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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 26, 2014Brad RichardsMONTREAL, QUEBEC: Practice Day Q. How much does being in the position that they're in right now, being down 3‑1 and having to sort of build games, how much does that form how you have to treat this series? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, they'll be a dangerous team. Little bit of hope can change everything. They're at home which helps even more. We just did it, and we had two road games out of the three to win, and they could possibly have two home games. So they're going to feel comfortable here and feel that they can win one. They probably feel like it's going to go 7. So it's far from over. Like I said, once the game starts, the 3‑1 or whatever the series is never really matters anyway, because you're in the game. I know the feeling. They just want to get in the game and get in the battle, and that's the most comfortable place they can be right now. So we've got to be ready for that. Q. Marty just said before he played here he watched you guys play, the Rangers, and felt like the team played playoff style even in the middle of the regular season. When do you feel like you guys got there, and why do you think you got there? BRAD RICHARDS: From talking with him, I think what he meant, we didn't give a lot to other teams for no reason. We didn't play a high‑risk, east‑west game. Where it seemed like he always watched from afar when he was coming and talking. We didn't beat ourselves too often for no reason. I think going into playoffs, I've played on lots of teams where you, especially if you're on a talented team where you can have some nights where you can rely on talent and just win on the power play or win because you turn it on. Although we have some talent, we've stayed pretty focused in what we've been doing all year and playing that north‑south hockey game and trying to limit the amount of stuff where you can hurt yourself. Sometimes teams have to switch it on in playoffs, and we've obviously had to do a little bit there. But we've played a certain way and probably because we had to win to get in. If we didn't do that in the last half of the season, we weren't getting in. So we had to kind of play close to the vest. I know there is a lot of talk about A.V. being offensive and changing their game. I don't necessarily think he's‑‑ he's offensive, maybe, but we had to hammer home details defensively or we would have never gotten into the playoffs. We had to take care of that part of the game. That's just the reality of how we started the season. I think that's what, when Marty talks about it, I think we played that way for a long time going into the playoffs so it benefited us. Q. As players, you guys go through the whole time playing against friends. Guys you've played with before. Can you appreciate on a coaching end the close relationship that A.V. has with Therrien and their history together, despite how contentious it's gotten in the series and maybe the awkwardness of that? BRAD RICHARDS: Yeah, I don't know much. I know the hockey world is a small world and we're all very fortunate to be part of it, whether it's coaches or players. You've seen players play for coaches and end up coaching against them later in careers. You've seen all different types of things. I just played against one of my longest friends in the Philly series. I played with him since I was 14 years old. It's definitely awkward, but you both want to win. It's weird to just kind of the‑‑ it's the way our sport is. I'm sure two coaches have had a past. I don't know exactly all of it, but I'm sure some day they'll look back at the series and be happy they got to take part in a great match‑up Eastern Conference Finals. But right now it's just all about winning. Q. Is there any sense of history with this franchise and its fan base, how long it's been since they've gotten to a Stanley Cup Final and how close you guys are to doing that? BRAD RICHARDS: With us? I haven't really. You can feel the difference in the city and going to the Garden now a little bit. But you can't get involved in that. That's something to look back on when the season is over or talk about it at other times. I played on a team that won a Cup that was only in the league ten years. We didn't have any history to rely on. But it didn't bother us. It was trying to win what's in front of you. A great part of playing with the Original Six team is the history. But we're trying to create our own history and moving and looking forward, doing that. But hopefully we can add to some other great things that have happened in New York. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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