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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 26, 2014Alain VigneaultMONTREAL, QUEBEC: Practice Day Q. Do you have any update about Stepan? COACH VIGNEAULT: He's made the trip with us like Dan Carcillo. The only player we've left behind in New York is J.T. Miller. He's got an upper body injury, so he won't be with us here for the next couple of days. That's it. Q. Is Stepan potentially available to you? COACH VIGNEAULT: I couldn't say right now. I have no idea. Q. Would he need to participate in the morning skate for you to put him in the lineup? COACH VIGNEAULT: Yeah, that would be a minimum. Q. Is it your understanding he's going to have to wear a cage when he does come back? COACH VIGNEAULT: If he does come back, it is my understanding that he's going to need some facial protection without a doubt. Q. What did you think of Derick Brassard's performance yesterday? COACH VIGNEAULT: He played a big, strong game. Got us a goal in the end of the second period, and in the last minute of any period, which is definitely a pressure point in games, start of periods, end of periods, that was a big goal. He played some important minutes considering we were shorthanded for the amount of time that we were. He's not a player that we use to kill penalties. It was good to see him back in the lineup, and hopefully he'll just get better. He missed a couple days there, and hopefully he'll just get better. Q. There was kind of a fun shot on TV. I believe it was Hockey Night in Canada, as you were driving into the Garden before Game 4 and bumping into Michel and you had a bit of a laugh. Can you talk a bit about that? Was it funny? Was it awkward? COACH VIGNEAULT: You know what, I'd rather not say what I said at that time. I don't think you can print that. So we'll just leave it at that. Q. Were you thinking about mowing him down? COACH VIGNEAULT: No, I think it's time for hockey, and if he wants to discuss it, it's up to him. I'll talk about hockey and I'll leave it at that. Q. Because one of Pouliot's strengths is winning these puck battles in the offensive zone, do you have to live with these mistakes because he has to be aggressive to do that? COACH VIGNEAULT: You know, as a coach, players bring different elements, and Benoit plays on the edge a lot of times, and he hits a lot, and he forechecks. Sometimes they walk that fine line, and sometimes, like last night unfortunately his first penalty was totally accidental. His second one I could go either way on that one in overtime there. So you've got to live with that just like sometimes your more skilled players, right before Marty scores his goal he turns it over. I mean, you've got to live with one of the reasons why they're good players is they play on the edge and they try certain things. You can't take those things away from them. You just got to encourage them to do it at the right time. I think that's probably a better way of putting it. Q. You went right back to (Indiscernible)? COACH VIGNEAULT: Some people question how smart I am doing that, I think. That's fine. That's fine. Q. Was there ever any hesitation? Is it this time of year that you don't kind of have time to sit a guy down and have a learning experience or is that just generally your thought? COACH VIGNEAULT: No, you know, I think at this time of the year I really know players' intentions are to do the right things. I know Benoit wants to do real well, so you look at what he's doing, you look at your options, and then you come up with what you think is the right feel for your team. Q. Why do you think you guys have been able to assimilate new players so well? Whether it's from the start of the year from last season or the Klein comes in, Carcillo comes in, St. Louis comes in? COACH VIGNEAULT: I think we play a pretty simple game that's easy to understand. And the culture of coming into this organization is the right one, and I think players understand what they have to do, and they just go out and do it. Q. Just ask you one more thing about Michel. When it's all said and done, you guys are shaking hands when the series is over and you have that beer that you talked about, will it be awkward? I know players go through it all the time, but it's a unique situation. COACH VIGNEAULT: You know, we all have friendships in life. Sometimes friends push the limit. You know, sometimes they do things that you're not crazy about. But there is a reason why they're your friends, so relationships are about giving and taking. So right now he's trying to do what he thinks is right and I'm trying to do what I think is right. When it's all over, then we're going to move on. Q. Do you feel like (Indiscernible)? COACH VIGNEAULT: Yeah, he played a really good game at both ends of the week. I think we see a lot of times his defensive awareness, but I thought in last night's game when he had opportunities to jump up in the play and be a contributor, he did that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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