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NHL HERITAGE CLASSIC: SENATORS v CANUCKSMarch 2, 2014John TortorellaVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Game Day SENATORS – 4 Q. I was wondering about the rationale of starting Lack and benching Luongo? JOHN TORTORELLA: As I said before, I think I have two really good goalies. As Eddie Lack has stood in here and played the way he's played. Luongo coming back from the Olympics, Eddie was going to get that first game. He played really well, gets the next game. Plays really well. Six shootout attempt stops, gives us a chance to win. He deserved to play this game. But Louie has done everything we've asked of him. He's been a pro. He's worked hard he's played very well. So to me, it's a situation where I have two real good ones here, so but the decision was made by me to go with Eddie Lack today. Q.  As a follow‑up, Luongo seemed bummed about being benched. Are you worried about jarring your starting goaltender like this? JOHN TORTORELLA: Doing what with the starting goalie? Q. Shaking him up. Jarring him. JOHN TORTORELLA: No, and of course, I know what goes on around this. I get that. We as a coaching staff we talked a lot about it. But we're at such short strokes here with 20, 21 games left and he wasn't benched. I decided to play Eddie Lack over him. Before this game, the way Eddie was playing, I thought it was our best chance to get the two points. But I also understand all that's going on around it. I believe Louie can handle it. I think he's a tremendous pro. He was unhappy. Him and I have had one‑on‑one conversations quite a bit, we'll continue, and he's a huge part of this team. But I made the decision for this game that Eddie Lack will play. Q. Is there any update on Daniel Sedin and his condition? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, no. I haven't had a chance to talk to Bernie. Q. Any chance he could have come back in the third period? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, no. Q. Did you make the right call do you think with Eddie? How do you think he played today? JOHN TORTORELLA: I would make the same call, yes. I thought Eddie looked‑‑ some of the things going on around him before the game, during the game, I thought he looked not himself, honestly, but he made some big saves. Second period I think he'd like to have that third one back. But he made three or four really good saves prior to that. But if you're asking me, you guys make the call if it's right, and you will, but I would make the same call if it came up again like this, yes. Q. Did you notice the crowd reaction? I know there were some boos toward Eddie when his picture was put up there and at different points in the game? JOHN TORTORELLA: I didn't. No, on the bench it's kind of a delayed thing with the crowd. I did not notice it. But that's part of it. That's part of being a pro both for Louie and Eddie, and I'm not exactly sure what happened. But I just wasn't cognizant. Q. You don't give any two‑goal leads. What happens after you give the two‑goal lead? JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, I'm not sure if we thought it was going to be easy. Nothing has come easy to us. We were outplayed for the middle part of that game. I thought we came back from the 7 or 8‑minute mark of that first period. I thought we stopped winning battles right on through the end of the second. We didn't have puck control. We gave up some odd‑man rushes. We were hoping the puck was going to go deep and we were flat. I thought we came back in the third period and played a good third period. I thought Anderson started playing better as the game went on and made some saves. So, yeah. We had a really good start, but that 28, 30 minutes of the game, I thought we were outplayed. Q. This was the first time for hockey fans in this market to experience a game like this. You had been a part of one before. Take away the result, could you feel the atmosphere or are you just so caught up in the game that you don't really pay attention to what's going on? JOHN TORTORELLA: It's tough for me because you're just so caught up in the game. Same thing happened in my first one. We happened to win the first one, so you always feel like it's a great, great thing when you win it. Yesterday was‑‑ I thought, was pretty cool for us. You have practice, and they have their families out there. Let them enjoy it. But as far as tonight for me, anyway, I was more focused in on the game, and I wasn't too cognizant of anything else going on. Q. You've been in 22 games where you've trailed going into the third period. You've only won three of those. What do you chalk that up to? Is it style of play? Is it fatigue? What is it? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, I thought the past couple of third periods we played well. I still think we're trying to find our way offensively to make the next big play. We ended up with Danny going out there and really that hurt me a little bit as far as some of the line combination I wanted. I also addressed the "D" for our power play and Diaz. We shortened it pretty good there. I thought our third period was the best period. I don't think it was fatigue in the third period. I thought that was probably our best period of the game. The first ten minutes of the first period was good, but I thought our third period was the best period of the game. We just don't convert. Our power play doesn't work, and couldn't crawl back into it. Q. You tried to stay positive the other night. Told us three out of four points in your first two games back, now it's three out of six. Obviously .500 hockey is not going to get you where you need to go. What do you see in this group that allows you to believe some sort of hot streak is on the horizon? JOHN TORTORELLA: That's because the only thing you can do from Mike Gillis right on down to our team, we need to keep believing as an organization and take each and every day. I'm not down. Sure, you'd like to win a game and maybe get the five out of six before you go on the road, but it changes quickly. We're still in the middle of it. I know everybody talks about you need to do this, that and the other thing to get in. There are four other teams that need to do the same thing. So we're going to take each day. I am not going to get down on this club, and we're going to keep working at it and find a way to scratch out one. Q. Obviously the goalie situation is sensitive here based on what's happened in the past couple of years. Even the players talked last year or year before about it becoming a distraction. Is that something you have to be worried about, concerned about, aware of? JOHN TORTORELLA: I would like to think this is a veteran team. This stuff here, I think you should be able to absorb as a veteran hockey club. This is part of the business. I have to make decisions not on consensus, but on what I think is best for that team. Yeah, Louie's pissed. He's not happy. He's proud. I get that. I like the guy. I think he's been terrific for us this year. But this is part of the business. I know it's sensitive here, and I tell you, I did a lot of thinking about that. I have to make decisions each and every time with such short strokes that I think is going to give our team the best chance to win. Eddie was playing light's out in the games that he played. Q. (No microphone)? JOHN TORTORELLA: He is terrific as far as giving me the mindset of a goalie. We have had conversations. He's one of the best goaltending coaches I've been involved in as far as me understanding the mindset of a goalie. Sure, this isn't done in a vacuum. I'm the one that's going to make the final decision, but we've had discussions right on through in a lot of different things with our team. And I do rely on Ruly quite a bit when it comes to the goalies. Q. Were you aware this particular game was special to Lou? It meant something a bit more than your typical? JOHN TORTORELLA: It was special to everybody. I sat (indiscernible) out. He came in saw me after the game. I get that. But I can't have a special night and make a decision where I don't think I'm putting the best lineup up for that particular night because it is special when I have 21 games, 20 games left with players trying to get points. And I know people are upset. I get that. But I can't do it to make people happy. I can't. I'm not going to. I would do the same thing, I would. If it came up in this type of situation, I would do the same thing. I think Louie is a pro enough to maybe even use it as motivation. However he wants to. I think he's going to handle it just fine. So that's really it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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