|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v BLACKHAWKSMay 29, 2014Anze KopitarLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. (No microphone.) ANZE KOPITAR: Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good game.  The outcome wasn't what we wanted, but there's some positives. There's also some negatives that we have to correct from that game, get ready for tomorrow. Q. Is one of the biggest negatives trying to figure out how to stop Kane? Saad had a great game, too. ANZE KOPITAR: Yeah, those two did some damage last night. We got to check them better obviously. There's really not a special format. You just got to eliminate time and space 'cause when they do start carrying the puck all over the ice, it's hard to catch them. They're good players and they're going to make plays. Q. Really fast pace to that game. Teams were trading chances. Is the key going into Game 6 slowing things down? ANZE KOPITAR: I wouldn't say slowing the game down, but you definitely don't want to trade chances with them. They're that type of team where if you did that, it's usually not going to end well. We're known not to play that kind of hockey. This time of the year, that doesn't work usually. We got to get back to playing our game. Q. They shuffled their D pairings and tried to get their defense involved more. Anything you're looking to tighten up for Game 6 there? ANZE KOPITAR: I don't think it really matters how they shuffle their D. Again, there's some stuff we have to correct about our game. We've done that earlier in the series. Now we're going to have to do it again. Q. Will you treat tomorrow like a Game 7, urgency? ANZE KOPITAR: Yeah, of course. Nobody wants to go back there. We wanted to finish it off last night. It didn't happen. It's disappointing. We're going to have to do it tomorrow. Q. In terms of faceoffs, everyone obviously has their own style. Do you approach them a little bit differently in terms of your size and strength as another player would? ANZE KOPITAR: That's really hard to say because you're doing the same thing over and over again. It's really just I think a comfort level. It also depends who you're going up against. You know, there's a bunch of stuff that goes into that, what the outcome is. Q. Is there a part of you guys that feels like there's not another better team in the league than Chicago; that if you win this series, you're in great position to win the Stanley Cup? ANZE KOPITAR: I think all four teams are in great position to win the Stanley Cup, so... We're not looking ahead. We're not looking at our teams. We just got to figure out our own game. Not figure it out, we just got to play our game because we know it's successful. Q. About the question on faceoffs, at the start of your career you weren't as good as you are now. What have you done to improve? ANZE KOPITAR: It's hard to say. I mean, I think a lot of it is just getting to know the guys, the other guys, the other players, what their strengths are, how can you expose them. You just try to go with that. I think I've gotten a little bit stronger since I first got here, too, so that obviously helps. But, you know, it's just different things that, you know, are, I guess, a good result and a bad result. It's a lot of stuff that goes in there. Q. What was the sensation like of playing in that first overtime with basically eight minutes between whistles? ANZE KOPITAR: It was good. It was intense. The game was going up and down. There were some chances. We had a chance to win. They had a chance to win. I'm sure it's fun for the fans. But, you know, from a structure standpoint of view, we wanted to tie it up. Q. In the second period you were very successful.  When you're scoring like that, is it easy to get lulled into that type of style? ANZE KOPITAR: Yeah, that's what is usually the case. When everything goes well, you're trading rushes back and forth... Again, that's not going to get you too far. We have to tighten it up and get back to playing our game. Q. Are you surprised this has been a fairly high‑scoring series? ANZE KOPITAR: I mean, I don't think it's through the roof high scoring. You know, there's obviously been some goals scored. We haven't had too much trouble scoring goals in the playoffs. They're obviously the highest‑scoring team, I believe they were in the regular season. So maybe that's bound to happen. Usually when you give up three goals or more in the game, that usually gets you in trouble. We want to focus on that, too. Q. How much have long runs over the last couple years help you navigate the twists and turns of this marathon? ANZE KOPITAR: For me personally I think you can't get too high or too low. That's what I learned in the last couple years. If you do that, it's obviously an emotional rollercoaster. You definitely don't want to think about all the stuff that could happen, would happen, will happen. Just stay even keel, really just try to be in the moment and be focused that way. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|