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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 24, 2014Brad RichardsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Practice Day Q. Brad, A.V. was just talking about how upset he was. With the situation that's happening with Carcillo and how it might impact his career moving forward. What are your thoughts about that? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, it's a tough situation. I still haven't even looked at it. I have a tough time believing Carcillo is trying to do it, but in the heat of the moment a lot of things happen. Unfortunate for him, and, yeah, like you said, personally we want to try to protect him, and hopefully everything will come out on the good end and we'll get by this in a positive way. Q. He has a tumultuous past and quite a record at the NHL level. But as a teammate what kind of guy has he been? BRAD RICHARDS: He's been a great teammate. Ever since he got here our team has played well and he's been great in the locker room. Heard a lot about him before and don't have one bad thing to say about him as a teammate since he's been here. Like I said, hopefully this will be a good lesson and turn out the right way for him. Q. First of all, just your impressions on the two‑game suspension handed down to Prust, and secondly, you're familiar with Prust and Stepan and their closeness as friends and the incident that took place. Does that add an extra layer of discomfort considering how close they are? BRAD RICHARDS: I don't know. I really don't know how close they are. You'd have to ask them. Prust is a teammate and put a lot of good work in for our team, and we appreciate what he did. It doesn't really matter what I think about the hit. I do know that every meeting or anything I've been involved in with the NHL as we're trying to get rid of head shots, there is a reason for it in any sport around the world. Head injuries, I've been through a couple, and numerous players have. They're a scary thing, and we're trying to get rid of those, and that's what I know, and that's what I've been told. But it's up to the league when they decide those things, and we hope, every player hopes they can play the game honestly and hard without having those injuries, I'm sure. Q. A.V. seems from our perspective so calm and poised at all times. When is the last time you saw him get like that? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, he gets worked up. He's a human being, and he's a coach. Coaches have to do things sometimes to get things going. But his worked up is different than other people's worked up. Different from my worked up and your worked up, everybody has different ways of showing it. I think you've just got to be around it and be behind closed doors, and you'll know when he wants a little more of a practice or a little more preparation or whatever he's doing. He still sets the tone when you see him that day, if things need to be changed or need to be worked on. Q. After Prust's hit on Step and the two suspensions yesterday, does this have any different kind of feel going into Game 4? Is it still sort of what happens in the playoff series? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, it can happen in a playoff series. The first two, nothing really like that happened, but we've seen and been in lots of them and things like this do happen. But really, Step, the most unfortunate thing is Step had surgery yesterday and who knows where that goes, and that's not a good injury to have a broken jaw. So besides that, we hope he gets better, but besides that it's try to win Game 4 and get right back at it. Can't wait to get going. Q. What did you guys know about Dustin Tokarski before he entered this series? BRAD RICHARDS: I think there were rumors or talk about that happening. We got our prep. Watched a lot of video on him. He hadn't played a lot lately. But if you follow hockey, you know he's won. Being a Canadian, you always have an eye on World Junior and you remember the name. He played well there. Teams aren't going to put him in a situation where they had a back‑up and pulled him and put him in. They had faith in him. They wouldn't do that if they didn't think he'd give them a chance to win. So we figured he was a very capable goalie. Q. (No Audio). BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, well, he's played well when he's come in. He's brought energy. He's a strong head, good hockey sense. Just our top lines have been kind of set and it's not because he can't play, it's just the odd man out. But when he's come in, he's done a really good job and he's going to have to bring that energy that he has and that skill that he can bring tomorrow. No matter if it's a fourth line or whatever line, he can definitely add it. He can score or make a big play at any time. He brings that to the team. Q. You guys are in the same position two years ago, up 2‑1, Conference Finals. What is different this time around? BRAD RICHARDS: A lot. I mean, we're at home this time. It's a different team. We're up 2‑0. Really don't read into too much of that. It's a new series. Obviously, if we score in overtime, it's a whole different thing. It's a new series now and we're in for a war. But the best way to take a strangle hold on it is to win this game in front of us, and that is the only focus right now. Q. I'm wondering if those are some of the ugliest goals you've seen in playoff hockey in Game 3? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, some of them weren't pretty, but if you go through enough playoffs, there are a lot of ugly goals. The defense is so tight that sometimes that's what you have to do. You're going to have to bank things off, and a lot of traffic in front of the net. Funny things happen. Overtime goals always‑‑ not always, but it seems like there are always funny things that happen. Two good goalies the other night that were playing well. That's just the way it goes. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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