NHL Peachy: 2015 Eastern Confernence Final Pre-Game 3 Transcript (TBL - Coach Cooper) Our Coverage Sponsored by Bergen Linen
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An interview with:
COACH COOPER
Q. Talking with Ben in the locker room and the defensemen as well, they're comfortable with him always coming behind the net and playing the puck because he's so good at it. Even every once in a while, as we saw in the second game, he'll get called out. They're okay with it, and they think it makes him more effective than other goalies they've played with?
COACH COOPER: No, there is nothing else to worry for me when he goes back there. 99% of the time he does the right thing. Sometimes, you know, a play might go a little haywire, that's why guys like Hedman can make saves like he did the other night.
But in all seriousness, if you would have, watched I think it was Game 6 of the Montreal series, he was our third defenseman back there for us. So when he - when we utilize him and he gives us chances to get out of the zone, it's great to have a guy back there that can do that. There's not too many other goalies that can play the puck like he can, and for him to be able to - he's just not the guy that can rim it off the glass. He's not afraid to throw one right up the middle and on someone's tape.
So as our year has gone on, guys have had to be alert to say, hey, this could come to any one of us on the ice. And it's been big for us. But I don't have a worry when he goes behind.
Q. 11 and 7 again tonight?
COACH COOPER: You know?
Q. He'll be here tonight, I know that?
COACH COOPER: He'll be here tonight, so you'll see.
Q. AV said he's not a big match-ups guy as far as your top player versus their top player, not really too worried about that. Do you agree with that? I know it's always a chess match and trying to get guys away?
COACH COOPER: It depends. I think it depends a lot on who we're playing, how the games are. But for me, you've got to balance that with the flow of the game. So you're going to sit there and throw, say, Stamkos on the ice, and sometimes you get caught in between like playing to the visiting coach's hand. So if he pulls a line off, then all of a sudden, Stammer gets a 10-second shift. I don't know. I don't like that too much. I'd rather our guys just go out there and play.
In communicating with our players, they'd rather be in the flow of the game than keep getting yanked off because of match-ups with what the other team is doing. Ultimately, it's best on best. So they're going to put their best out. We're going to put our best out. And you look at, like we've got multiple lines that can play against other lines.
So when we had, in the Montreal series, it was Plekanec, and Hatch, and Gallagher. Well, we had Johnny's line going against them, we had Fil's line going against them. It didn't matter to us. So I guess, big picture, system-wise, sure. We have our deep pairings on for four lines, no question. But our forward lines and part of the reason going 11-7, I can just get these guys out there more.
So it's not necessarily exactly what line is playing against what. It's more like grouped on who can play. Then a lot of it comes down to offensive and defensive zone drives too. So I don't know. Am I as matchy as some other coaches? Probably not. I like our guys to get into the flow of the game more.
Q. Are there things you learned in how you dealt with Kucherov, especially at the end of last season, that you can apply to Drouin and some other young guys?
COACH COOPER: Well, I don't know. I guess, if there's something I learned, it was just a confirmation on how we did things, that there was a little bit of tough love with Kuch last year. And fortunately for all of us, it worked out.
But a lot of it, the onus is on the coach to help guide the player, and ultimately the player goes home in the summer and the onus is on him to come back and put himself in a position to succeed. And Kuch did that.
Joe's had a little more benefit of being with us the whole year, where Kuch was only with us half of the year. And I guess, very similar situations in the sense that Kuch only played two playoff games last year where Joe has played three. But it's a growing process for everybody, especially the young kids in the league.
I've watched Joe's game go up just as much as I've watched Kuch. They've had bumps in the road as all young players do, but they all seem to learn. The way Kuch has responded and Joe has responded, even in meetings we've had, very similar in how they've been.
Like I said, our season is not over yet. There is more hockey to be played, and we may see Joe here as the series goes on.
Q. What do you like about having Stamkos on the wing?
COACH COOPER: Well, why I put him on the wing, I guess that should be the question. Because I like him at center as well. I just like Stammer out there. But the one thing I thought, he's spending too much time in the "D" zone, and he's spending way too much energy down there.
So to free him up a little bit and let him get out of the zone a little faster and not have to play the whole 200 feet, I thought was something that was going to save his legs and give him a little more time. Maybe we could open and give him some more space in the neutral zone when he was getting out.
To have a player like Fil who can control the puck the way he does, he sees the ice, he can get those pucks to Stammer. He's somebody that transports the puck really well. That was my thinking in there because he was wasting way too much time playing in the "D" zone. I had to get him out of that.
Then ultimately I think, especially with Killorn who is a 200-foot power forward that goes in and gets pucks for those guys, I just thought it potentially would be a fit, and so far it has been.
Q. You lost Jason Garrison for a good chunk of time before the playoffs and now you're into the third round. He was just saying he feels he's back to playing the way he was during the regular season. Do you see that? How big a part has he been in the playoffs now?
COACH COOPER: Well, there is no question, he's a top four "D" for us. You see him, he's rolling over the boards every time one of the big lines for them comes out and that's in every series. They play against the top guys.
The one thing is he's able to handle the biggest players, which some of our other guys can't do that. Any time you want something sniffed out down low or you need somebody man handled, Gary is usually the guy that does it. When he had an upper body injury, he wasn't afforded that luxury for a while. So he was kind of getting his feet wet the whole Detroit series.
But as he's gone on, his health has gotten better and he's gotten stronger, and you're seeing that now.
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