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Stevens & Therrien Talk

by Paul on 05/11/08 at 01:08 PM ET
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Flyers coach John Stevens and Penguins coach Michel Therrien met with the media earlier today…

John Stevens

Q.  I believe you guys had 10 turnovers in Game 1, two of them led directly to goals.  How do you clean that up tonight?

COACH JOHN STEVENS: You are kind, we had a number a lot higher than that.  The big numbers for us, they had four quality quality scoring chances off of turnovers.  That’s never a good scenario for us.
Just got to do a better job of managing the puck.  I think everybody’s got to do better job of working to support the puck.  I think we have got to do a better job of coming up the ice with puck support.  We got stretched out last game.  I thought we got too far ahead of the play.  Even if we didn’t turn it over whereas directly coming back at us we would turn it over, where it was back to their possession, we got in transition going.  So managing the puck is going to be a big focus here today.

Q.  Is it matter of picking your poison in terms of who you want out against Sid’s or Malkin’s line?  How difficult is that to make sure you have who you want out there?  Is there anybody in particular that you think has to be against one or the other?

COACH JOHN STEVENS:  Ultimately they are going to get to decide.  They have a lot of confidence in their third and fourth line which allows them to put Crosby and Malkin out there when they want to get them out there.  They have a lot of confidence in Staal.  They have a lot of confidence in their fourth line.  They don’t have any problem putting them out there against really any of our lines.  They are a very defensively responsible team.
So for us, I think we’ve got to start focusing more than what we’re doing on the ice.  I think we were reacting to what they were doing a little bit too much.  Carter and Richards’ lines have played against the other teams’ top lines all year.  Danny has done it his whole career.  We feel good about our fourth line as well.
Ultimately it’s not a matter of picking who you want, it’s getting the job done on the ice.  I think if we manage the puck, we can do more things that we want to do in the hockey game.  There’s no question you need to know when Malkin’s on the ice.  Great players, the puck seems to follow them around.  He’s down and out the last game on a play, and we mishandle the puck on a power play, and he ends up on a breakaway all by himself.  You certainly got to know when he’s on the ice and Crosby and Hossa.  They are a dangerous duo there, with Dupuis on the other side.  I think we have to be a responsible team as a group.

Q.  After you identified the mistakes, make the corrections with the team, the next question I guess would be the level of urgency.  Do they handle that themselves or do you also say stuff on that level, too?

COACH JOHN STEVENS: Well, no, it’s kind of we all kind of address it together here.  I think you have to make some tactical adjustments in your game.  There’s no question that the first game was a different level.  Some of it is new ground for a lot of our players, I would expect us to come out and play a lot better today.  I would probably say the same for them.  I think they want to continue to get better.  They have certainly played well, but we have to have this level of intensitiy and urgency with us, at the same time play with composure that we have throughout the playoffs.

Q.  Have you made a final decision on Steve and any other guys who may play tonight?

COACH JOHN STEVENS: Yeah, Steve Downie will play tonight.  And Patrick Thoresen will come out.  Our fourth line has been being contributors in the playoffs here.  I think all those guys, including Patrick, have done a great job.  And we just think Downie gives us another right hand shot in the lineup.  Competitive guy, he can create a little bit offensively.  He’s a big game player.  We’re going to give him a chance to play.

Q.  Talking here about the level of intensity for tonight, seems to us that in each of these series, this series didn’t begin for you guys until the second game.  Were you worried about that coming into this series, the same scenario would repeat itself?

COACH JOHN STEVENS: I think you try to learn from your past as you move along.  Every series, if you can win the first game, I mean, it is obviously a big step.  You need four wins.  Any time you can get the first one, I think it helps your team.
We started every series on the road.  We have been in every game that we have played.  But unfortunately we’ve dropped the first game again.  But we told our team yesterday, we lost the first game in Montreal, we played well, lost overtime.  It’s just one game, and we lost this game.  It is just one game.  We have got to leave it behind.  Got to move on, try and do some things to get better.  It’s just part of the series.
Those momentum swings that we talk about, whether you win or lose, you got to take from that game what it gives.  You got to move on.

Q.  You guys had a day off here in Pittsburgh with the rivalry did you or anyone run into any animosity or anything like that here?

COACH JOHN STEVENS: No, Coach Therrien and I had dinner together.  (Laughs).
No, there’s a lot of excitement and optimism in the city of Pittsburgh.  Got heckled a little bit leaving the rink the other day, but other than that it has been pretty good.  I think there’s a lot of excitement in this city, and there should be.  I think the same is true in Philadelphia.  Like I said, playing hockey in May is very exciting for the teams and certainly exciting for the talent.
So it was an enjoyable day.  Got a good practice.  Got some rest that we needed, and I’d think we’re ready to go.

Michel Therrien

Q. You guys have been to be able hold home ice through these first two games.  How is your team’s approach going into Game 2?  Have you been aware of just that, the opportunity to preserve that home ice?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: When you get home ice, there’s no doubt the second game is always crucial.  All the teams want to try to win at least one game, when you are on the road.  But for us, you know, it’s a crucial game.  Every game we go through the series, the next one is always the biggest one, so that’s their approach.
We don’t look too far ahead.  We look one game at a time, and the second game you always try to bring a bit more of yourself, because the first game it was a good game, we got a good result, we expect the Flyers to be better tonight, and we expect from ourself to be better as well.  And we always respond really well in the second game.

Q.  What the decision on Max Talbot tonight?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  He’s going to play.

Q.  What changes will there be then?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  We’ll see.  He’s a popular guy, eh?  (Laughs).

Q.  What are some of the ingredients to your success at home, do you think, the way you have been able to run the table at home?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  Well, as we all know we got a lot of success at home in the playoff, but I will say in the second half of the season, we have been a dominating team here.  We capable of making the match up that we’re looking for.  I think that’s a big help.  We feed from the crowd.  This is a young team, whose focus is there. But when you have the emotion that you need to be had, we’re on top of our game.
As we all know, every detail, every emotion it’s really crucial when you get to the playoffs, but one of the things is to get the match up that we’re looking for that always helps the home team.

Q.  Has Fleury’s game been any different or a whole lot different than the regular season?  Or it is a fact that maybe your skaters in front of him are doing a better job defensively?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  I will say it is a combination of both.  First of all, Marc Andre he’s really square to the puck.  The game slowed down in front of him.  That’s normal.  Well, he’s only 23, but he has got a few years of experience and you ask any goalie with time and experience, and the game slowed down in front of you so doesn’t have to make those big saves that when he’s out of the position.  He’s more square to the puck.  He’s more aware of plays going in front of him.  That comes with experience.  And in the meantime we’ve played a much better defensive game too as well.  You put those two together, and you get result that defensively you are better.

Q.  It has been six games since you moved some of the defensemen into different pairings.  Your thoughts about the Letang Whitney pairing, what are they doing well?  Anything they need to do better?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: They are pretty sharp.  They move the puck really well.  This is one thing.  They got that the ability to see the ice and move the puck well and putting those two guys together, forces them to make sure that they are committed defensively, and that’s one of the challenge we try to bring with those two young defensemen.  You got to give challenge to players, and especially at this time of year so they don’t have to rely always on their partner.  And a natural thing would have split those guys up, but I want them to focus really well and playing solid defensively.  And you know what, since we said made that change, they are doing a good job.

Q.  You talk about matchups and there was talk when we had that 1 2 punch of Malkin and Sid, two different lines that it would be difficult for the other team to decide which pair to put out, who is the top pair on the opposition, that kind of thing.  What have you noticed about which of those two players, Sid or Malkin, is getting the advantage by going against maybe the second pair as opposed to the first?  Have you noticed that, the teams are trying to figure out who they should play in that situation?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: It’s more easier when you are at home.  And obviously you can’t put those guys always against the third pairing or the second pairing.  There’s time, with the rhythm of the game, they are going to have to play against their top pairing.  The loss of Timonen, it’s a huge loss for them.  We try to take advantage of it as most as we can.  I am not concentrating too much against our forwards to play against their forwards.  One of the reasons that they got three balanced lines, that they could score, they got grit, they got speed.  That’s one of the reasons why we try to focus more on our defensemen, to make sure we got a lot of speed against some of the guys give us some offense.

Q.  Your playoff slogan “sacrifice.”  Is it something that you guys have bought into or is it just a word that’s on a T shirt?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: (Laughs) You always try to find that extra motivation when you start the playoffs.  Like for us “sacrifice,” is we believe that was the right word and we approach it almost every day with that young group.  When we talking about sacrifice, not always sacrifice on the ice, there’s sacrifice off the ice as well.  You can go on, the list on and on.
The players are really buying it.  They are disciplined and focused on the ice and off the ice.  They’ve got a goal and they want to reach that goal.  And with no sacrifice, it’s tough to reach the goal.  And it’s demanding at this time of the year.  There’s a lot of distractions, but their focus is still there.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

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