Rangers Report Blog

Stanley Cup Finals odds courtesy of Bodog.

Series Price
Vancouver Canucks       -235
Boston Bruins                +195

Exact Series Result
Boston Bruins 4-0                      25/1
Boston Bruins 4-1                      12/1
Boston Bruins 4-2                      13/2
Boston Bruins 4-3                      15/2
Vancouver Canucks 4-0              15/2
Vancouver Canucks 4-1              13/4
Vancouver Canucks 4-2              4/1
Vancouver Canucks 4-3              15/4

Total Games Played In Series
Over Games                  O 5½    -175
Under Games                U 5½    +145

Total Games Played In Series
4                      6/1
5                      9/4
6                      2/1
7                      2/1

Total Goals Scored in Series
Over/Under                    30 Goals

Where Will the Series be Decided?
TD Garden, Boston                    +120
Rogers Arena, Vancouver           -150

Total road wins
Over Games 2.5             -140
Under Games 2.5           +110

2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Who will win the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP?
Ryan Kesler                              7/5
Tim Thomas                              4/1
Henrik Sedin                              6/1
Roberto Luongo                         13/2
Nathan Horton                           7/1
Daniel Sedin                              9/1
Patrice Bergeron                        14/1
David Krejci                               15/1
Kevin Bieksa                             25/1
Zdeno Chara                              25/1
Field (Any Other Player)             14/1

Will a player from the losing team in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals be awarded the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy?
Yes                  15/1

Daniel Sedin – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over/ Under                   6

Henrik Sedin – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over/ Under                   6

Ryan Kesler – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over/ Under                   5

Alexandre Burrows – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over/ Under                   3.5

Roberto Luongo – Goals against average in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over / Under                  2.15

Roberto Luongo – Save percentage in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Boston Bruins
Over / Under                  92%

Who will score more goals in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Vancouver Canucks?
Daniel Sedin                  7/5
Ryan Kesler                  3/2
Alex Burrows                 15/4
Henrik Sedin                  9/2

Who will record more assists in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Vancouver Canucks?
Henrik Sedin                  6/5
Daniel Sedin                  7/4
Ryan Kesler                  4/1
Christian Ehrhoff            17/4

David Krejci – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over/ Under                   4.5

Milan Lucic – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over/ Under                   4

Patrice Bergeron – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over/ Under                   4

Zdeno Chara – Total Points in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over/ Under                   3

Tim Thomas – Goals against average in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over / Under                  2.35

Tim Thomas – Save percentage in the Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Canucks
Over / Under                  92%

Who will score more goals in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Boston Bruins?
Nathan Horton               17/10
Milan Lucic                    9/5
Patrice Bergeron            7/4
David Krejci                   7/2

Who will record more shutouts during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals?
Roberto Luongo             -130
Tim Thomas                  Even

Who will a better save percentage in the Series?
Roberto Luongo             Even
Tim Thomas                  -130

Will Roberto Luongo be replaced as goaltender at any point during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals?
Yes                  +300
No                     -500

Will there be a 5 minute fighting major penalty called during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals?
Yes                  -250
No                    +195

How May Games of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals will go to overtime?
Over 1.5            +135
Under 1.5          -165

Will any game in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals go to double overtime?
Yes                  +275
No                     -350

Enjoy your cookouts or your parade or whatever you decide to do today (hope you’re not working, though I know a lot of people who are).

Have fun, kick back.

But please don’t forget why we celebrate Memorial Day.

Most sources of information say that Memorial Day began in the 1860s after the Civil War and the hundreds of thousands from both sides who died fighting. There are some who believe it began earlier than that.

And when I was a kid we were also taught that it was a day to remember anybody who has passed on, not just those who were lost while serving in wars.

Whatever the complete truth is, there’s nothing wrong with remembering those who were important to our lives, or to our country. Give it some thought. I know I will try to do that before I flip something on the grill.

I don’t have much to offer today.

Meant to link the other day to the story about the MSG renovation and the photo of the gutted Garden from the Record. You can see it here.

Also, in case you missed it, was the great news about Manny Malhotra being cleared to play in the Stanley Cup finals after suffering what originally was feared to have been a life-altering, career-threatening eye injury.

You can read that here.

Kind of helps for those on the fence about a rooting interest in the finals, eh?
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Still looking for a few volunteer guest bloggers for the next two weeks. Let me know if you’re interested at rcarpini@lohud.com.
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AP photo, above.

… and your New York Rangers were 4-1 against the two teams that will play for the Stanley Cup.
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The Ghost of Cam Neely:

June 6, 1986: Traded to Boston by Vancouver with Vancouver’s 1st round choice (Glen Wesley) in 1987 Entry Draft for Barry Pederson. My God.
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I was kind of hoping for Tampa Bay-Vancouver , which would have been the longest distance between two finalists—about 142 hours by plane. But also because the Lightning had so many good stories and played so hard and valiantly (see Steven Stamkos’ nose) and showed such character in Game 82.
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That said, Boston could scratch off another team from the longest-Cup-drought list. But it will be a tall task to beat the Canuckleheads.

Like many teams from the expansion era, Vancouver has never won the Cup. But of the teams that have won it, here are the longest current droughts (with Chicago having ended its drought last year):

Toronto, 1967.
Boston, 1972.
Philadelphia, 1975.
Islanders, 1983.
Calgary, 1989.
Edmonton, 1990.
Montreal, 1993.
Your New York Rangers, 1994.

Also, you should note … and this will inevitably begin to change, just because it has to … in the post 1967-expansion era, only one team has won a Stanley Cup, torn the whole thing down and won another Cup with all new players. That was the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Teams still won’t touch the conference trophies. Well, the Rangers did. They didn’t lift it or carry it around, but they touched it. As a matter of fact, 17 years ago last night, a Mr. Matteau touched the trophy. Remember?

Stephane Matteau broke a skate lace or something just before the second OT of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final began. So he was still in the lockerroom when they put the trophy in the hallway. Matteau came out, had to go around the trophy, and tapped it for luck. You might say it worked.
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I’m going to be busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest through the second weekend of June. So if anybody wants to volunteer to do a game review during the finals, please let me know at rcarpini@lohud.com. Give me the games you’d prefer to review. Thanks.
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AP photos, above.

2011 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
Game 7 Morning Skate Transcript
May 27, 2011
COACH GUY BOUCHER

Q.  Sean Bergenheim looked a little bit better out there – at least to us – this morning.  How optimistic are you that he’ll be available for you in Game 7 tonight?
COACH BOUCHER:  I wouldn’t say optimistic for now.  It’s better.  He might try the warm-up.  We’ll see.  I’ve still got to talk to my therapists and doctors.  There’s been some improvement.  So to what extent, we’ll have to wait and see, but doubtful.

Q.  Guy, with what’s at stake tonight? Game 7 is one thing in the first round.  Do the emotions become a little bit harder to control and deal with considering what’s at stake in a Game 7 tonight?
COACH BOUCHER:  Well, to say no would be a lie.  But I think that’s the challenge is to be able to control these emotions.  And we didn’t want our players or ourselves playing the game last night or this morning or this afternoon.  It’s our job to make sure that we stay focused on what we’ve got to do, not the hype of everything else that this game means.  And we feel that we can be better than the last game, definitely.
We’ve done some good things.  We want to keep those, but I think we need to focus on what we need to improve for tonight.

Q.  Back to Bergenheim for just a second.  What has his absence maybe caused you to do in terms of maybe some slight of hand, kind of masking his absence, making up for it?
COACH BOUCHER:  Well, obviously you want to think of your own team.  But at the same time, when you look at the Bruins’ depth, it does make a difference because instead of equalizing things, it has a tendency to give them a little upper hand on that, because they’ve got Seguin on their third line and Ryder.  And Kelly is doing really well.  And they’ve got Peverley on the fourth line.  First-line guy from another team on their fourth line, and that’s where Bergenheim became extremely important for us in the previous series and this series where the line with Downie and Moore played like a first line.
So right now, we’re trying to find chemistry with some other guys.  I tried things two games ago.  I tried things the last game.  Some of it worked, some of it didn’t work.
It makes me juggle a little bit to try to find some chemistry that is absolutely crucial in any of these playoff games.

Q.  Speaking of finding that chemistry on that line, Blair Jones has stepped in there a little bit.  What have you thought of what he’s shown you in these Playoffs, because seems there’s been a lot of improvement over the course of the season?
COACH BOUCHER:  What I like about Blair right now, is what’s different than before, is when we brought him up, he was good the first game.  Pretty good the second game.  Then they would kind of fade away a bit.
I think the last times we brought him up, he maintained his level of play.  And so that’s what I find really interesting right now.  He’s working so hard.  He’s a warrior.  We knew that.  But I think he’s maintaining the level of play that we’re expecting out of him.  And he’s brought a lot of grit.
We knew he had that.  He’s one of those guys that’s got enough skill, but has got a lot of grit, pays the price, backchecks extremely hard and finishes his check and is first on puck.  So I think that’s a great recipe to have a good playoff.
So I think for him, what I like about this player is that he likes the challenges.  He’s on the bench and he’s looking at me with those eyes:  Put me out, I’ll do the job.  It’s always fun to have those guys.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
May 27, 2011
An Interview with:

COACH CLAUDE JULIEN

Q.  You’ve been in Game 7s before but not at this stage with these kind of stakes.  Do you have to do anything to talk to your guys about emotions and keeping everything in check and under control?
COACH JULIEN:  I think Game 7 is Game 7 whether it’s first or third round.  There’s an opportunity here to move on to the next round.  That to me is what Game 7 represents, no matter where you are in the Playoffs.
Our guys just have to enjoy this whole process here.  As I mentioned yesterday, there’s 27 teams right now that would love to have the opportunity that we have in the Playoffs right now.  This is one of those days where I think if you don’t enjoy the moment, you’re wasting a pretty precious day.  And you take advantage of it today, you get ready, you get excited about it.  You come out tonight and you leave it all out on the ice.  Simple as that.  Anything less than that, it’s a waste of a day. (more…)

Since our friend LW3H and his blog “Springing Malik” got the topic rolling on classic moments of tossing stuff onto the ice in NHL history, here are some favorite Rangers-related stuff-thrown-on-the-ice stories. Or my two cents. Hope I have the details correct:

1) There was a night in the ‘80s when the Rangers gave away hats. Actually, it was a sponsored giveway, just about the time when such things began to explode. Yes, once upon a time, the team would give away bats and balls or hats and shirts, not the sponsors. Anyway, these were red baseball-style caps, and I think they were sponsored by a cigarette company—sign of the times—Winston or Marlboro or somebody, if I’m not mistaken.

Anyway, of course Mark Pavelich scores five goals that night. So the ice was littered with red hats three times, until just about every one of the 17,000 or so hats had been tossed. Looked a little like the day the Reggie Bars came flying out of the stands at Yankee Stadium.

2) At the end of one of those great Phil Esposito years, the Rangers had a fan appreciation night. They gave away these cheap plastic clocks.

Or, better to describe them as pointy, sharp, plastic missiles. Because when the Rangers got bombarded that day (might have been by Pittsburgh, or maybe not) the clocks came a-flying. Bob Froese had to back up into his net to avoid being maimed. Afterwards, asked what he was thinking, he said, “I was thanking God it wasn’t Machete Night.”

3) This got lost in the shuffle the night the Bruins went into the stands to fight the patrons at MSG. But the game actually ended with Espo on a breakaway, and as he bore in on his friend Gerry Cheevers, he was hit right in the caboose by a tennis ball thrown perfectly from the blue seats.

4) Does anybody remember the night somebody flung a puck into the net from the seats during play, causing much controversy and discussion?

5) Roger Neilson, when he was Toronto coach, and perhaps later when he was Rangers coach, had a couple of dirty little tricks … for example, if his team faced a 5-on-3 at the end of a game, he’d simply send a fourth and fifth skater onto the ice. What could the referees do? Even if they assessed more penalties, the worst the Rangers could face was a 5-on-3.

Anyway, one of Neilson’s tricks was, whenever his team needed a timeout, he and/or an assistant coach would reach into his pocket and throw all his change onto the ice. The officials didn’t know where the money came from, but they had to stop the game to pick up the coins, and Neilson had his relatively inexpensive timeout.

From the NHL:

2011 Stanley Cup Final Schedule

Game                Date                 Time (ET)        Site

Game 1                Wed., June 1        8:00 p.m.     at Vancouver                CBC, NBC, RDS
Game 2                Sat., June 4        8:00 p.m.       at Vancouver                CBC, NBC, RDS
Game 3                Mon., June 6        8:00 p.m.    at Eastern champ          VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Game 4                Wed., June 8         8:00 p.m.   at Eastern champ          VERSUS, CBC, RDS

*Game 5             Fri., June 10          8:00 p.m.         at Vancouver                CBC, NBC, RDS

*Game 6             Mon., June 13        8:00 p.m.        at Eastern champ             NBC, CBC, RDS

*Game 7             Wed., June 15        8:00 p.m.          at Vancouver                 CBC, NBC, RDS

• – If necessary

All times listed are Eastern Time

Thank the hockey gods for consecutive nights of Stanley Cup playoff heaven.

Hey, how about those knuckleheads throwing those idiotic clapping paddles into the ice at the end of Game 6? And how about the jackwagon who thought that handing those things out at a hockey game was a good idea? Got what he deserved.

Remember the year the Knicks and Rangers handed out those Thunderstix at MSG? Remember, even Larry Brown (or was it Jeff Van Gundy) saying how embarrassing that was?

Speaking about embarrassing, how about Jeremy Roenick who, between “unbelievables” said the Lightning “phased off elimination.” He also said that five goals wasn’t going to cut it defensively for the Bruins in Game 7, then insisted that Game 7 will be a high scoring game. I know a lot of you will disagree, but Mike Milbury is a much better studio analyst.
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An Interview with:

COACH GUY BOUCHER

Q.  Guy, I know you like to talk about a team game and that everybody contributes, but in a game where Sean Bergenheim wasn’t there, you got such contributions from Marty, Vinny and Stamkos, I was just curious what kind of responsibility they put on themselves in this game and how they came through it.
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  I was expecting a big game from those guys, but I disagreed that they didn’t have big games in the last games.  Looking at the scoreboard, there’s more to the game than just scoring goals and having points.  They had very good games before.  It just wasn’t going in for some of them, and for some other guys it was going in.
So for me, they just get the result of their previous games’ hard work.  So I don’t think it’s an on and off switch.  It’s something that you build every game, and they got what they deserved.

Q.  You said after last game, if only you could solve the enigma that is Tim Thomas.  After tonight, would you say you’ve solved that or most of it?
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  I guess we solved it for tonight.  But every game is an opportunity for them and for us.  And I’m sure he’s going to come up big.  He said they were going to win for sure.  So I’m sure he’s going to come up big in the next game.  So we’re expecting that.
And we know he’s a very good goaltender.  So today is today.  But the next day is going to be another story that we have to figure him out.

Q.  Claude Julien seemed pretty unhappy with the calls tonight.  In reference to what you said today, just your reaction to that?  He seemed to think maybe there was a connection.
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  Well, first of all, I was asked that.  I didn’t bring it up myself.  So I was asked.  And people put numbers in front of me.         And those are the facts, the numbers.  If you’re asking me, power plays are 5-4 for them tonight.  And they were 3-0 for them the start of the game in the first period, and it was 4-1 for them before we got our other power play.  So I don’t know who got the advantage today.  We got less power plays than them.

Q.  What was the difference on the power plays for you tonight?
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  First of all, more poise.  The last two games, one of our power plays had a lot of poise and the other one didn’t.  And I think today both power plays had a lot more poise.  And we got the results out of the poise that we had with the puck, managing it a lot better.

Q.  Could you talk a little bit about the development of Teddy Purcell.  He says when he first got here that maybe he didn’t quite understand the intensity it took.
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  No, he didn’t.  He didn’t.  But you know what, that’s the beauty of this game.  And working, I think, with individuals, individuals figuring out with great leaders around him, I think he saw Vinny and Marty, just like Stammer figured it out also coming in, he’s a great hardworking guy, when you see those guys and what they go through and how hard they train and how much they pay the price on the ice every night, you know, you gotta learn.  And I think Teddy’s certainly one of those guys that’s learned a lot this year.
He’s put a lot of effort into it.  It’s not something that just happened.  He’s worked really hard at it.  He’s been through a lot.  We sat him one time in the stands.  After that, had a little tendency to understand faster.
But we always knew he had the skill and always believed that he was a really good player.  And I think he didn’t know how good he was.
So I think when he figured that out, he started to control the puck a lot better.  He started to figure out that he’s got a lot more speed than he thought.  And then he’s six-foot something, and he can certainly manage himself on the ice against the big boys.
And certainly I’m part of a group of people that’s very proud of him right now.

Q.  What’s your assessment of the way Roloson played tonight?
COACH GUY BOUCHER:  We won.  That’s all.  That’s what we’re asking.  We’re asking him for a chance to win, and that’s what we got.
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2011 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
Game 6 Post-Game Transcript
May 25, 2011

COACH CLAUDE JULIEN
Q. Your comment on how the special teams went.
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  Obviously it was a difference maker.  They scored three goals on the power play and it took us a long time to get our first one, and that certainly dictated the game.  And what was more disappointing is probably the fact that, you know, I don’t know if I agree with those calls.  And hopefully what was said today didn’t have any impact on that, because if it did, I’d be really disappointed.
But when you look back at those and you get an opportunity to look back at them and that’s really tough to swallow.  And at the same time, you want your team to kill those penalties, which we’ve done a pretty good job throughout the series.  But tonight that wasn’t the case.  And obviously it was the difference in the game.

Q.  Just to follow up, if you can take a positive, obviously Lucic and Krejci and Horton had a great game, and Krejci especially.
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  They were very good tonight.  That line needed to be big for us.  And they were.  And that’s certainly something that you can build on heading home, that if those guys played like that again, you like our chances.

Q.  Vinny, Marty, Steven Stamkos, any surprises there that they turned it on in a big game situation?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  Power plays, that’s what they excel in.

Q.  What do you think having Chara out there on the power play?  There was one I think you had containment for about a minute forty.  Didn’t score on that one.  The one you did, he was right around the post there?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  Yeah, he did a great job again tonight, and just in that second period, we had some power play time.  And then somehow there were times we should have shot because he was there and we had the shooting lane and we chose to pass.  And that certainly took away some momentum from our power play.
And sometimes it doesn’t have to be a big shot.  It’s just a wrist shot that’s got to go through.  With him in front of the net, you’re giving yourself a chance.  And again, he did a great job in front, and that’s something that we need to hopefully capitalize on with the job he’s doing up there.
And our guys have to make sure that they shoot the puck a little more.  I thought in the second period we stopped shooting the puck.  And that really hurt us as well.

Q.  Back to that top line thing.  When they’re bad, they’re bad.  When they’re on, they’re unbelievably good.  Lucic, why is he first to the puck so many times tonight?  Is that just determination?  Or what’s going on?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  He was skating tonight.  It’s as simple as that.  When he skates and comes at you hard, certainly puts everybody on their heels.  I thought he was skating well tonight and created the stage for himself and also created some turnovers for the hockey club, and that was a big difference maker as far as that line was concerned.  It made a whole lot of difference.

Q.  You worked all season to get home ice advantage.  Just your thoughts on going back Game 7?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  That was my comment after the game to our guys.  You play 82 games, and a lot of times people say:  What do you play those 82 games for?  And I think that’s one of the key things that if you can get home ice advantage this time of year, you need to take advantage of it.  And we did against Montreal and now we need to do the same thing against Tampa.

Q.  You referenced that Montreal Game 7.  If you can think back, what was it like for the guys heading into that, just the attitude, the feeling in the dressing room, and do you think you’ll have that this time around?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  We’ve had the experience of it, obviously, and we need to take that experience and utilize it again.  And I thought tonight our guys competed fairly well.  But, again, those penalties ended up costing us.  Their power play was successful.
At the same time when we got to within one goal, we got a D that caught in and give him a two-on-one right after he gets within the goal.  So again it’s a mistake that becomes costly in the Playoffs.
So if we can minimize that stuff and come out hard next game and then take the lead and hang on to it, no doubt, we’re going to be winners.
But we’ve done well against Montreal.  And I think we had a lot of pressure not just because it was Montreal; it was also the first round, and we needed to get through it.  And we did that.
So I think our guys are going to be fine for Game 7, I know our guys will be ready and positive and our job is to make it happen.

Q.  You brought it up, the comments today about the referees.  On the one hand, do you warn your players there might be extra sensitivity about what they do out there?  And secondly, is there any place for that in the game, are you disappointed that something like that would come up in a conference like this?
COACH CLAUDE JULIEN:  I didn’t say anything special to our players.  We went out there and played the game.  I thought we were very disciplined tonight.  And again, it just seemed like it was one of those tough nights when you look back at some of those penalties, whether you’re allowed to agree or disagree.  I’m one of those guys tonight that probably disagreed on a lot of them.
When you hear what happened today, I guess it certainly makes things look even worse.  So referees have a tough job to do.  One thing you don’t want to do is criticize them.  You’re allowed to agree or disagree, but they’ve got a tough job to do.  My job is not to criticize them.  But it was something that was tough to swallow tonight.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

2011 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
Game 6 Post-Game Transcript
May 25, 2011
MARTIN ST. LOUIS
STEVEN STAMKOS

Q.        How much did you feel that you and Stammer and Vinny had to step up tonight?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS:  Well, I feel we have to step up every night.  Luckily we have a lot of depth in our lineup that we don’t have to do that every night.  But I expect out of myself every night.  I know Stammer does the same thing and Vinny does the same thing.  The reality is it’s not going to happen every night.  We’re playing against some good teams out there, some good players.
But you know, we have good depth.  That’s why we are where we are today.

Q.  Having said that, how much pressure or responsibility did you guys put on yourself for today?  Because if Sean was not in the lineup, backs-to-the-wall kind of game, how important was it for contributions from you guys and Vinny?
STEVEN STAMKOS:  I think we’ve done it all year.  We’ve had key guys out of the lineup from the beginning of the year and we’ve had other guys step up.  And it was tough not having Bergie with the way he’s played in the Playoffs.
We knew the importance of this game.  And like Marty said, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves every night.  It was nice to get rewarded.  Special teams were great tonight.  But once again, Teddy stepped up.  He had a huge game.
We’ve had different guys each game step up.  Like Marty said, that’s why we are where we are.  Roli made the saves when he had to.  I thought we played a real solid defensive game and limited their shots.

Q.  Marty, diving for cover in the goal there.  Just wondering what you saw when Steven was winding up.
MARTY ST. LOUIS:  They made a good play because Gagne put it back in front.  I actually was going to get a good look.  It went back to the point, and the guy played me and kind of pushed me or tripped me.  I fell down.  And I knew I was going into the net, but because we had control of the puck, I made sure that I went all the way in the net so I wouldn’t interfere with Thomas if the puck was going to come back against the grain and he had to push out that way.  I didn’t want to interfere.  I was just going to take cover and hope for the best.

Q.  Steven, your goal tonight was one that was kind of a classic Steven Stamkos goal.  Did you feel you found that zone again?
STEVEN STAMKOS:  It’s tough.  They’ve got a good P.K.  I thought the last couple games we struggled on the power play.  And that’s where we usually excel and we beat teams.
So today we made a few adjustments but it was just about getting pucks to the net.  Marty obviously made a great play not to interfere with Thomas, but Brew made a great play.  He got the puck, he came and he faked it.  We made eye contact.  And just tried to get the shot off as hard as I could and luckily it went in.

Q.  How do you feel about Game 7, the prospects for it and how you guys will react?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS:  We knew it was going to be a long series.  This is a good team.  Comes down to one game.  Luckily and fortunately, all our team has been through a Game 7.  Some of us have played more but we’ve had that experience.  So we know what to expect.
The fourth win is always the toughest one to get and we know both teams will battle hard to get it.

Q.  Marty, all your coaches have said that you relish the big games.  Why do you think that is?
MARTY ST. LOUIS:  I think that’s what you play for.  Whether it’s as a kid in the driveway and pretending to be a Game 7.  Those are the games you watch as a kid.  Those are the games that gets your fire going and those are the ones you want to play in.  The do-or-die games.  Our backs against the wall.
You want to leave it out there, and I was fortunate to get a couple of good bounces today.  And guys made good plays.
But I felt like in those games, I said I like to give myself a chance to help my team.

Q.  Steven, they cut it to a one-goal game twice in the third period.  Is it human nature, when you have the two-goal lead, to get a tad bit comfortable and then all of a sudden the work isn’t over?
STEVEN STAMKOS:  Two-goal leads, three-goal leads, they’re tough.  As much as you want to keep pressuring, like you said it’s human nature.  Psychologically you don’t want to give up anything and maybe you tend to stay back a little bit.  We keep telling our guys to keep pressuring them.
But we played in so many tight games all year that we know how to react.  We stayed collected on the bench.  We realized what we had to do.  Guys were dedicated and getting the pucks deep and blocking shots, and Roli made the saves when he had to.
It’s nice to have a two-goal cushion.  Thank God Marty potted that one or else it was a different game.  It was our ability to stay calm on the bench and react to the situation we’re in.  And we’ve done it all year and we have to do it one more time.

Q.  Was there any adjustments on the power play?  Do anything differently or why did it work so well?
MARTIN ST. LOUIS:  To be honest, our last couple games, we just haven’t been there.  Not many scoring chances.  Sometimes it’s not about scoring but it’s about gaining momentum.
Our second unit has done that the last few games.  They played really well in the power play.  It’s kept us in some games momentum-wise.  And tonight, last couple of games, I feel we squeezed our sticks a little bit.  Not enough poise.
I think tonight we just let go.  We said just let’s go play.  Nothing to lose here.  Our backs are against the wall.  Let’s go play.  And we got rewarded by putting the puck on net.

Q.  Steven, can you talk a little bit about Marty’s role that we might not see on the ice?
STEVEN STAMKOS:  He’s the heart and soul of our team.  He and Vinny are our leaders.  You see how hard Marty works during the game.  You guys get to see that but you don’t see what happens in the room.  He’s the first guy to step up and get the guys going.  He’s obviously been through every type of experience and every single type of championship you could win, he’s been there.  He’s won individual awards.  He’s won the Stanley Cup and he’s always been a big part.
He knows what to do and how to react in those situations.  And he stepped up before the game and said a few words, and just the respect he has from every single guy on the team.  Coming from him, we take that to heart.  And like I said he leads by example on the ice with his work ethic and everyone follows that.
But the way his leadership qualities are, especially in the Playoffs, he’s been our go-to guy, and he was again tonight, and can’t wait to see what happens in Game 7.

Q.  What did he say?
STEVEN STAMKOS:  A couple words of wisdom.  He knows what to say and how to say it.  Got the guys fired up.  He’s been through those types of experiences before.  So anything he says we’re going to use to our advantage.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

2011 Eastern Conference Final
Game 6 Morning Skate Transcript
May 25, 2011

COACH CLAUDE JULIEN

Q.  We talked to the players about their mood today coming in with this opportunity, but I was kind of curious how you were feeling today coming into the rink for morning skate with an opportunity to now take this franchise back to the Stanley Cup Finals with a win tonight.
COACH JULIEN:  I think to me, any day you come to the rink and you’ve got a game, especially this time of year, you’ve got to be excited.  I’m certain there’s a lot of people, a lot of players, a lot of coaches that would like to be in that position.  So we take it for what it’s worth.
It’s a great day and an even better day with the opportunity that is in front of us.
And our goal is to seize that moment and that’s basically how we’ve approached today.

Q.  Just wondering how important the first five or ten minutes of this hockey game will be in terms of maybe trying to control what is the storm of what they’re going to bring out there and for you guys to try to dictate the pace.
COACH JULIEN:  I think it’s really important.  I think every team in the Playoffs talks about the starts and what it means, and we certainly are one of those teams that believes in that as well.  But at the same time, they got the early goal and they got the good start in the first five minutes, but it didn’t stop us from winning the hockey game.
So having said that, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s certainly the best way to start.  I think it’s important that you have a great start.  And if it happens, great.  If it doesn’t, you also have to be mentally prepared to fight through that and get yourself back in the game.

Q.  In watching the game tape from Game 5, did you feel Chara was a little more active, a little more of a factor in Game 5?
COACH JULIEN:  I would say I didn’t really have to watch the tape to figure that out.  But it certainly reinforced the fact that he did have a great game.  He’s the leader of our hockey club, the team captain.  When games are on the line like that, they’re big games, you always rely on somebody to lead the way, and he did a great job of that last game.
At the other end of the ice he created a lot of things and we’re going to need him to do that again tonight if we expect to have an opportunity here. (more…)