Needless to say, the Penguins need a little 1991 luck tonight in Game 3 against the Boston Bruins in Beantown.
Down 0-2 in the series, the last time they came back to win against these same Bruins when down 0-2 was '91 when they won their first Stanley Cup.
Erasing turnovers, especially from their elite players, will be vital tonight. Kris Letang and James Neal are both -5 in the series. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are each -3.
A far cry from the "plus" numbers all those players were carrying in March during a 15-game win streak, even when some were injured.
Here's what Pens coach Dan Bylsma and Bruins coach Claude Julien had to say today in their pre-game, courtesy of FastScripts and the NHL:
COACH DAN BYLSMA
Q. Is this game going to be more one of those 10?foot games where every inch of the ice is contested for and rather than zone to zone or the horse race thing that we saw in Pittsburgh, are we looking at kind of a tight as a fist sort of a game here?
COACH BYLSMA: To our unliking, most of the game or great portions of the game have played in the neutral zone. There hasn't been a lot of offensive zone play by either team in either game, and we'd certainly like to change that and get to the offensive zone a lot more and spend more time there than we have.
You know, the neutral zone game between the top of the circles is a game we'd like to stay away from in terms of how the game has been played the last two and more in?zone time where we need to be at our best.
Q. As a result of the first two games, how much of that was say self?destruction of your team versus Boston just playing really good hockey?
COACH BYLSMA: I think the latter half of the games was us deviating from the plan, but Boston was up at that point in both those hockey games and playing very well and getting to the scoreboard early in contests and then playing well the rest of the way, and us ?? the latter half of both games us looking for offense, pressing the issue, and getting away from our game plan.
A lot of that is due to Boston and how they played and them getting leads in the game and playing very well with them.
Q. After a team isn't successful in a game or even two games, we often hear that the talk is that we need to put this behind us and focus on the next one. At what point do you do that and do you like to see your team do that?
COACH BYLSMA: You know, our evaluation of every game is pretty much the same, win or lose. We talk about it, evaluate it and learn from it and move on to the next one. We find ourselves having lost Game 1 and Game 2 at home, it's having deviated from not really playing the way we're capable of playing. You certainly have that look at the games, look at what happened in the games and then evaluate where we need to get better and where we have to focus for Game 3, and that's what we've done.
We've come here to Boston with that focus. We did that yesterday, and we're ready to step out on the ice for Game 3 with that renewed focus about where we need to get better and where we need to be and play at to be successful tonight.
Q. What's your reaction to the competition committee's recommendation to make visors mandatory for players entering the league next season, and is there still a stigma against players who wear visors the way there used to be?
COACH BYLSMA: I don't think there's a stigma to wearing a visor anywhere close to where there used to be. I don't know how far you'd have to go back for that, but I don't think it's there at all. A great portion of these players that are coming into our league have been in the league now the last five years grew up with a visor, had it on the American league. It's not anything new for them to have a visor on, and a guy like our young guys who played the American Hockey League, come up to the National Hockey League, and they had a visor on there, so there's no stigma, there's no attachment to wearing the visor.
I thought it was inevitable, and I’m glad to see them put that in there.
Q. At home your club often this year was able to sort of set a pace and dictate. In road games even dating to the first one in Philadelphia those players seemed to be able to take a punch. Where did that develop, and how do you think it has played into the way you guys sort of find your game later in road games?
COACH BYLSMA: I think you're talking about a little bit of a lesson we learned last year in the Playoffs and even in the latter half of the year when we scored a lot of goals and won a lot of hockey games, but it was a lot of 5?3, 5?2, get to the Playoffs and give up a large number of goals. We went into the season with a different mindset and different attitude towards keeping the puck out of our net, playing defense. You saw that right in Game 1, I think was an example you saw in Philly, that road game we played in Philly, and I think you saw that develop in our team really after the latter half of this season, going on a 15?game winning streak starting in Montreal with that game, even though that wasn't our best defensive game.
But we played a lot of hockey games on the road where we were up, and we didn't necessarily dictate the offensive zone or get a lot of shots in the game but were comfortable playing what typifies a road game and playing good defense, and that's something, that mindset I think we've talked about and something we have to bring to this game tonight.
Q. Vokoun says he's starting so I don't have to ask you that question, but what do you want to see from him and why was the decision to go back to him, and you mentioned it wasn't his fault, those three goals in Game 2?
COACH BYLSMA: Looking for a solid game from our goaltender. We've gotten that from Tomas in virtually every game he's played, a real solid performance, and he's done that for us, and that's what we need tonight. We don't need perfection. We're looking for a solid game in between the pipes and from our goaltender to allow our team to win the hockey game.
Q. I'm wondering how much more of a factor you anticipate match?ups being tonight. Didn't seem to be much of a factor in Pittsburgh, but this is a team that does like to do that, and do you have to react in any way to that?
COACH BYLSMA: Their team, the coaches, matched up Chara just really against Sid and Geno, not exclusively against one or the other. Him and Seidenberg are together sometimes but not all the time. They're certainly going to use Bergeron in conjunction with their D pairing to get the match?up that they (want). Wither Chara and Seidenberg against the lineup they want or if that's not the case they'll get Bergeron. So they'll continue to do that. We're going to look for ways ?? it's a little bit harder, but look for ways on the road to get either Sid or Geno's line on the ice in situations where they don't have those guys on the ice.
A lot of that's dictated by us being able to play in the offensive zone. I've already said today that we haven't really done a lot of playing in the offensive zone, so it's been more to the match?up liking for their team, whether that's home or on the road. If we can do a better job of playing the offensive zone and making those players play in those positions and then what shifts after get match?ups to our liking, that's what we'll try to do and try to do on the road when they have the match?up after the whistle.
Q. After all the talk and all that's happened in 1 and 2, is this game tonight about finding out about where your team's character is at and what it's made of? Is it that simple?
COACH BYLSMA: I think there's a lot to that. We haven't really been happy with the way we've played, and no, we've gotten off our game and deviated from it. You know, we know the situation we're in exactly, too, we're down 0?2 and we're challenged with going on the road to Boston for two. We're going to find out exactly an awful lot about our mindset, our team coming out here tonight in this game.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN
Q. Just one of the general themes in there today in the locker room was even from the forwards, defense, defense, defense, and our offense comes after that. Even though you scored nine goals in the first two games, how much has that theme carried you guys?
COACH JULIEN: It's been good for us. I think when you look at our team, it's built that way. We take pride in that part of our game, and that part of our game has also given us the opportunity to be better offensively, turn that puck over quick and then everybody comes back and we go up the ice as a unit.
That's been a big part of our game, and when it's good, it provides us with some good offense.
Q. Your team has been on sort of both sides of this situation, whether it be up 2?0 headed home or down 2?0 headed on the road. How much of that experience plays in right now and how much do you think they've learned that just because you're coming home to your home building, nothing is etched in stone?
COACH JULIEN: No, it doesn't matter what situation it is. I think our guys are mature enough to understand that whatever we've been through, whatever the situation is right now, we have to be a good team in order to win at this stage of the season, and we can't afford to let our guard down, whether it's the respect for a team you're playing and the ability of that team to take advantage of you if you're not ready, or whether it's just from within our group, to want to be a good team every night. That's what's important right now, is that we stay focused on the present and don't live in the past and don't look in the future. I've said that before. We've been good when we've kept our eye on what's going on right now, and that's what we've got to do.
Q. Your players are talking about the system in there, and some describe it as a very easy system, and then Paille said it's complicated, McQuaid sort of hints at the same thing. How would you describe the system?
COACH JULIEN: It's not complicated, so I'm going to have to have a talk with Dan there with that (laughter). It really isn't. What we try and do is eliminate the gray areas, make it black and white, and it really is easy, and he probably said complicated because he doesn't want to tell you what it is.
But it isn't, and this game shouldn't be a complicated one. Guys have skills, you try and put some structure together, but the one thing you don't take away is their ability to use their imagination and their skill and their hockey sense to make plays. Defensively is where you're extremely structured, and then you want to make sure, like you said, that you have layers and guys come back the way they should be positioned. But when it comes to offense, a couple of rules, but the rest is about letting them do their job and let them use their creativity.
Q. To that end, you talked a little bit about the importance of puck management at the beginning of the series, and to what end does having offensive minded D?men help you in that regard and not only to maintain puck management, but put puck pressure on the opposing goalie?
COACH JULIEN: To win a hockey game you need everything, and puck management is one of those things we talked about. Defense. We talk about scoring goals, we talk about being strong in the puck, everything else, and puck management, at one point was part of our game that we were struggling with a little bit with New York and gave us some issues, and then when we had to be better against Pittsburgh because if you didn't have good puck management and if you don't get continued good puck management, you're going to run into trouble with that team.
Q. Question regarding the Bruins’ defense:
COACH JULIEN: Yeah, they're good. Andrew Ference came back in and you see him skating the puck back up the ice. Some guys are better at skating the puck up the ice than maybe others, but others are great passers, they see plays, they see the openings well in the neutral zone, make good passes and they use their offense from the offensive blue line and in, and that's a guy like Johnny Boychuk, Johnson, Zdeno and those guys.
Q. When a team goes in and puts up stunning scores, the third game is always tight as a fist. Are you guys gearing up toward a game that's going to be one of those every 10 feet of the ice is going to be a battle kind of thing?
COACH JULIEN: Well, that's the way it's been from the start for us. Every part of the ice is a battle, and that's how we've been able to come back 2?0. Like I said, we respect every part of our game to be good because it needs to be, and I keep saying that over and over. The team that we're playing is a good team, and they've been a great team all year. I guess right now we're up 2?0 because we've taken that respect and brought it to our game and made sure that every inch of the ice is important, and we've taken that approach.
Q. How much do you have to anticipate the adjustments that they're going to make for this game down 2?0 or is it the same as what you anticipated going into game 2?
COACH JULIEN: I think we have to continue to play our game, but we should expect some changes here and there, and if those things happen, I think we'll be ready for it. But I've said that all along in the Playoffs. We really want to focus on our game because I think that's where all the focus has to be, and that's where players' focus needs to be. As far as coaches are concerned, we have to be ready for adjustments, and if there is some, we've got to be ready to tell our players.
Q. In terms of Krug, are there specific things about his skill and hockey sense that outweigh his size, and when you're going to throw him in an NHL playoff game, how do you know he's ready and do you put him in positions where he can succeed?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I think it's pretty obvious when you look at him, even in this Pittsburgh series, the plays he makes. He's got a good sense for the game, he sees the openings. He's calm with the puck, he doesn't throw it away for nothing. Does he make mistakes? Just like everybody else, once in a while. But as far as do we know what we're going to get, I think we have an idea, but until he shows it, you never know, and that's why we told him right off the bat to go out there and just play his game and not to play on his heels, and we were going to correct whatever needed to be corrected.
You have to have confidence in the guys you put in your lineup, and they need to feel that confidence. We were able to do that, and he was able to give us what we wanted.
Q. Tuukka took a shot in practice this morning. How is he?
COACH JULIEN: He's fine. Just didn't want him falling in front of the door when he went out of his crease, and I told him you're making me look bad. I told him ?? I told everybody you were normal, but I did tell him he had a temper, so I said, you're okay. No issues.
Q. Just with Adam, he's had so many ailments and things over the years, concussions, whatever. Just how nice is it as a coach I am sure to have a big defenseman back there but personally that he's been able to play and stay in the post?season here?
COACH JULIEN: Yeah, he was a pretty important part of our team when we won a few years ago and probably flew under the radar because of how well other players played.
But when he stays away from injuries and he gets his momentum going in his game, he's a really reliable defenseman, and you've seen him at times play against top lines because he's capable of doing that. Certainly in the position that he's in right now in that third pairing, he gives us a pretty good player there.
Q. Could you do a quick comparison of the three series you've had here in terms of opponent speed, Leafs to Rangers to here? Up on the ninth floor it looks like this is the fastest team you've played, but that isn't always the case. Can you give a review there?
COACH JULIEN: Well, it's always hard to kind of analyze because the first round is very different from the second. I said that, the first round to me has always been the toughest round to get out of, all the teams that make the Playoffs are excited about it, and it seems like it takes a little bit of time to build some momentum or it takes something to happen, and we used our example in Game 7 of Toronto. Look at Chicago for what they've gone against Detroit coming back from a 3?1 deficit. There's certain things that give your team the ability to get better, and I think our team has just gotten better round after round, but our opponents have given us everything they have. For Toronto to bring us to 7, and New York, sure, it was a five?game series, but I said it all along and I'll say it again, there was no quit in that team. They might have run out of firepower and as you can see they had some key guys that were not 100 percent, but we're playing a team right now that has all the firepower in the world and can turn the series around very quickly if we're not careful.
Different series have different, I guess, approaches as far as how you look at a team, and right now with our team I felt it too much has been really about how are we going to play tonight, and after tonight it'll be the next game.
I like the direction our team is heading into, but the challenge is keeping it going in that direction.
I think when you look at the skill level that they have, too many guys that can score goals, you can look at ?? when you see necessarily the Crosbys and the Malkins but the Dupuis and the Kunitz, they can skate Letang from the back end and Martin can carry the puck well, there's a lot of guys, and I'm sure I'm for getting some, but there's a lot of firepower and a lot of layers in that department that they have.
Q. Any reaction to the competition committee's recommendation to make visors mandatory for players entering the league next season. Is there a stigma against players that wear visors?
COACH JULIEN: I'll answer your second part quickly. There is no stigma. I think I'm proud and encourage guys to wear advisors, and I'm one of those guys that really believed that when a young player comes up playing minor hockey with a advise or and he's used to it, why take it off? I know there's been some accidents with the visor, but there's been more things, incidents saved by the visor than there has been from the other side of it, like a seatbelt in a car. How many lives does it save, and every once in a while you'll hear, well, he was caught in the car because of his seatbelt. But you know, to me I think it's a good thing that they're encouraging that visor and that it's going to be grandfathered in. I believe in it, and I'm on that side.
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