NHL Peachy: 2015 Western Conference Final Off-Day Transcript (Anaheim - Coach Boudreau) Our Coverage Sponsored by Maine Woolens
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An interview with:
COACH BRUCE BOUDREAU
Q. When you got this job, what was it like meeting Ryan Getzlaf? Ryan was pretty established here.
COACH BOUDREAU: Quite frankly, the first day, Corey Perry came up and introduced himself to me. I said, Oh, you're Corey Perry. The same thing with Ryan.
They were both fabulous coming over and making me feel welcome right away. I hadn't seen them close up I don't know if ever, other than watching them play. From the first day, they made me feel welcome, both those guys.
Q. Ryan Getzlaf mentioned after last night's game you learned from last year about closing out games, playing with the lead. In your mind, is that a mindset or are there things that have evolved in your game in terms of that?
COACH BOUDREAU: I think it's a mindset. We talked about it early on in the year and last year, about one of our goals was to be able to, if we had a 1-0 lead, to win the game 1-0. We haven't done that too often, but at the same time, we've been pretty good in one-goal games for the most part. The two we lost were overtime games. Other than that, we've been pretty solid.
It's something we take a lot of pride in. Hopefully it will continue. It could end at any moment, but hopefully it will continue.
Q. Going into the year, I guess the perception was that maybe defense might be a question mark. Did you have any concerns about your defensemen? Have you at all been surprised or expected that your six now would be playing as well as they are?
COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I mean, out of the six, one we didn't know we'd have. But we as a group thought for sure that Hampus would be better, Sami would be better with the year of experience under their belt, Cam just started. We talk many times about coming into a zone, being a solid veteran defenseman, I thought Beauch would be much better than the previous year because for the first summer in about four years he got to train rather than just to recuperate.
We liked what we saw in Clayton Stoner, so we thought he was going to be a good acquisition. Overall, we thought our defense was going to be better. We thought it would be more mobile. Trent's done a great job with them behind the blueline as far as getting them to play the right way. Sometimes it doesn't show in the goals-against during the course of the season, but as the process continues, you get better and better and better. I think they've done a good job so far in the playoffs.
Q. I'm sure you reviewed the video. The penalty kill was beyond effective. Who allowed that to happen or what fundamentals did you apply?
COACH BOUDREAU: I mean, we used basically the same six, and it became five when either Getzlaf or Kesler were in the penalty box. Those guys have done a great job all year.
Sometimes you're going to get scored on, pucks are going to bounce the wrong way, you're going to play against great opposition, great deflections, tips and that. The structure has been really good. We like the way it's good.
Every game is a different game. I mean, one game you're two for five, next game you're zero for five. Power play is zero for five, next game you're one for one. It's what happens when two real good teams go against each other.
Q. How much did the addition of Stoner and Despres add to the physicality of your team, real physicality and the mentality of physicality?
COACH BOUDREAU: They're both big, strong men and they like to play physical. The more physical the game, the more involved they get. When they're hitting players, they're also playing at their best.
Q. What did you think when you got Despres, where he might fit in for you? What has the impact been on that six since he came in and played so well with Cam?
COACH BOUDREAU: Quite frankly, when we made all the trades at the trade deadline there, Wiz was injured with a foot injury. I think at the beginning we thought Des was going to be the seventh defenseman. So he got a chance to play two or three games. He played really well. Got to the point where, gee, how can you take him out of the lineup? He was playing with Cam really well.
So he just kept getting better. We kept waiting for him to fail, but he didn't. That's a real good mark for him as a player. They see the numbers out there. Everybody wants to play good because you got an awful good defenseman waiting in the wings waiting to play.
On his behalf, he's been outstanding. Like my biggest fear was, okay, you're not playing a guy that's been an established NHL player for a good time, a good NHL player, a wanted free agent and everything. Wiz has been outstanding. He wants to play, don't get me wrong. But with the group that he's with, practicing, practicing hard, he just knows if we stumble that he's going to play.
But he's been a great leader outside of not playing.
Q. You look at the construction of your fourth line, the youth, speed, skill. Has your mentality in what a fourth line looks like evolved throughout the years? Is that the ideal now in the NHL?
COACH BOUDREAU: I think our fourth line last year was similar in the mindset that you wanted a line that could play and score, not just guys that could go out there and provide energy. We wanted them to be able to provide something offensively, too.
I mean, these guys, the zone time that they've created, the energy that they've created, to me the chances that they've produced, they haven't scored, but the chances they've produced really helped the momentum swings that the next line comes up, the next line comes up for us.
They've done a great job. I believe that you need four lines that can play to succeed. I always have.
Q. Bruce, they've got Andrew Shaw. You have Corey Perry, guys that can get under the other team's skin a little bit. In your mind, how big is that part of their game? How much value does that add?
COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I think it's more in the regular season because both teams are playing pretty well between the whistles, you know. In the regular season, these things, they create scrums, which creates them getting really ticked off at one another.
If you notice the three games we played, the scrums have been very minimum. It's because both teams know what's at stake. They don't want to be the ones that the referee says, We're going to take one.
So I don't think it has the same effect as it would, quite frankly, during the regular season for either one of them. They're doing their jobs. They're taking their number and saying, We'll get you next year or we'll get you another time.
Q. In both cases, though, they both have more to offer?
COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I think Andrew Shaw is a real good energy guy, scores important goals for them. For me to say Corey Perry has more to offer would be ridiculous, but...
Q. Bruce, early in his career, there was a lot of talk that Getzlaf passed, he should be shooting more. Last night he tied a team record for assists in the playoffs, whatever. Are you happy with the balance of that? He probably could shoot a little bit more, but obviously as a setup man, he's valuable.
COACH BOUDREAU: Yeah, as a setup man, he's right up there with the best in the world. We all want him to shoot more. As you saw in Game 2, when he came down the wing, hit the crossbar, his shot is so good.
But at the same time when he got the second assist yesterday, he pulled it like he was going to shoot it. Crawford has to honor that fact that a great shot could be coming. That's what makes him a great passer. He slips it over to Des, he puts it in the net. You have to honor the fact that if he does shoot, it's a great shot. He's just really good at playing off and faking it and giving it to other people.
Believe me, as coaches, there's times during the course of the year we could wring his neck because he doesn't shoot it (laughter).
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