NHL Peachy: 2015 Western Conference Finals Pre-Series Transcript - Chicago Blackhawks (Toews, Kane, Keith, Sharpe, Hjalmarsson, Richards, Coach Joel Quenneville) Our Coverage Sponsored by Maine Woolens
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An interview with:
JONATHAN TOEWS
PATRICK KANE
DUNCAN KEITH
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON
BRAD RICHARDS
PATRICK SHARP
COACH JOEL QUENNEVILLE
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Jonathan, the penalty kill started to get back to normal. What are the challenges with that power play?
JONATHAN TOEWS: I think, first of all, the first concern is staying off the penalty kill. But knowing that it's a situation that we'll have to face. We'll have to be as good as we can be, especially given the fact it's been a big part of their game. We know the types of players they've got, a huge offense. That's where they like to capitalize.
Our focus is on staying away, staying out of the box. From there, some details we've obviously been going over this past week. We'll have to be focused on the game tomorrow.
Q. Jonathan, you've battled with Ryan Kesler throughout the years. Can you describe the rivalry as both an individual and a team throughout those years with the Canucks.
JONATHAN TOEWS: He's definitely a player that you respect and that you challenge yourself against.
You know, I think he's meant a lot to his team offensively, but I think most of all he plays a smart, gritty game defensively. He tries to take other top players off their game. I think he's definitely relished that role with Anaheim, too.
You know, again, I think our top guys know that he's one of those guys we have to worry about, be concerned with, try to not let him have an easy time with us, I guess, let him play his game too easily.
I think, obviously, he's one of their strongest players and we have to be aware of him.
Q. Duncan, you played a lot this season. Any ways in which this lull in the action has helped you rest and recover or anything like that?
DUNCAN KEITH: Yeah, obviously we tried to use this time as best as we could to our advantage. I think if you asked everybody, they would have much rather have just a couple days and get right back in it.
But it is what it is, try to use that to our advantage, feel good. I think the team feels good and we’re excited about tomorrow.
Q. For either Patrick or Jonathan. Obviously their big two are Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. How much mutual respect is there between you guys as even peers, to be at that high level?
PATRICK KANE: They're obviously two key players for the team. You know, fortunate to watch Perry a little bit when he was in London. I got to see him battling in that league.
Getzlaf is another guy, you know, that if you're going to watch a hockey game, those are two guys at the top of the list that you're going to want to watch play because they're so big, they're so talented, they possess the puck a lot throughout the whole game.
I think there's a lot of respect on our side for them. We know we have to be aware of them when we're on the ice. Try to eliminate any chance they can get when they have opportunities to get the puck.
We have a pretty good defensive mindset against those guys and hopefully we can take advantage and go the other way and try to make them play in their end, too.
Q. Patrick, did you develop a friendship with Kesler over the years?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I mean, I got to play with him in the past couple Olympics. He kind of reminds me of Jonny a little bit as a player, where he's kind of that two-way centerman, easy to play with, is always kind of looking to get the puck in your hands, too.
I just developed a friendship with him because I was playing with him, was on the same team. I think when you're going through those things, whether it's Olympics or whatever, the international tournaments, you're trying to win. I think all hockey players develop friendships whether it's off the ice, and when you play each other on the ice, that competitiveness comes back.
Q. Duncan, has it been a challenge to change defensive partners this late in a playoffs, multiple partners throughout each game? Is that a challenge?
DUNCAN KEITH: I think it's always a bit of an adjustment, but at the same time, I played with Rundy, I played with Hammer, I've played with pretty much everybody, not only the course of this year, but over the course of the past few years. I got a feel for what it's like, what each guy's tendency kind of are.
At the same time I think that my game, I don't really try to change many things. It's kind of been the same things to focus on. You know, the better I can be, hopefully I can help my defense partner.
Q. Jonathan, you guys are undefeated when you take the lead into the third period this season. What has enabled this team to do that?
JONATHAN TOEWS: I think we had times in the past, namely in the playoffs last year, last few seasons, that was maybe a problem in our game, is that we weren't able to properly protect leads, play smart ahead of teams. We just kind of let off the gas pedal a little too much.
This year I think we really learned how to play smart hockey, how to keep coming out with even better efforts if we’re up a goal or two especially late in games. So I think that's a good habit, a good characteristic to have, especially this time of year.
It's something that we're definitely focused on, I think we're conscious of. We know when we go into a third period with a one or two-goal lead, that we know what we have to do in order to preserve that and not give the other team too much to feed off of.
Hopefully we'll carry that into this series, as well.
Q. Jonathan, fifth time in seven seasons for you in the Western Conference Finals. That's really tough to do in the salary cap era where there's supposed to be parity. What drives you? There has to be character in the room to get to this point.
JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, I think we all know as an organization, as a team, at the professional level, especially with hockey like everything is, like you just said, the cap, whatever you want to call it, a lot of things have to go right for you to have success.
At the end of the day, I think the guys in our locker room, the guys that have been around for those seven years understand every chance, every opportunity they get. No one wants to waste that.
I think at the end of the day we have individuals that had success, you know, get recognition for it. At the end of the day those guys want to win, they want to win at this time of year, come playoff time. That's the most important thing to those guys.
I think we've said it before, you heard these two guys say, once you win one Stanley Cup, you know the feeling, you can't forget it, you want to get back there. I think that's probably a huge reason why we've been fighting to get back there the last couple years, as well.
Q. Patrick, after having this much time off, what will it be like getting to hit somebody wearing a different jersey?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, it will be fun. You know, we all love playing the game, we love playing hockey. It's a great opportunity for us to go up against a great team. I think it's a new challenge for us. We never faced this team in the playoffs. That's exciting for us.
After these 10 days, whatever it's been, it's going to be exciting just to get out there and play a game that means so much. I think we're all looking forward to it.
Q. Is that excitement adrenaline? What's the adrenaline level like for you guys at this point in the season and are there still nerves anymore?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I think a little bit. We kind of had that nervous energy, especially going into these big games.
But I think, you know, we're just excited about playing hockey again. I'm sure there will be a lot of adrenaline. I'm sure both teams will be well-rested and come out flying tomorrow.
Usually when you're on the road you try to weather the storm for the first five or ten minutes, then turn the game around and take it to them. So we'll look to do that tomorrow.
DUNCAN KEITH: Yeah, I think Kaner said it well. I think we still have that nervous energy at this time of year. It's down to four teams left. There's an excitement to be here, to be in this position.
So we know we've got a tough opponent. We haven't played these guys, like Kane said. There's that excitement, as well. We're a group of guys that's excited to get the series going tomorrow. It's been a long layoff. We all want to get it going.
Q. Patrick, you mentioned not having played the Ducks in the playoffs before. Yet the past three years or so, these two teams have played some tremendous regular-season games. I don't know if you necessarily would have expected this matchup. When you look at it, what the Ducks have done building the last three years, where you guys have been, is it almost kind of making sense that these two teams would hook up in a huge series like this?
PATRICK KANE: Yeah, I think you have to remember, they've been there, too. They won it back in 2007. They have some players that have won not only Stanley Cups, but Olympics, as well. It seems like a team that knows how to win.
You can see that in this playoffs, too. I think they went into the third period down three or four times and have come back and won all those games.
It's a dangerous team. By no means are they ever out of a game. I think we got to be aware of those situations throughout the game. Every shift is important. But there's little moments in a game I think you have to understand a little bit more than others.
An interview with:
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON
BRAD RICHARDS
PATRICK SHARP
Q. Patrick, what has that layoff been like and are you getting tired of talking about playing?
PATRICK SHARP: You know, this time of year, you take the rest when you can, heal the body, get geared up for the next series. I think this was a little longer than we all wished for.
Having said that, I think we're prepared. We had a good week of practice. Coaches have been through this before, a lot of the players have. We're healthy and ready to go for Game 1.
Q. The penalty kill has gotten better as you've gone along. What are some of the challenges you have in shutting down the Ducks’ power play?
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON: You know, they got a couple of really skilled individuals in that team. They're really good at those short passes in front of the net, close to the net, finding good passing lanes.
It's going to be a tough challenge. But I think we came up with a couple really big kills against Minnesota, even though the overall total maybe wasn't what we wanted. That's definitely one area in our game that we can improve on, have to improve on if we're going to move forward to the next round.
It's going to be tough, but we're definitely going to try to do better on it.
Q. Duncan Keith obviously played a lot of minutes in the playoffs. How does that help in the back end, front end? After all these years, do you marvel at how he's able to play forever?
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON: I know he's pretty much been playing ever since I've been on this team. He's probably been averaging 26 minutes a game. I don't think it's anything new for him.
If there's anyone in the league that can play that much without doing a lot of mistakes, it's him. I barely see him tired out there. It's unbelievable. He never takes a deep breath. He can play non-stop. It's pretty amazing to see actually. I can be gassed after a couple of shifts, but he just keeps going and going.
It's huge to have a guy like that on the team that pretty much can play as much as he can. He's a great player. So we're lucky to have him in our team.
Q. Brad, you guys haven't lost this year when you had a lead going into the third period. What about this team has been so protecting that lead?
BRAD RICHARDS: I think the structure of the team. A lot of guys have been around, know how to play, what the coaching staff wants. The more you go through it, the more patience you can have. It's a mature team that's won a lot. They realize you have to play the score sometimes.
A lot of times you get more offense off of that, you can use that to your advantage. That's probably why the record's so good. You can catch teams trying to press too much and build leads other way. You have to do it the right way. The maturity of the group shows.
Q. Brad, different teams in different playoff series over the years. Do you recall recent series you've been in that has had this much star power or proven talent?
BRAD RICHARDS: No, I mean, there's a lot of, obviously, names and a lot of talent. Still a lot to be played, so you don't know how the series will go. I don't remember many names like that. Sharpie was on the team in Philadelphia. They had a bunch of veteran star players when we played in Tampa.
It's hard to think of that when you don't know how it's all going to shape out on the ice. There's a lot of good players that will probably get overlooked because of the big names that are going to be a big part of this series.
Q. Patrick, fifth time in seven seasons for the Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals. In a salary cap era, that's not supposed to happen. There's supposed to be parity. What has enabled this team to power through that, be successful? Do you almost say, Let's do it now because maybe next year we won't be together?
PATRICK SHARP: Yeah, that's a good point. I think there's a lot of reasons, a lot of credit to be shared. The core group has been to the Conference Finals the last seven years, same coaching staff for the most part. The organization does a great job of finding players to fill the roster.
As you guys know, at this time of year, depth is the most important thing to a successful team. We're glad to be back here in the Conference Finals. We don't take it for granted. We know how hard it is to get here. We'll make sure we take care of our opportunity and hopefully advance.
Q. Patrick, you faced Ryan Kesler quite often. What kind of player is he in playoff play?
PATRICK SHARP: Yeah, he's a player that you love to compete against. In his younger years, even now, he has a tendency to get under your skin. Competes hard every shift. When the pace is elevated, more competitive, seems to be his liking pretty good.
He's a guy that's pretty well-rounded, plays in all years, a tough guy to match up against. I know our side will take pride in competing against him and we'll see what happens.
An interview with:
COACH JOEL QUENNEVILLE
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. The penalty kill got better in the second round. What is the challenge you have to deal with on that kill facing this power play?
COACH QUENNEVILLE: Stay out of the box first. Two real good units. Got different looks. They shoot the puck. They've got some presence at the net. Got good patience level and good play recognition. They're a threat off the rush. All areas of our penalty killing need to be aware of their options and try to deteriorate clean entries. It starts even on faceoffs. They're dangerous in a lot of ways. Let's make sure we don't give them too many opportunities.
Q. Joel, when you have a long layoff like this, for coaching, do you change what you try to do? Are there specific things you work on each day? Do you change the routine of your coaching because you have so much time to work with?
COACH QUENNEVILLE: No, we try to keep it fresh, as best we can. We came out of the last series with a couple days off, then two days on. I wanted to make sure we have some drills on some of these days, try to make it game-like. We scrimmaged a little bit, did some drills. 10 days, we didn't know exactly when we were going to start, as well.
It got a little lengthy. There's no plan in the past when you have 10 days off to try to prepare for a game. I think it's on a need basis.
We had two really good practices prior to flying out here yesterday. I liked our practice today. But we want to play hockey, play real games. I think our team gets measured way better on how we play than practice.
Q. After all these deep runs after all these years, how do you think Duncan Keith is able to play all these minutes?
COACH QUENNEVILLE: Dunk's in amazing condition. He's got one of those bodies...
Some guys have different metabolisms, how they can deal with heavy workloads. He's got some of it probably in his genes as well as the way he works out, trains, takes care of himself.
But he likes to play. He has no problem playing 30 minutes. A few years back when he was playing big minutes, we tried to get him down to a little bit more balance in our defense where he got down to the mid 20s. Some of the games this year he's been a little higher.
But I think he doesn't change the approach. I think the score sometimes dictates us going to him a little bit more often. The importance of playoff games, he probably gets a little bit more. Doesn't change at all. Doesn't show any effects during or after.
But a special, special player. He has a special, different type of conditioning than most players.
Q. Joel, back in the day, the league was probably more defined by trios or great lines. Seems to be more about dynamic duos now. There's two in this series here. Why do you think the league has evolved towards that, where it's more about great pairs or great duos?
COACH QUENNEVILLE: I think salary cap might have something to do with that. Today, you have three top players playing together, you might not want to have all your eggs in one basket, as well. You might want to have a little bit more of a balanced look. You could say that, as well.
Certainly you look at the pair of Perry-Getzlaf, as good as any pair in the league. You know, their synergy as far as where they are around the rink, around the net, their awareness of where they are with or without the puck is high end. That's going to give us a challenge.
I think we got some balance in our lineup, as well. It's going to be a great matchup every time we play these guys. The pace of the games are pretty amazing. The endings are always unpredictable. So it's going to make for a great series.
Q. Joel, it's one thing for the guys on the ice to be a little jumpy, nervous, have adrenaline flowing at this point in the season. What is it like for you behind the bench?
COACH QUENNEVILLE: I always get excited getting into a series, especially being off as long as we were. I mean, I can't wait to start again. Look forward to it.
I always find I get nervous, excited for the first regular-season game or the first playoff game. As you get going, get a little deeper, I think it's more not nervous, I think you're more excited. Once the game goes, you're a part of it, you're a little more comfortable.
Buildup going into the games, you're a little anxious to get going, maybe a little bit more with this one being off so long.
Q. Joel, Bruce was talking earlier this morning about he was going to try to out with you, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to. Were you teammates at some point? Curious about your observations of him as a coach.
COACH QUENNEVILLE: He's done a great job as a coach. He's got some personality there. He's won here. He's won in a lot of places. Did a good job in Washington, as well. Won in the American League. He was one of those players that was dangerous.
He's got some personality to his approach. We played together a couple years ago in Moncton, 1978. We were teammates back in the day (laughter).
No, he's done a good job. As a player and as a coach, he's evolved to being at the top here with this team. You know, he's put them in a good spot as well. I commend him on the job he's done. He's a good coach, as well.
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