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Therrien This Morning
by Paul on 05/28/08 at 02:05 PM ET
Comments (5)
Q. Could you assess, how do you think Sidney Crosby has performed throughout the playoffs, and what do you think this experience will do for him for the rest of his career?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: I really believe that he started to pick up his game against the Flyers. I thought he played well in the first two rounds, but you could see against the Flyers he brought his game to another level. He was a true leader in that series.
He’s working really hard. His first two games against Detroit, sometimes the results are not always there. But in the meantime, that’s going to give him - it’s like last year, we only played five games in the playoffs. That young team didn’t know what to expect in the playoffs.
Even as coaches, you prepare your players. You show a lot of videos. You share experience. You’ve got to feel it. You’ve got to be in there. Now, it’s his first experience in the Stanley Cup Final, and I’m sure it’s going to help him for the rest of his career.
Q. You mentioned the other day about that you guys aren’t a team that necessarily is going to run Osgood or anything like that. But do you think you have to get a little more physical around the net and get more bodies in front of the net and crash the net to try to get him off his game?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: There’s no doubt we need to be there. But there’s a fine line that he’s an experienced goalie, that when we have people around the net, you can’t fall on your back all the time.
And we addressed that with the League and hopefully they’re going to let us play around the net, because we need to score some goals.
Q. Based on the first couple of games and the amount of ice time Sidney spent out there with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, how huge does last change become, and how do you think that will change what Sid may or may not be able to do?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: I don’t mind that matchup against Zetterberg and Datsyuk. Crosby is one of the best players, if not the best player, in the League. So you think I mind? And he likes challenge.
So we don’t mind that. And he is used to playing against top players. And that’s always been our philosophy.
Q. Coach, you make the move with Darryl today, put him in. What’s he bring to the table, as a veteran, that’s been there for you defensively?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: You’re always looking for some experience. Darryl’s had a great season for us. But in the meantime, we’ve got a lot of depth in our defensemen. We like what we’ve seen from our defensemen so far. So we didn’t have any reason why to change our defensemen.
Different story right now, and certainly could use experience on the ice and even on the bench, communicate really well with the players. So I’m excited for him to finally get a chance to play in those playoffs.
Q. By saying you like that matchup, will you be aggressive tonight in trying to avoid it or are you fine if Zetterberg is out there?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: Sometimes it’s not about the forwards. It could be against a defenseman. That’s different.
Q. Who is going to come out, then, for Darryl?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: Letang.
Q. Are you concerned with Darryl not having played since the end of the regular season in terms of what he may be doing? I know he’s practiced hard, but that difference between practicing and playing?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: Well, I spoke to him. First of all, attitude is important when you’re not playing. When you get the right attitude, you try to prepare yourself as much as you can. And you always get a great attitude.
In the meantime, for sure when you haven’t played for such a long time, like he did, he’s going to have to make sure it’s a really simple play.
But with the experience that he got, it could be a lot easier from a guy who has been there before and a really young guy that has never been there.
Q. You have a lot of skilled players. Scored a lot of goals off the rush coming into the Final. With a team like Detroit, how they’re playing, is it easier to score off the rush or do you need to do a little more cycling down low and get more goals like that?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: It’s really tough to create offense against a team like that, because like I said before, the obstruction is there. They’re a puck possession team. And we’re a puck possession team. That’s the first time this year we’re having such a hard time to get to the puck. There’s a lot of obstruction.
And hopefully we’re going to get some calls starting tonight, and that will give us a chance to, first of all, put the power play on the ice. Because like this morning, we like to have our meeting with the power play, and it was not too long, two minutes. So we didn’t get a chance to send the power play there. And when the referees call the obstruction. But after a few penalties, usually players adjust and give you a chance to get to the puck. And right now we’re having a hard time to get to that puck. So it’s tough for us to manage the puck like we’re used to.
Q. After Game 1 you changed up your forward lines. Any changes, other than replacing Letang for your defensive pairings?
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: You might see some changes, because we changed lines in the second game because we were on the road, and we got some reason why to change some lines.
Now we’re back at home, different story. We have the last change. And yes, there could be some line changes tonight.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
...not whine to the refs to try to get the next game called in your favor. What a copout.
Michelle is in full “cover your ass” mode. He’s got no answers, and knows he should be held accountable, so he’s blaming anything and everything else, including the youth of his players. Pathetic.
Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 05/28/08 at 01:42 PM ET
Maybe the octopi that land on the ice tonight should have a package of pacifiers tied to each arm. Instead of crying about the obstruction, poor calls, dives, etc, it would be nice to see the Pens go back and figure out how to play better as a team. They have great potential, but are acting like a bunch of spoilt children who thought the cup would be handed to them.
Posted by AimeeMac from Austin on 05/28/08 at 02:18 PM ET
Not much to add to what was commented above. This guy’s an idiot and most Pens fans are likely realizing that fact...now.
Posted by AndrewB from TN on 05/28/08 at 03:28 PM ET
Well, Mr. Therrien, you could have started by actually capitalizing on the four power plays you had in the very first period of this series.
Did he just all of the sudden realize, “Oh, I guess all periods in the NHL aren’t like that.”
Posted by BuzzFledderjohn on 05/28/08 at 06:50 PM ET
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this guy may as well just start outright begging for some favorable calls. “But after a few penalties, usually players adjust and give you a chance to get to the puck. And right now we’re having a hard time to get to that puck.”
when would any team ever give thier opposition a chance to get to a puck? even in reg season. All this shows me is that they know they cant win unless they are constantly on the PP. Here’s a sugestion if you want to get to the puck then you need to win faceoffs and work harder along the boards and beat Detroit to loose pucks not whine to the refs to try to get the next game called in your favor. What a copout.
Posted by Jockey full of bourbon on 05/28/08 at 01:40 PM ET