a guy that really needs a couple things or he wants a couple things with his line and that is speed. You want someone to force the issue. You want someone to attack with speed and create‑‑ you know, create turnovers, create pucks. That's what he brings. He's got some pretty fast wheels. I don't know where he ranks up there. But in last game with his speed, he got the pucks, he beat a guy wide, goes to the net and created an opportunity for his line and drew two penalties with his speed. He brings his speed a lot of different ways, but that's what he brings up to that line. Is Brian Gibbons a skilled top number one right wing in the league? I don't think so. But he does bring that speed and that energy and helps his line that way, and he's pretty much done it, you know, I would say eight out of the last ten games he's brought it. It was evident again last night. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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