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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 23, 2014Kevin KleinNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Practice Day Q. Kevin, can you talk about the veteran leadership in this room and what that has done just in terms of being able to weather the highs and lows and I guess the intricacies of each series? KEVIN KLEIN: Yeah, we have a lot of guys in our dressing room that have been deep into the playoffs. We have three guys that have won Stanley Cups. You can always rely on them to kind of give you inspirational words or stories from the past of what they've been through. Obviously there are always ups and downs throughout every series in a game. As you saw, I mean, bounces both ways last night. I mean, you just have to take those in stride and continue on. Q. Obviously, you've played your whole career in Nashville before coming here with quite a run in New York. It really didn't happen in Nashville. Can you just describe the transition to New York with you and your family and how this run has been? KEVIN KLEIN: Yeah, it's been fun. In Nashville, we made it to the second round twice. I mean, it was fun. It was an experience, but nothing like this on a stage playing the Canadiens and the Eastern Conference Final. It's unbelievable. Coming over I didn't know what to expect. The transition was made easy by the Rangers. They did a fantastic job making it easy for my kids and my family. I didn't know what to expect from New York. I've always been a low‑key guy. In Nashville it's very quiet outside the city, outside of Broadway. Coming here I was in mid‑town at first and I was a little overwhelmed. Then they moved me downtown where it's quieter and lots of young families. It was an easy transition. Q. After Sunday you're going to be up 3‑1 or go back to Montreal 2‑2, how critical is this game? KEVIN KLEIN: We want to be up 3‑1. It's been a battle. Obviously the first game was just kind of a fluke, probably I'd say for the most part. You don't see too many playoff games go like that. The second game was more playoff atmosphere, and then last night it had all the excitement that you want to see from a playoff game. It's a battle. There are some tempers out there. Things happen, and that's, I mean, the deeper you go, the harder it is. We definitely have to come out with our A‑game tomorrow. Q. Kevin, I want to come back on that hit that Prust gave to Derek. I want to know your thoughts on that, and do you feel it changed the momentum of the game last night? KEVIN KLEIN: Yeah, I'm not going to comment on that. It speaks for itself. It's part of the game. You have to stay composed when something like that happens. Q. Understandably a goalie becomes a topic of conversation in a series no matter what happens. But how much because of the relative unknown of Dustin Tokarski are you guys talking about him? Is he a topic of conversation? KEVIN KLEIN: Yeah, I mean, every goalie is. Once Carey went down, you didn't know who was going to step in if they were going to come back with Budaj or not. But he's played well when he's been in there. I mean, he's made all the saves he had to make, and I think it's just a matter of getting in front of him, causing chaos, screening, bearing the chances that we do get. You know, it's the unknown aspect. We've seen him for two games now, and we saw some clips against him, I think it was against Buffalo. I mean, you know what to expect. Q. Kevin, how fast do you learn when it's a guy you've never seen before or seen a lot of tape of? How quickly can you figure out what he does? KEVIN KLEIN:  I mean for goalies, they stop the puck, right? So it comes down to that. There are little tendencies how they play the puck, how they challenge shooters, things like that. But in the heat of the game you get the puck, and you're shooting for openings and trying to get screens, like I said, just trying to pick the best play possible. It really comes down to that. Q. So it doesn't change a ton based on his style? KEVIN KLEIN: I don't think so. There are little things that he does really well and there are some things that you might be able to take advantage of. But he's a little bit smaller than Carey, and I think the fact that we need to get a little more traffic on him, maybe take his eyes away so that a little smaller body in there would help a lot. Q. The Desharnais line has been buzzing quite a bit lately. What do you think you can do as a team to prevent that? KEVIN KLEIN: They're doing a good job of creating speed through the neutral zone. Backside pressure would be good against them. Eliminating their cycle game down low is key. They skate well, they pivot well, and when they get cycling in their own zone, if we can use the body and kind of stop that cycle game, it will help a lot from creating a lot of their chances. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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