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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: RANGERS v KINGSJune 4, 2014Alain VigneaultLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach. Q. Is Talbot available to backup tonight? COACH VIGNEAULT: No. Day‑to‑day. Q. Is there anything more you can tell us about how he sustained the injury or what it is? COACH VIGNEAULT: No. Q. Why did you feel the need to bring up Missiaen? COACH VIGNEAULT: Because Talbot is day‑to‑day. Q. Last time you were in the Cup final, I guess you could call it an eventful series. Did you learn anything from that series? COACH VIGNEAULT: Any time you get to this stage, always series are going to be eventful and challenging. You have a Stanley Cup champion from two years ago that just beat the Stanley Cup champions. You've got a team that fought their way real hard to get here, to get an opportunity. We've got an opportunity. We're going to try and make the best of it. Q. Glen spoke a little bit yesterday about the relationship working with you. Has it been what you expected from the time you got hired, what it's like to work with Glen? COACH VIGNEAULT: I mean, our whole management staff has been real good. It's the type of relationship I think coach and coaches are looking for. It's an open relationship. You talk about your team. You talk about your lineup decisions. You get input from people, not just your coaches, but management. I would say 95% of the time there's a consensus, everybody agrees on what should be done and not done. That 5%, the head coach has to make the final decision on who gets dressed and who doesn't. But for the most part, whether it be on lineup decisions or areas that we felt that our team needed to improve, what moves we could do with our minor league teams, we were pretty much, after discussing it and getting everybody's input, on the same page. Q. So LeNeveu is going to back up then? COACH VIGNEAULT: Yes. Q. What do you know about him as a player? COACH VIGNEAULT: I know from what Benny told me, he finished the season off in Hartford. I think he was 9‑1‑1. He's an experienced guy that has been practicing with our team here throughout the playoffs, with our guys from Hartford. He's a good goaltender. Q. When you were in Vancouver, you faced this team more than 30 times. How do you transfer what you learned about that team to this experience? COACH VIGNEAULT: L.A. is going to play a hard game. They play a high‑percentage game with and without the puck. They play that game in all three zones. We know what to expect from them. What we have to do is execute to our strengths. That's what we're going to try and do tonight. Q. Before this year, you only saw McDonagh from a distance. What do you see when you see him every day close up? COACH VIGNEAULT: First and foremost, he's a great athlete. I mean, anybody that's been around him, his conditioning, the way he trains and prepares, is one of the best I've seen. I see a young man here that is only going to get better. He's got real good offensive instincts. He competes one‑on‑one as good as anybody I've seen. Skating‑wise, he's one of the best. He's just starting to grow. He'll become better as he gets more experience, gets these opportunities. Q. The Kings have played a more up‑and‑down style in the playoffs given the high offensive caliber teams they're facing. Do you think they'll continue that against you or revert to who they were in the regular season? COACH VIGNEAULT: I would say that's a question to ask to them, not to me. I got a real good idea of how they like to play. That's what I'm preparing my team for. But at the end of the day we've really talked to our group about playing our game, the type of hockey we know we can play. Q. Could you assess what mood your team is in right now? COACH VIGNEAULT: I would say they're excited. We've been waiting here for five days for puck drop. Guys are real focused and there's a lot of energy in our room, and we're looking forward to it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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