Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

Wow there’s a TON of Coyotes and NHL news that’s been going on recently, let’s get to it!

Coyotes massage therapist passes

Our sincerest condolences to the family of Jukka Mieminen who was the long-time trainer of the Phoenix Coyotes. From what I have been reading in the news he was a valued and loved member of the Phoenix Coyotes family.

Coyotes at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft

We’re working on a Draft article which should be out in a few days. Until then here’s a reminder for you all….the Coyotes have the following picks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles – Two firsts, a second round pick, a fourth round pick and a fifth round pick.

The first round of the 2010 NHL Draft will be shown live on Versus/TSN/RDS on Friday June 25th from 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM. The Second through seventh round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft will be shown live on the NHL Network on Saturday June 26th starting at 10 AM.

Coyotes to host NHL Draft Party

Speaking of the 2010 Entry Draft, once again the Coyotes will be hosting a NHL Draft Viewing party at Santisi Brothers Pizzeria and Sports Grill. (2710 West Bell Road – Phoenix) The fun will take place on June 25th from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.

Coyotes announce 2010-2011 Pre-Season Schedule

The Coyotes have released their 2010-2011 Pre-Season Schedule. As you can note below, there are only two pre-season games before the Coyotes head off to Europe to kick off the season.

September 21, 2010 Anaheim Ducks Honda Center 7:00 p.m.
September 23, 2010 *Los Angeles Kings Jobing.com Arena 7:00 p.m.
September 23, 2010 *Los Angeles Kings STAPLES Center 7:30 p.m.
September 25, 2010 *San Jose Sharks Jobing.com Arena 7:00 p.m.
September 25, 2010 *San Jose Sharks HP Pavilion 7:30 p.m.
September 28, 2010 Calgary Flames Pengrowth Saddledome 7:00 p.m.
September 29, 2010 Edmonton Oilers Rexall Place 7:00 p.m.
October, 6, 2010 Dinamo Riga (KHL) Arena Riga (Latvia) TBD

The Coyotes 2010-2011 regular season schedule will be released on June 22nd.

NHL Network to re-broadcast Stanley Cup Finals

The NHL Network will be dedicating a full day to re-broadcasting the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals on June 19th. All six games will be re-broadcast for fans to re-capture the magic of the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks battle for Lord Stanley’s cup. The programming will include the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Parade at 7:00 PM Pacific Time.

Here’s the full programming schedule for June 19th (All times below Eastern):
9:00 a.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 1
11:00 a.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 2
1:00 p.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 3
3:00 p.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 4
5:00 p.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 5
7:00 p.m. 2010 Stanley Cup Final Game 6
9:00 p.m. NHL On The Fly Awards Preview
10:00 p.m. Blackhawks Stanley Cup Parade

2010 Hockey Hall of Fame Class to be announced Tuesday

The NHL and the Hockey Hall of Fame have called a press conference on June 22nd where they will announce the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2010 inductees. Keep an eye on our AZ Vibe Sports Twitter account that afternoon for the announcements as they happen.

Coyotes connected players invited to USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp

Coyotes 2009 second round draft pick, Chris Brown has been invited to USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp which will take place in Lake Placid, New York from July 30th to August 7th.

Also invited to the Evaluation Camp is the son of Coyotes Assistant Coach Ulf Sammuelsson, Philip who hails from Scottsdale.

The Evaluation Camp serves as a player audition for the US Junior National Team that will take part in the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo, New York from December 26th 2010 to January 5th 2011.

http://www.usahockey.com/Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=TU_04_01_06&ID=288572

Coyotes hire new scout

The Coyotes have brought Jeff Twohey as an amateur scout. Twohey spent the last 30 years with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Seventeen of those 30 years Twohey has served as the Petes General Manager.

Bissonnette on Twitter

For those of you Coyotes fans that use Twitter, Coyotes forward Paul Bissonnette has joined the Twitterverse!

Follow along at:

http://twitter.com/PaulBizNasty

Coyotes players re-up with new contracts

- The Coyotes have re-signed the following players:
D – David Schlemko – Terms not disclosed
LW – Ryan Hollweg – Terms not disclosed
LW – Scottie Upshall – One year Deal – Amount of contract not disclosed
D – Adrian Aucoin – Two Year Deal – Amount of contract not disclosed

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Post game comments from Head Coach Todd McLellan

Audio from the Press conference

Q.  I know it’s early, fresh, but your thoughts on this, the sweep?
COACH McLELLAN:  You got to give Chicago credit.  They’re a helluva team.  They seemed very destined right now.  They have a goaltender that’s on fire.  They’re getting scoring not necessarily from their superstars, I mean that with all due respect to the Byfugliens, the Bollands, those type of players.  They’re doing the things they need to do to win.  They’re a helluva team.
They certainly deserved the series.  I thought we played hard with them.  We competed with them.  You know, we battled.  We were in every minute of every game, but we were the second-place team.

Q.  Not that it would have been easy under any circumstances, but the fact you had a two-goal lead, kind of disappeared, make it even more painful?
COACH McLELLAN:  A loss is a loss right now.  Our year’s over.  We gave up a two-goal lead.  We’re not pleased about that.  You know, a bit of a disputed goal, then a four-on-four goal.
But we still had our opportunities to crawl back in.  It was a bit of a slow third period for us.  Ended up taking the penalties, burned a lot of players out trying to kill them.  It eventually caught up to us.

Q.  You had just three people scoring in this series.  Was it a case of just not enough help?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, I think my comment on Chicago probably answers that question.  You need to have depth, scoring depth, to win, to have success.  It’s not always the superstars that have to get it done.  There has to be some grunt work done by some of the other people.  Great to see Logan score tonight.
Guys that have been there for us and went dry, you know, to get to that ultimate level where the Blackhawks are going now, you need those people.

Q.  Dany Heatley hesitated when I asked him if he was a hundred percent.  Now that it’s over, can you confirm?
COACH McLELLAN:  Kind of is probably a good answer.  Dany Heatley had a very bad groin injury in the Colorado series.  He really gutted it out.  Over time he’s got better.  In my opinion, I don’t think he’s ever got back to where he needed to be skating-wise.  I think it was evident.
You know, he’s a pretty noble guy.  He’s going to tell you he’s pretty close to being good, but he never really got back to where he needed to be.

Q.  It may be too early, but does getting swept change the way you look at the overall season at all?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, I’ll answer for myself.  We’ve come a long way as an organization.  We won the Presidents’ Trophy last year.  We went into a situation against Anaheim where we didn’t play very well.  You know, we held an evaluation of our team that was very intense and we scrutinized it very closely.  A number of players were put on notice.  We made a number of changes.
What we did was we fought through the season.  We’ve come a long way.  Six of our players on tonight’s roster had played in this series before.  Other than that, nobody else had experienced it.  Only two were Sharks at the time.  We’ve gained a lot of experience.
I think we can look at what the Blackhawks did last year and how they grew through losing.  Sometimes it’s part of the process.  Jumbo now has been there.  I looked at Jonathan Toews’ statistics, I think he ended up with 13 points, they went out in this round.  Now look at him, what he’s got there, close to 30.  He’s been there, he’s done it.  Their team has been there and done it.  They’ve learned through it.  I’d like to think we could be that team.

Q.  Your GM will have some decisions to make.  Key free agents.  You believe in this group as it is pretty much?
COACH McLELLAN:  I definitely believe in this group.  You know, there’s going to be a lot of people sitting behind a computer and a typewriter writing their stories tomorrow.  I know exactly how they’re going to come out because that’s what you guys do.
But when you’re in between those walls, in those bricks, you know, we believe in that group.  We have that experience now.  You know, we’ve gone through that.  Maybe we can expand on it.

Q.  You referred to the first goal as a disputed goal.  Did you still feel that way after seeing the video?
COACH McLELLAN:  There’s a rule that is in the league right now that if the referee has the intent to blow the whistle, it’s dead.  The problem with the rule, like a lot of ‘em, is there’s a lot of gray left in there.  Nobody knows what the referee’s thinking.
You know, I certainly respect the job that they do.  Although his whistle was going towards his mouth, the intent wasn’t there and we have to live with that.  That’s the way it goes.

Transcripts and Audio Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department
Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan, Rob Blake, Doug Murray, Ryane Clowe, Evgeni Nabokov, Joe Pavelski

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan

Audio comments from Head Coach Todd McLellan:

Q.  Doug Murray made an interesting observation that for such a young team in Chicago, they have a lot of really young core, he sees a level of maturity maybe he didn’t expect.  Have you noticed that with the Blackhawks?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, they’ve been through what we’re going through right now last year against Detroit.  That experience that they’ve gained, I’m sure they’re using right now.  You have guys like Marian Hossa who have been to Stanley Cup finals two years in a row.  The leadership group might be a little bit younger than on some other teams, but they’ve won championships, played in gold medal games, saw them play under those pressure type situations.
From our perspective as coaches, it doesn’t surprise us that they have that quality and ultimately their No. 1 leader is Joel, and Joel has been involved in a lot of hockey throughout his career, both as a player and as a coach, has a lot of experiences to draw on, and I’m sure they’re buying into it.

Q.  Strange coincidence you were the team up 3-0, now you’re down 3-0.  Anything from that previous series you can kind of draw on going forward since you know what it was like on their side?
COACH McLELLAN:  There is.  And we talked about it.  When I addressed the team this morning, I had mentioned, the first thing I told them I wasn’t going to stand up there and be a cheerleader.  Based on my experience and maybe the Detroit thing, when you’re down 3-0, there’s oftentimes where you got to go in and you got to give ‘em the speech.  It’s just not going your way.  You’re trying to convince them they still have a chance.
It didn’t feel like that.  Doesn’t feel like that in our locker room.  We felt like we played with this team all along.  The fact is we’re still down 3-0.  But I didn’t go in there to become a cheerleader.  I went in there to reassure them that everything was fine and that we would — not fine, but everything was okay, and we would be approaching the game with a must-win mentality, like we always do.
But I also talked to them about the Detroit series.  In that situation, we talked about the pressure we felt when we came home after getting that shellacked in Detroit.  Detroit played very loose in that game, Game 4.  Came out, threw everything they had at us, didn’t respond well, that increased some pressure.
We’d like to come out, throw everything we have, play loose against Chicago, then put a little pressure on them after that.  We’ve got to take step one first.

Q.  How hard is it not to have this group feel discouraged, it doesn’t feel like a 3-0 series, yet it is?
COACH McLELLAN:  Didn’t know coming to the rink today where our group would be.  Would we be dealing with self pity, kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, or would we hold our heads high.  The good sign was the first guys that walked in, they didn’t necessarily have a smile on their face, but they were holding their heads up.  And that was a real good sign.  As the group arrived and I addressed individuals, I felt pretty good about where their mindset was.
My job in that manner was a little bit easier after reading where the team was at.  I think some of the leaders took care of that.  Quite frankly, they feel like I said last night, they’ve been in every minute of this series.  We’re not going to be perfect.  There are going to be times where we break down, they play on our end, vice versa.  It doesn’t feel like a 3-0 series, but it is.

Q.  You had a couple power-play goals this series, but they had three big kills in the third period.  What do they do on the penalty kill to make it tough?
COACH McLELLAN:  They’re aggressive.  Cliché, your best penalty killer is your goaltender.  We all know how Niemi is playing.  He’s very solid.  We haven’t been able to beat him often.  He’s making second and third stops.  They also are an aggressive team on penalty kill.  They don’t give you a lot of time and space to execute what you’d like to.  You have to be sharp.
You know, the key is to try and be more than one and out.  If you can keep them in their zone for an extended period, then you’ve got a chance.  Every time the puck gets up the ice, they end up changing and getting fresh guys out.

Q.  You said you were sort of taking a temperature of the team today.  Do you feel like you need to do that again tomorrow or are you taking it on faith that what you saw today puts that basically out of your mind?
COACH McLELLAN:  Have to take it on faith that what we saw today is going to be what we see tomorrow.  We believe in this group.  They’ve proven that they can play with this team.  We don’t have time tomorrow.  We don’t have a morning skate.  We don’t have the day to go through things.
The work we did today will help us.  We’ll have some meetings tomorrow, we’ll put the skates on and play.  That may be the best thing for our team.  Too bad we weren’t playing today.  I think our guys are that comfortable right now.  ’Comfort’ isn’t a good word; you guys will pick on that word, because we’re not comfortable in the series, but I like that mindset.

Q.  How difficult is it not to wear your emotions right now on your sleeve and the same for your players?
COACH McLELLAN:  I want our guys to be emotional.  You know, we weren’t very happy coming in last night after an overtime loss.  It was expressed in our room.  It was expressed in their room.  We’re allowed to be emotional at this time of the year.  I expect it and I want it.
But as I said earlier in the series, it’s how we harness it.  If we’re empty, we’re walking around with blank faces and some stares going on, you don’t want your team in that.  You want them engaged emotionally in the series.  It’s good to see some of it.

Q.  Generally you sound like you’re, not pleased, but at least okay with the way the team has been playing.  That said, we all know there are some people on the team who haven’t scored in a long time.  Will you sit on them or allow stuff inside the locker room to kind of take care of that?
COACH McLELLAN:  I don’t understand what you mean ‘sit on them.’  Poke and prod, bring them in?  Same thing we’ve done all year.  Again, I talked about this earlier in the series.  This isn’t anything different.  Anything we do with the individuals right now is not any different than we did at training camp, than we do during the year.  We bring individuals in.  We ask them to give the team more.  We ask them to produce in certain areas.  We show them video.  Ultimately try and help them.
But it’s not out of the norm.  I think that’s real important for us right now.  There are people that need to produce more.  To produce more, you probably have to play a little bit better.  We expect that obviously as early as tomorrow.  If it’s not there tomorrow, it’s too late.

Q.  Last night, you did a lot of juggling with your forward lines.  Other than the final outcome, were you okay with the results of the way that played out?
COACH McLELLAN:  Yeah, I was.  I thought it probably kept them on their toes a little bit.  But more importantly, it kept our guys on their toes.  They had no idea who they were playing with before the game, right up to after the warmup.  I went in and told them this is what was going to happen.  I think that alerted them that this wasn’t normal, this wasn’t the same.  Even throughout the periods or throughout the play in each of the periods, we juggled and alternated.
I think that kept us on our toes as much as it kept them.

Q.  Have you thought about calling Mike Babcock at all, just in this position that you were in, they respond understand fairly well?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, yeah, they certainly did.  I don’t think that I need to call Mike.  I spent three real good years with him.  I know exactly what he would be thinking.  I now how he would carry himself.  I know how he would react in this situation.  Obviously, it paid off.
There’s certainly some very valid points that he used when he approached his team and there are some others that we’ll use with our team.  There’s no need to call him.  But I will draw on that experience.

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Captain Rob Blake

Audio comments from Rob Blake:

Q.  How hard is it not to wear the emotions you have on your face?
ROB BLAKE:  I mean, like I said, we’re in this position for a reason.  We’ll accept that.
But, like I said, our focus will be on tomorrow.

Q.  What do you need to do differently?
ROB BLAKE:  I don’t think we need to play much different than we did the last couple.  There are some things we can bear down a little bit better on.  We’d like to execute better on the power-play.  As far as our level of competitiveness, being ready to play, we’ll keep what we had yesterday.

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Doug Murray

Audio comments from Doug Murray:

Q.  Is winning this series still realistic?
DAN BOYLE:  It feels realistic because we do tend to get really hot.  I mean, this year as well.  As any other year, we are quite streaky.  We have a lot of long winning streaks behind us.
You know, when things get loose, nothing’s impossible.

Q.  What have you learned about Chicago in this series?
DAN BOYLE:  I don’t think we really learned too many new things.  They’re a great team.  They have all kinds of different types of players that you need, highly skilled.  The one thing that maybe you might give them more credit for than you maybe did before, they’re playing very mature for being a young team.

Q.  What do you say when you see that maturity?
DAN BOYLE:  Oh, just patience in games, staying within their game plan.

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Ryane Clowe

Audio comments from Ryane Clowe:

Q.  Is winning this series still realistic?

RYANE CLOWE:  We’ve won six or seven in these playoffs.  We beat Colorado, went on the road with a run.  You can definitely get hot, get momentum on your side and roll with it.  Chicago seems to be doing that now.
Like I said, we feel like the series is a lot closer.  With a couple of breaks here and there, this series can be right back to where we need.

Q.  Tough to keep a smile on your face right now or keep that outlook good?
RYANE CLOWE:  Playoff time, we talked about not being a rollercoaster team.  Win or lose, we stay even-keeled.  Even when you win, you don’t go around smiling, thinking you won anything.  We’re in a position now where there’s no sense — you don’t want to be happy.  You’re not happy you’re in this situation.  But you don’t want to be where you have your head down saying, We have done our best.
We have played well, but there’s still areas we need to improve.  More than anything, the effort has been there.  You can’t ask for much more than that.

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov

Audio comments from Evgeni Nabokov:

Q.        How do you remain calm in this situation?
EVGENI NOBOKOV:  I said previously, I don’t think so it’s that hard because we felt like we played hard, but we couldn’t find a way to win.  We doing a lot of good things.  We just have to continue to do that, hoping to grab the win.
But it’s not easy.  You see the teams are so evenly matched up almost in every aspect of the game.  It’s just one bounce there, one mistake there, that costs the game.  But that’s playoffs.  I think that’s how we win the Detroit series.
It looks easy, but it wasn’t.  But we were on one side and now we facing the different side.

Q.  When you go in tomorrow, do you forget this is Game 4 and you’re down three?
EVGENI NOBOKOV:  I think I just answered that.  You just go and you just try to win the next game.  There’s no other way to look at that.
If you come out and you gonna be crying about this, crying about that, it’s no way we compare these playoffs with any other playoffs.  It’s not even close.  So we just have to stay the course and continue to do what we do.
That’s unique of this sport because sometimes you play good, but you still gonna lose.  For many reasons, the bounce doesn’t go your way.  Sometimes the goalie made really good saves in the third or second period, whatever it is.  So just have to battle through.

Q.  Do you feel you are battling against the enemy?  They talk about the matchups.
EVGENI NOBOKOV:  I think every series in the playoffs you compare the matchups, you guys talk about it.  It’s no different this year as it is playing against the Blackhawks, but everything is saying you’re playing against Niemi or whoever else is there.
The bottom line is, you want to make just one more save than the other goalie.  That’s how I look at that.  You know, I wish it can go other way.  But it is what it is right now.  We have to muddle through that.

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Joe Pavelski.)

Audio comments from Joe Pavelski:

JOE PAVELSKI:  We need to come out and do the same thing we did the other night, you know, get on the forecheck, just create chances, create a few more power-plays.
We had our chances.  It’s all about production, though, right now.  Doesn’t matter how many shots you got.  It’s one of those things.  We got to go out and earn another game.

Q.  There are a lot of experienced guys.  But this is kind of unchartered territory.  Could something like that be the difference between this team and Chicago right now since they’ve been to the Western Conference finals?
JOE PAVELSKI:  It’s hard to say because we’ve been there every game.  There hasn’t been one time where we felt overwhelmed by any means.  It felt like these games could have went the other way just as easily.
But that’s not the case.  We can’t worry about experience.  There’s a job to be done.  We have another chance tomorrow.

Q.  How mad is this team?
JOE PAVELSKI:  It’s disappointing to be down 3-0, no doubt.  But we’re not hanging our heads.  We know no one’s feeling sorry for us.  It’s all about this group now.  We have to earn more games right now.  That’s all we can worry about.  We need the same kind of effort as the other day.

Transcripts and Audio Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Post-Game 3 comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan

Comments from Todd McLellan

Q.  It seems like you changed the lines, you’ve thrown all kinds of shots at ‘em, yet you’re still down 0-3.  Do you ask yourself, What now?
COACH McLELLAN:  No.  We know what now.  What now is to regroup and come back with the same effort.  There’s really nothing else we can do.  I was really happy with the way our team played to a man, whether it was from goaltender, D man, forwards.  We made a few mistakes.  They scored some goals.  I thought it was a helluva game.
The reality is we’re down 3-0.  Happened a week ago with two good teams playing and Philadelphia found a way to come back, so there’s something to draw in there.  Plus the fact that we’ve been in this series I think for every minute.  That’s got to leave us feeling good.
But we know we’re in a hole and we’ve got to dig our way out.

Q.  Four goals over the last two games for Patrick Marleau.  Describe what you’re seeing from him.
COACH McLELLAN:  You know, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Patty play now for 200-some games, 160 games anyhow, and that’s as good as I’ve seen him play.  Determined, committed, working real hard all over the rink.  Real proud of him.  He needs to bring it again.

Q.  Can you break down the last goal for us.
COACH McLELLAN:  It was a breakdown in D zone coverage.  They did a really good job of keeping the puck alive at the blueline.  Released it behind the net.  We jumped down with our centerman, Scottie.  They basically looked at net front, Byfuglien got lost out high out in the zone and one-timed it into the net.  I don’t know if we can blame one individual.  Collectively, we shouldn’t have allowed the puck to come in there free.  And we’ve got to be aware of the shooter.  The guy behind the net is not dangerous.  Always the guy in the slot is.

Q.  You always talk about these games revolving around special teams.  You got the one power-play goal.  There were a lot of missed opportunities.
COACH McLELLAN:  If there was a part of our game that we have to go back and improve, we had opportunities the third period on the power-play where we could have either got the lead or established ourselves in the game, and we didn’t do that.  I’d like to see our power-play a little bit sharper.
Remember, they’re a very good penalty-killing team.  They’ve got this far because of it.

Q.  Why can’t you get over the hump against these guys?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, we’re still on the hump.  I don’t think we’re quite under it yet.  You know what, it’s good hockey.  There’s four teams left.  Sometimes the bounces go your way, sometimes they don’t.
I can’t walk in the dressing room tomorrow and approach that group and say they didn’t give an effort, they didn’t work hard, they didn’t give us everything they had.  It’s pretty simple:  it just didn’t go our way tonight.
We had enough looks at the net.  You know, what we have to do now is bottle that game up, find a way to score one more than they do on Sunday afternoon.

Q.  It’s simple, but is Niemi just playing that well?
COACH McLELLAN:  He’s playing well, there’s no doubt about it.  But, again, I think Dany Heatley had a great opportunity.  Ryane Clowe had a great opportunity.  They’re both very good goal-scorers.  Didn’t get the puck up.  He’s very quick, very athletic down low.  Made some tremendous saves for them.
Nabby in our goal was very solid when we needed him.  It was a very well-played game by both teams.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Pre-Game 3 comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan

Audio:

Q.  You’ve talked before about your disappointment, how deflating that first goal was the last time.  Is that anything you can actually coach out of a team or you’re at the mercy of the moment to see what happens?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, we can address it before it happens.  But, you know, we’d like tonight to score first, maybe put them in that situation.
But I don’t think there’s anything magic about it.  We’ve been able to overcome it for the most part, 90, 95% of it throughout the playoffs.  Anything that didn’t go our way, we seemed to hold our heads up high, put our noses to the grindstone, start working again.
The other night it just felt different.  We’ll have to take the test tonight.  I always use that term.  We’ll take the test tonight, and if we’re in that situation again, we expect out group – coaches, players, everybody involved – to respond appropriately and get going.

Q.  Can you talk about the starts that you’ve had in this series, if you get off to a good start again, making it count, making them pay.
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, I think it’s real important because both teams play at a high pace and with a lot of energy.  The question before was we saw the impact of maybe not scoring first and how it can affect your team.
We’d like to have the same start we had in the last two games, but we’d obviously like to find a way to finish.  If we can do that, it puts us in more of a driver’s seat than the backseat.  We’ll be looking to do that.

Q.  A lot has been made of the matchups.  Does mixing the lines, if, in fact, that may occur, help negate that a bit?
COACH McLELLAN:  It potentially can.  You know, if we get to that point and we do it, we’ll have to monitor it closely.
Ultimately it’s almost nine players versus nine, then you have your fourth-line guys that have gone out and worked real hard on both teams.  Our nine, regardless of who they play against, they have to find a way to make an impact on the game.
I thought the Scotty Nichol/Jamie McGinn pairing with whoever they play with, if that’s the route we go again, have been effective and worked real hard.  We have to get our nine guys producing when given the opportunity.

Q.  Seems like if you look at the record, they’re 3-3 in the playoffs at home, 7-1 on the road.  Do you think maybe you can come in here and take advantage of a distraction factor at all?
COACH McLELLAN:  What we’re counting on is Chicago to play their best.  That’s how we plan.  We don’t count on or take for granted they have a 3-3 record, they may be distracted.  We can’t look at it that way.  We have to be prepared for their A-plus game.  We will be.  We’ve got to go out and play it that way.
If, for some reason, they’re not, we need to take advantage of it.  But we’re not looking at it that way.

Q.  You haven’t played here in a while.  Anything unique about this building with the anthem and the crowd?
COACH McLELLAN:  Not necessarily.  You know, certainly the energy in the building and the anthem help the Blackhawks.  You feel some shivers on the bench when you’re the opposition.  It can get you going, too.
I know some of our players when they first experienced it, they enjoyed playing in that environment, the noise and the excitement.  There are some rinks you go to in the league where you’ve got to find a way to poke yourself, get yourself going.  This isn’t one of them.
Now we’re in the semifinals, obviously fighting for the Stanley Cup.  If you’re not prepared to play in this type of environment, shame on you.

Q.  Over the last two days your team has seemed very poised and confident.  I was wondering what you thought of the mindset?
COACH McLELLAN:  I like it.  I like the fact that our leaders have shown some passion and some emotion over the last couple days.  It’s certainly needed and wanted.
But yet in the locker room, when we have our meetings, they’re very attentive.  They are under control.  So we’re doing all the right things.  We’re saying the right things.  It’s about now putting it all together and getting out there and competing and looking for the results we need.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan, Dan Boyle, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, and Joe Pavelski

Q. They went to a lot of effort to get the matchups they wanted, line combinations, in San Jose. Is that something that is surprising you at all or is there something you need to do to try to counter that?
COACH McLELLAN: No. It doesn’t surprise me at all. We saw it in the Vancouver series, they did a really good job against the Sedins. Joel is very good at it. He has a ton of trust and belief in the Bolland line.
I don’t think that’s going to change here at all in Chicago. In fact, it will probably be easier for them now because of last change. So we’ll have to have a plan for that, continue to try and mix and match and move people around.
But the simple fact is, if our big line ends up on the ice against those three, they have to find a way to outplay them. There’s nothing that we can continually do to get away from it. They’re going to be up against them. At the end of the night, they have to find a way to be productive.

Q. Yesterday, Dan Boyle said it’s time for us to raise our collective middle fingers in the air. He gives us these quotes, seems frustrated to be in this situation. You talk to the players in the room, they talk about how easygoing he is. How does his personality apply itself to the team in this situation?
COACH McLELLAN: Boiler, from my opinion, I’m around him a lot, he’s a very easygoing guy in July and August at the lake when he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing. When he’s in the locker room, around the rink, he’s as serious and intense as anybody that I’ve been around.
That’s a very good quality right now. We need that from him. We need him to grab some people and take them with him right now. That’s why we consider him a real valuable leader.
With that, he’s got to watch how far he takes it because he can’t get guys in too deep or too frustrated as well. Danny can handle anything individually. He’ll continue to lead collectively.

Q. The frustration your team showed a little bit on the ice, apparently in the locker room after Game 2. Is that unusual for your team? Did you like seeing that?
COACH McLELLAN: Not unusual and I did like to see it. I said this yesterday in San Jose. You’re allowed to be passionate at this time of the year. We expect that. We expect you to be frustrated when it’s not going your way.
But it’s what you do with that, how you handle it, how you channel it. We as a group, as a team, likely won’t be good enough to beat Chicago and frustration. We have to pick one or the other. If we end up trying to beat the frustration all the time, we won’t have enough left in our tanks to beat Chicago.
If we channel it, try to target Chicago, use our frustration on them, we have a chance to come back.

Q. Two days off before Game 3. Are you taking the time to sit with some of your leaders, players, may do that tonight or tomorrow?
COACH McLELLAN: We have. The good thing about that is it’s no different for them. When you don’t do that during the year, you start doing it now, it could be seen by them as a panic situation. That’s not the case.
After every game, we find a way to meet with either a small group, individuals. It’s either to reward them and let them know we caught them doing a lot of good things and we like what they’re doing. Sometimes it’s on the other end of the scale where it’s, Hey, we expect more from you. Here are a few situations. We’ve done that. It’s not out of the norm. We’ll continue to do it as long as we play.

Q. Any chance we could see some mixing and matching with your top two lines? Move them around a little bit?
COACH McLELLAN: There’s a real good chance of that. Obviously, we talk again of the match scenario. We’ve only scored three goals in the series. We have to find a way to be a little more offensive.
With that said, we can’t open up the game so much. We respect their offense enough, that you can’t open it up totally. That’s what happens when you’re chasing a series. We’re now behind and we’re chasing it. You’ve got to adjust in one area, but you have to make sure it doesn’t affect the other.

Q. Dany Heatley only has two goals in the post-season. Do you need him to start finishing more of his chances?
COACH McLELLAN: Yup. There’s no other way to say it. Yes is a real simple answer. As coaches, we’re always aware there’s 19 others that play the game as well. We need that from some others.
Heater has the skill, the ability in the past that he’s proven that he can put the puck in the net. There is some pressure on him right now. He feels it. I’m sure he’ll handle it appropriately.

Sharks Defenseman Day Boyle

DAN BOYLE: Opened up USA Today and there was a quote saying we are not working hard enough. I don’t think it’s a work thing. We are working hard. I’ve seen the guys working hard. There’s a difference between working hard and working smart. I think that’s the difference the first two games.
We’re working. We’re working hard. Definitely I don’t think that’s the problem. There can always be improvement, of course. But working smart is a different thing. It’s one thing to work, but if you’re not getting it accomplished, you’re just wasting time.
So it’s execution, it’s getting something accomplished every time you’re on the ice. You don’t have to be scoring goals, but getting something accomplished. That’s more the message I wanted to relay after Game 2. It was taken out of context. I meant more the effort.

Q. It’s been called a must-win game for the Blackhawks.
DAN BOYLE: We were in this position last series against Detroit. You don’t want to give them a pulse. Their game plan is to go up 3-0 and finish this off. I think that’s a good attitude they need to have. Ours is obviously to get ourselves back into this thing. We’ll get that pulse and we’ll grow from it, be a better team.

Q. Is it a good thing or bad thing that Nashville and Vancouver came in and won their first games?
DAN BOYLE: It means absolutely nothing, to be honest with you. It’s another round, another series. It really doesn’t matter what their home record is. We’re aware of it. It really doesn’t matter. We don’t really care about that.

Sharks forward Patrick Marleau

Q. The way you handled the frustration on the ice towards the end of Game 2, the talk in the locker room afterwards, was that unusual for this team, or did you like it?
PATRICK MARLEAU: I think things happen that way. I think obviously late in the game, people get into it. It’s on both sides, too. It’s frustration on our part, but that you are getting into it as well. It’s just one of those things.
Just talked about coming here, getting our game going, playing a lot better.

Sharks Forward Joe Thornton

Q. What is your experience in this building, the way it is, even during the regular season?
JOE THORNTON: Good. I love playing in this building. It’s pretty electric. 20,000 fans going crazy, it’s a good building to play in. We’ve had some success here in the past. We’re looking forward to that tomorrow.

Q. Dan Boyle, his approach, attitude.
JOE THORNTON: He’s just easy. You know, yeah, just always relaxed. Doesn’t seem to panic.

Q. Good influence on the room?
JOE THORNTON: Yeah, no. All the guys love being around him. Very contagious. He’s just a light-spirited guy that all the guys like to be around.

Q. Whatever frustration or emotion you showed on the ice at the end of Game 2, and apparently in the locker room a little bit, is it a healthy thing getting the frustrations out at the moment?
JOE THORNTON: Yeah, you know, we know we can be better. We saw some this morning to show we can be better. You go through your ups and downs. But it was a good week. We addressed everything. We’re ready for tomorrow.

Q. Having a couple extra days to think about the game, looking at the video, are there areas you can be better?
JOE THORNTON: Yeah.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about that?
JOE THORNTON: No (laughter). You’ll see tomorrow night.

Sharks Forward Dany Heatley

Q. Do you want to start scoring more, now that the series is continuing on?
DANY HEATLEY: Yeah, you got to score goals. You know, I haven’t had that many so far. Again, just trying to do the right things, create chances, make some good shots.

Q. Do you feel like you’re getting your chances?
DANY HEATLEY: Yeah, I mean, getting shots, getting chances. Sometimes it goes in for us, sometimes it doesn’t.
You know, got to find a way to score some goals.

Q. They’re trying to contain you guys, also trying to irritate you.
DANY HEATLEY: I mean, you know, to tell you the truth, we’ve been mixing and matching. The people we’re more concerned about when we’re on the ice is the big boys, Kane and Toews. They’re good with the puck, good offensively. You know, the other lines, we’re kind of playing against them, we’re playing against Madden. We’re really playing against all four lines. Really doesn’t matter what they’re doing, it’s what we’re doing.

Q. Sometimes does the media make too much of the agitators on the other team?
DANY HEATLEY: It’s fun for the media to have that line, agitators against offensive guys. Really it’s four lines against four lines. Both coaches are trying to get matches. I’m sure they’ll get more of the matchups they want here.

Q. Has a player ever gotten you off your game by talk?
DANY HEATLEY: No. Everyone likes to talk. I like to talk. I find it fun.

Sharks forward Joe Pavelski

JOE PAVELSKI: You feel good with the lines, feel like you have chemistry, but the bottom line is you have to produce. We’re getting some chances. At this time of the year it doesn’t do any justice unless you produce.
We’re looking to bear down, play, make his life miserable in front of him. There’s a couple areas we went over that will help us next game.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Travel Day (5/19) comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan, Rob Blake, Scott Nichol, Dan Boyle, and Dany Heatley

San Jose Sharks Coach Todd McLellan

Q.        Your second line first two rounds was pretty dynamic.  These two games not so much.  What’s been different?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, I think the opponent we’re playing against, for one.  It’s a stronger team.  We knew that would happen as we got further into the playoffs.
The other thing they’ve got to get going is a little more speed in their game, I think.  We’ll look at that.  We’ll talk about it today.
We’re still confident they can do the same job they did in the first two series, take some pressure off of Jumbo’s line.

Q.  Pavelski’s line, have they been tenacious enough?
COACH McLELLAN:  They have been.  They don’t come to the rink and decide to take it down a notch.  They’ve worked just as hard.  I think the difference is the opposition is that much better.  We’ll have to find a way to help them.
You can see that Chicago is extremely quick and they hunt pucks down.  It doesn’t give them as much time and space as they’ve had in previous series.

Q.  Would you like to see a little bit more nastiness maybe?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, it’s a fine line.  You know, it depends on how you describe ‘nastiness.’  If we’re sitting in the penalty box, we have no chance of coming back in the series.
We’d like to be physical.  We’d like to get after their defensemen down below the goal lines and prevent them from jumping in.  You have to place the puck properly, have some speed on the forecheck.
Nastiness, I’m not sure that’s going to get us what we want.  The tenaciousness is probably a better word for us.
Let’s go back to Game 1, traffic in front of the net wasn’t an issue at all.  Game 2, we’ll have to look at it now.  It was a factor.  The Toews’ role on the power-play, he wasn’t as big a factor as Toews getting his stick on the puck on the side.  There’s no doubt that he’s big and strong.  We had a plan.  We didn’t execute the plan the way we wanted to deal with him.  We’ll continue with that and try to enhance it somehow.

Q.  They can get in there and get that traffic a lot of times because you guys aren’t controlling the puck.
COACH McLELLAN:  I mean, time in zone, time in their zone, time in our zone, we see in the first period when we come out and we play the way we can, puts them on their heels a little bit.  But there’s something that happens in the game that changes it a little bit, and they, in turn, carry the play in our end.
Like you said, when you’re in your zone, he’s going to be able to set up camp in front of the net.  Brouwer is very good at it as well.  The more you’re in your end, the more likely you are to err.
Rob Blake and I sat and talked the other day about things we need to change.  We are very excited about playing that first period, coming out and getting it going.  Yesterday second period was due in large part to the first goal, took a lot out of us.  I was disappointed because all playoffs we’ve been very resilient after a goal scored.  Last night it felt like it took a long time for us to get our energy and our heads up again.
We have to change that.  We’re not going to be able to beat this team if we hang our heads at any point.

Q.  Are your guys not doing something up high they should be or is it coincidence?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, I’m going to leave the Detroit series out.  We found a way to win.  Let’s deal with Chicago and move on.
They’re a very good five-on-five team, tenacious.  They have the checking line that’s doing a very good job.
With that being said, I thought we created enough opportunities to score more.  We probably have to get a little more aggressive around the net.  We’ve said that for two games straight now.  The other thing he does, good legs down at the bottom of the net.  Troy Mitchell had a tremendous scoring opportunity in the game and failed to put it up.  We’ll look at that and adjust as we go.
Like I said last night, I think it’s a tactic.  Teams looking to time the faceoff and shoot the puck.  Ended up riding on the guy’s hand.  But you’re allowed to get frustrated and emotional; you’re allowed to be attached to the game, to be passionate.  It was good for us to see a bit of that come out a little in the third period.  Not a lot different than what happened in Game 4 in Detroit.

San Jose Captain Rob Blake

Q.  It’s been a civil series so far.
ROB BLAKE:  Maybe that last five minutes showed a little bit of that.  But that develops over the series.  We can increase our intensity.  We can play harder and more effectively, getting out of our zone a little more quickly, making sure things go the way we want them to.

Q.  (Question regarding home ice.)
ROB BLAKE:  Obviously we’re going to go in there and try to do what they did to us.  We’ll worry about the game Friday night first.

Q.  You’re aware the rest of the outside world isn’t betting on you now.
ROB BLAKE:  No, that’s for sure.  We haven’t been in this position.  We were down one in Colorado.  Now we’re down two.  Like I said, when you go into the weekend games here, you’ve got to concentrate on Friday night’s game and take that one first.

San Jose Forward Scott Nichol

Q.  Discuss the situation your team is in now.
SCOTT NICHOL:  We’re a confident bunch in here.  We know what lays ahead of us.  The old cliche:  one game at a time.  You’re not going to win the whole series going back there.  Shift by shift, game by game, go from there.
We’re a good team.  We’re confident.  We didn’t come first overall in the Western Conference by a fluke or luck.  So we got some skilled players.  We got a good team.  So we just got to go by that.

Q.  (Question about overcoming.)
SCOTT NICHOL:  I think we’re better that way.  Coming into the playoffs, Colorado beat us.  Everybody was thinking, Here we go again, all the media and stuff.  We proved them wrong.  Nobody has confidence in us other than the guys in our room that know that we can get it done.
That’s a good thing.  We’re a pretty dangerous animal when we’ve got our backs towards the wall.  That’s the way we’re approaching it.

Q.  They’re making life difficult on Thornton and some of your high-end guys.  Is there a way for checkers on your team to make life more difficult on them?
SCOTT NICHOL:  Yeah.  I think playing in their end, that makes it difficult.  When they’re in our end, they can be creative and all that.  That’s where they thrive.  No one really likes to get hit.  It’s tough to make a play when you’re faced against the glass, can’t see where your teammates are.
For sure we can take a page out of their book and be tough on ‘em and we’ll go from there.

Q.  They’ve been on the road for a long time.  You’ve been home for a long time.  Could the flip be good for you guys?
SCOTT NICHOL:  I think so.  I think it’s good for everyone to get together.  We all go for dinners, really focus, really dig our heels in.  We know what we have to do.
We have five or six days on the road.  Just refocus, come together, we’ll be okay.  It’s like I said, it’s game by game.  We’re going to take Friday’s game in and have a good outing, big win, and we’ll go from there.

Q.  You weren’t around the last couple years.  I don’t know what you sense from a confidence standpoint in this group.  I’m sure you heard guys answering questions about previous failures.  Do you get any notion or sense of sort of a fragile confidence when you first got here?
SCOTT NICHOL:  No.  When I first got here, the mindset was Stanley Cup.  That’s what we approached this year as.  That’s what our goal is.  Anything short of that is going to be a disappointment.  We’re all here for one purpose.  That’s why I say we’re confident.  We know we’ve had that mindset since training camp.  It wasn’t, Okay, we’re going to come here and make the playoffs.
I remember when we clinched — I don’t remember when we clinched, a reporter came and asked us, Do you know what game you clinched?  Went around asking 10 guys, and we had no idea.  That wasn’t our goal.  Our goal was to win the Stanley Cup.  Best-of-seven series.  We’re going to be a tough animal to cage, that’s for sure.

San Jose Defenseman Dan Boyle

Q.        Joe did a good job of being physical and aggressive last night.  Do you think the rest of the team can do a better job moving forward in the series?
DAN BOYLE:  Yeah, I think so.  I think you can always improve.  We’re down 2-0.  Something needs to get better.  I think it can start with physical play.

Q.  A lot of people counting you guys out.  Do you feed off that?
DAN BOYLE:  Yeah.  Obviously, I don’t want to be in this position.  But, you know, this is a good time for us to come together here, raise our middle finger in the air, you know, just do it together.  It’s going to take a lot of work.

Q.  When a team is faced with a 2-0 deficit, is it sometimes good to get away?
DAN BOYLE:  Yeah, it’s good to be on the road sometimes.  You eliminate some of the distractions you have at home.  In this case, yeah, I think it’s good for us to go, get out of here, try to get this series back on track here.

Q.  Scott Nichol was saying maybe you need to put more of a hate on for those guys.
DAN BOYLE:  Yeah.  I mean, whatever it takes.  Whatever it takes.  I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that what we’re doing is not good enough.
I think whatever it takes for every individual to get better, you know, make an impact on the series.  Past is the past.  We have to live with what we’re doing today.  It hasn’t been good enough.

Q.  Anything about their high-end guys that have taken you by surprise?
DAN BOYLE:  In particular, no.  They’re who we thought they were, and they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.  We need to raise our game and have our top guys raise their games.  Yeah, no, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.

San Jose Forward Dany Heatley

Q.  Something different happening for you guys last night?
DANY HEATLEY:  No.  I think the first game we really generated a lot of chances and probably could have had a few more.  You know, last night, I thought at times we really got away from our game.  Got to get back to it on Friday.

Q.  In what way?
DANY HEATLEY:  You know, I think when we’re going well, we’re chipping it, going and getting it, putting a lot of heat on their D.  I thought last night we didn’t do a very good job of getting behind them.  Allowed them to have time for them to do what they do well.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Post Game 2 comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan, Dan Boyle, Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov, Joe Thornton, and Joe Pavelski

Q.  It seemed like your team had difficulty getting out of the neutral zone tonight and settling the puck down.  What can you do about that?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, we can — obviously, our execution has to be better.  I thought the first — up until they scored, we were doing that.  We were handling the puck well, carrying it well, coming through the neutral zone against a very good team.
Then the goal took a lot out of us for some reason.  I was disappointed because we have had that resiliency in our hockey club.  You could feel it on the bench.  It took us a while to climb back and get the energy level back up where it needed to be.
When that happens against a team that’s playing that well, you’re going have some miscues, you’re going to have some miss-execution.  I felt that we let our guard down a little bit after the first goal and they took the game over for a while.

Q.  Toews’ line had a couple more goals tonight.  You saw what they did against the Canucks.  What is the way to stop those guys right now?
COACH McLELLAN:  They had one on the power-play.  Don’t go to the penalty box.  We’re not going to be perfect in that area.  We were as good as we could be in Game 1.  They had one on the power-play.  We have to give them that one.  And then Kane on the cycle, throwing at net front with Byfuglien in there was the second one.  I thought we could have done a much better job controlling his stick.  We were up than his arm.  You’re not going to move that man.  He’s that big, that strong, he establishes his-self.  Better be able to control his stick.  We failed to do that.  Obviously, made a huge impact on the game.

Q.  You’ve had great starts in both games in the first period, but haven’t been able to capitalize.  How important is the first goal for you?
COACH McLELLAN:  Obviously, very important.  Other than the power-play goal in Game 1, we haven’t had an opportunity to play very many.  Going into their building, we saw what the first goal did to our hockey club tonight.  Took some of the energy out of the building.  Took a lot of energy out of our team.  Took us a while to get our heads up again, if you will, for lack of a better term.
If we can have that start in their building, try and quiet everything down, play with some energy early, it certainly helps.  But it’s not the be all and end all.  You have to get out there, regardless if you score the first or not, and continue on.

Q.  Joe said after the game he thought you did a pretty good job of getting away from Bolland at times.  Presumably when you go to Chicago, that will be tougher to do.  What does Joe need to do when he’s got a guy like that tasked with shutting him down specifically?
COACH McLELLAN:  If I look at Joe’s game, I thought Joe played a pretty solid game.  He was skating.  He was big.  He was strong.  I think it has to be a collective thing, because they are the centers.  We call it Joe’s line, we call it Bolland’s line, it has to be a collective five-man unit.  We’re going to have a tough time getting him away from Bolland, and that line has done a very good job.
They are some of the best players in the world.  They have to play through it.  We’re four deep or four left in the playoffs.  We’re not tinkering around in the first round anymore.  There’s some very, very good players.  Bolland’s lines happens to be one of the best checking lines in the league right now, and he has to find a way to get through it.

Q.  Just playing off of that, what do you think when you see Joe take a pretty hard whack at Bolland’s wrist before the puck even drops?  Is that a sign of frustration?
COACH McLELLAN:  When I talked to him, he was going forward on the draw.  We’ve seen that before where he times it and tries to shoot it.  It’s a tactic that Joe has.  Ended up being a little quick and ended up being on the hands.

Q.  Your goalie talked in the first two series you did a pretty good job of working with the guys, when the opponents planted somebody in front of net, you were able to play through that.  That wasn’t the case tonight.  Does that have you rethinking approaches?
COACH McLELLAN:  We’ll spend some time.  We have two days here now to look at that.  We’ll look at the video.  We’ll certainly sit with our defensive group and our goaltenders and make sure that we’re still approaching it properly.
When we do, and we execute what we plan to do, it tends to work.  But obviously tonight they got the better of us in that area.

Q.  How important is Game 3 now?  Obviously being down 0-2, is it a must-win game for your team?
COACH McLELLAN:  It’s not a must-win until you’re down 0-3.  It’s an important game.  It’s one of seven that you play in a series.  It’s very important.  But to answer your question, no, it’s not a must-win.  But we’re going to approach it like it is.

Q.  Some of the play tonight, does it go back to that quickness edge that you’ve talked about before that the Hawks have shown against your team?
COACH McLELLAN:  That’s a good question.  It’s interesting because early in the game, I thought we were quick.  We had some jump to loose pucks.  We were playing the game that we wanted to play.  It turned on us.  That’s happened two games in a row.
Somehow we have to harness what we start with and continue on.  We can’t let little bumps in the road slow us down.  I’m not sure it’s about skating any faster.  It’s the puck movement.  We don’t continue to do what we started to do.  We try and force it a little bit more.  All of a sudden we look slower.
I’m not sure if I answered your question the way you wanted me to, but that’s how I feel.

Q.  This is a chance for your veteran players to respond.  What do you expect from them?
COACH McLELLAN:  I expect them to respond.  It’s as simple as that.  We’ve worked hard to get to where we are.  We’ve had to overcome a lot.  We’re in a situation where we have to do it again.
I think throughout this playoff we’ve built character.  This gives us an opportunity now to add to that.  We’ve always boasted about our leadership in the locker room, the ability for guys to take others with them and lead them in the right direction.  We’ll need that now.

Comments from Dan Boyle

DAN BOYLE:  Both teams’ shots were down.  They scored.  We didn’t.  They had some surges.  They scored, we didn’t.
Not good enough.

Q.  Now on the road, down a couple games?
DAN BOYLE:  Everybody thinks we’re done.  Nothing would make me happier to come back and disappoint everybody because everybody thinks were done.
I’m certainly not going to quit.  I know the guys around here aren’t going to quit.  Playing the way we have hasn’t been bad, but, again, it’s not good enough.

Q.  Maybe the result isn’t good enough?
DAN BOYLE:  I’m repeating myself.  We’re working hard, but we’re not working hard enough.
Yeah, I don’t know.  I got to watch film.  Obviously as a man, we got to look in the mirror.  Pretty sure that we can — we’ll all see the game needs to be elevated.  This is a very good hockey team.

Comments from Patrick Marleau

PATRICK MARLEAU:  It comes down to what we’re doing as a line.  We’re getting the puck in deep, using our bodies, taking the puck to the net.  It’s hard for teams to defend against us.  We probably didn’t do enough of that tonight.  When we do get it in there, we have our chances.  I definitely like the next two games if it’s going to be the same.
But, you know, we know we got an uphill battle right now.  It’s a good challenge for our club, great opportunity to come back.

Comments from Evgeni Nabokov

Q.Talk about your performance tonight.
EVGENI NABOKOV:  Well, obviously it’s not good enough.  Got to be better in every area in order to win.

Q.  2004 all over again?

EVGENI NABOKOV:  Yeah, I guess you can compare that in terms of going down 2-0.  But it’s a different team.  I don’t think so, again, you can put the parallels anyhow. You know, it’s a big challenge for us, so we got to be better.  To be honest with you, we just got to find a way to win.  We have to win more battles.  We have to be maybe a little bit quicker, better around the net in both ends, so…

Comments from Joe Thornton

Q.What went wrong, in your opinion?
JOE THORNTON:  Well, I didn’t think we gave them too much, to be honest with you.  I thought we played good defensive hockey.  I don’t know how many chances they got.
We were just not capitalizing on our chances.  They are with theirs.  We aren’t with ours.
When you get to this point, everybody is going to have a good goaltender.  I don’t think we underestimated him.  He’s playing good.  I don’t think we’re getting enough second chances we need to be getting.  We have to improve on that a lot.

Q.  Is it a challenge you like?
JOE THORNTON:  Sometimes I’m against Johnny, sometimes I’m against Sharp.  I’m not always against him.  It’s a battle all night.
I think we out-shot them again tonight?  Did we?  I don’t know.  We did.  So we just have to capitalize when we get our chance, that’s all.

Comments from Joe Pavelski

JOE PAVELSKI:  At times we had it going, got away from our game, had a few too many turnovers.
They play well with a lead, especially a couple goals.  We realized they weren’t going to be sitting back.  We wanted to keep forcing it, jamming it.  You know you got to lay it behind and go to work.

Q.  Talk about Game 3.
JOE PAVELSKI:  Didn’t have nearly enough guys out there.  We didn’t get the job done.  When we have won so far this season, it’s been a commitment by everybody, everybody’s showed up, and that’s what we need.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Pre Game 2 comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan

Q.  Todd, I know you probably talked about Joe Pavelski a million times already.  For those of us who haven’t been around, what’s clicked for him this post-season?
COACH McLELLAN:  He’s very confident, I guess, for one.  The way he’s being used I think helps him as well.  The fact that there’s so much focus always on Jumbo’s line, sometimes he gets left behind or under the radar.  He’s been able to capitalize there.  He’s been very good on the blueline, power-play.
Very passionate young man, very astute, attentive to what’s going on around him, wants to learn, tries to find an edge any way he can.
He’s putting it all together right now.  Very confident.  So we’re happy to have him.

Q.  Any thought of lineup changes?
COACH McLELLAN:  We’ll be close to the same.  I think as the game evolves, we’ll see what their plans are as far as lineup.  It won’t be much different.

Q.  With Game 1, the way it played out, have you found yourself making very few changes in the last couple days, being a little bit surprised by the fact you didn’t have to change too much?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, there’s always changes and adjustments.  We can’t play the same game we did the other night or we’re going to end up with the same results.  There’s areas of the game we have to be better in.  There’s areas of the game that we liked.  There’s always some system tweaks here and there with every series and every game.
But it’s not a dramatic overhaul.  It’s small pieces, whether it’s individual or collectively.  But we do expect to be better in some areas.

Q.  If you go with power against power again on the top lines, how do you define or what are the expectations for the third line?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, you know, it’s interesting.  We’d prefer to go a certain way.  But when you’re on the bench and there’s a lot of line matching going on, for as much as we’d like to have a group of players out against a certain line, they’re very good at changing.  They obviously prefer Bolland against Jumbo.  That’s not power on power.
So our third line is either going to play against Bolland, if we get what we want, or they’re gonna play against Toews or Sharp.  If they’re out against that group, they have to be very strong defensively.  If they get an opportunity in the other zone, we expect them to create chances.
It’s as simple as that.

Q.  Not specific to this series, but do you have any theories on what is happening to make the too-many-men penalty so crazy?
COACH McLELLAN:  It’s a good question.  I’ve been asked that so many times.  You know, knock on wood, we’ve been fortunate.  I think we’ve only been caught once with it.
It’s so intense right now, there is a lot of line matching and juggling going on.  You’re trying to find that edge, whether it’s an extra foot or two on a line change.  The games have ramped up, so fatigue becomes more of a factor.
I’m not sure if we’re seeing more of those situations called in the second period, but the long line change, the long distance for D men to go, all of those come into play.  Perhaps the officials being more aware of it.  There’s no doubt it’s being called more.
We’ve talked a lot about it in the locker room, being vocal on the bench, know who you’re going for.  The player going onto the ice I believe is the one responsible.  He’s fresh.  He can read the play from the bench.  He’s got to make a judgment call.
Other than that, I can’t explain it.

Q.  Todd, I imagine coaching against different coaches, they have different personalities, coaches styles.  What have you found in coaching against Joel specifically that keeps you on your toes?
COACH McLELLAN:  Joel is sharp.  He didn’t enter the league yesterday.  He’s been around for a long, long time.  He’s been with some tremendous staffs.  He’s worked with some of the best players in the world and learned from them.  So he has a game plan.  He’s very committed to it.  He wants to continue to execute it as we go along.
His teams are very aggressive.  They certainly believe in him.  So they’ve got the right stuff there for that team, and they’ve certainly responded to it.

Q.  The last series you said you didn’t want to get too excited on the bench.  How have you worked on that?
COACH McLELLAN:  Are you talking about me as an individual?  The team?

Q.  At the end of the game the other night, the last Detroit game, you were concerned the bench was getting a little too frisky.  How do you coach bench discipline?
COACH McLELLAN:  Players look to us.  The very first people they see when we walk into the locker room, they see the coaches’ demeanor and presence.  If I’m agitated, nervous, not very confident, they’re gonna respond to that.  I have to carry myself the proper way, the rest of the staff has to carry themselves the proper way.
You talked about the minute of the last game when obviously there was an error on the call.  It’s quite simple.  When it comes down to that moment, I have a choice.  As a head coach I can yell and bark at the referees as much as I want, or I can take care of the team and the six players.
What I asked one of our assistant players to do, I said, You take care of the missed call, I’ll take care of the faceoff, and we dealt with it that way.
Unfortunately sometimes in the thick of things, the referees don’t always communicate as much with the assistant coaches as they do the head coaches.
My focus wasn’t going to be berate the two officials for making the wrong call; it was trying to get a 6-4 put together, spend the 55 seconds as much as we could in their zone and try and score a goal so we could tie it up.

Q.  What about the last minute of the Detroit game?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, again, you have to be calm.  You have to be collected.  The players are going to read off of that.  You put the players on the ice that you believe in.  You give them a plan and you stand back and you watch them execute it.
I think when I talked about the excitement on the bench and the giddiness, if you will, in the Detroit series, we were close to overcoming a hurdle, to eliminating a team, a very good team, and you could feel it on the bench.
I had that feeling when I was in Detroit playing against Pittsburgh in Game 5, and they happened to score with 36 seconds left.  We were all excited, so close to winning.  You could feel your heart was going.  All of a sudden they score.  You learn a valuable lesson.  You’ve got to stay composed.  You’ve got to keep that up-and-down level or meter on an even keel and you’ve got to be prepared to play.
You can get excited after.

Q.  Real deep one here.  Do you have a tie or suit that you wear in a situation like this?
COACH McLELLAN:  I have a little guy at home that thinks he can put together a shirt and tie and believes that he has the lucky touch (laughter).  But it hasn’t always worked, I can tell you that much.

Transcripts Courtesy of the NHL Communications Department

Off Day comments from San Jose Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan

Q.  Have you seen anything different now that you had a chance to look at the game tape?
COACH McLELLAN:  No, not dramatically different.  After watching it again, it was the game we thought we saw.  I thought it was a helluva game.  Both teams played very hard, played well.
Goaltending was good at both ends.  You know, at the end of the night, we didn’t get the second or third goal that we obviously needed, and they got one.
You know, if we can continue to play and turn it up a little bit more, I think we’re right there.

Q.  Last two series you talked about the big line doing other things in order to get the job done if they weren’t getting on the scoreboard.  Dany Heatley, two goals in his last 18 games, if you go back in the regular season.  My question is, don’t you need him to score as well?  Doesn’t he have to put the puck in the net?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, he does.  You know, that’s why Dany’s a part of our organization.  That’s what makes him a tremendous player, is the fact he had the ability to put the puck in the net.
I’m going to answer the question with a collective reply.  I think we all have to find a way to get one more past Niemi and not leave it on Dany Heatley’s shoulders.  But he does have to find a way to put the puck in the net, especially on the power-play.  That’s what he’s here for.  That’s what we believe he can do.  I believe he will get that done as the series goes on.

Q.  Maybe some losses you feel like you want to revamp everything.  I get the sense the practice was short, couple things you worked on, but really there isn’t a sense of you needing to change a whole lot.
COACH McLELLAN:  There’s some areas of the game that we definitely have to improve on.  When you look at our faceoffs, we were the better team as far as winning and losing them.  But we certainly weren’t the better team as far as execution.  It’s an area of the game we have to improve on.
I think we can get a little bit more traffic in front of Niemi.  Certainly on the power-play, we worked hard for the puck, created some chances, but you he saw a lot of them.  There’s another area we have to improve on.  When you look at the transition game that Chicago has, when you’re feeding it, what I mean by that, if we’re Chicago’s sixth skater at that time, it can be extremely dangerous.  We’ve got to find a way to manage the puck a little bit better, especially in the second period.

Q.  Do you like what Heatley is doing, his movement, the defense, the overall game?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, when you look — I guess we’re talking about Dany in particular.  He got a little banged up in one of the series.  He’s worked his way through it now.  I think he’s not injured anymore.  He’s not hurt anymore.  He’s getting his legs underneath him.
The stat isn’t a real encouraging one.  The fact he had some real good looks at the net the other night, a shooter like him, it’s eventually going to go in.  I think he ended up five or six shots on goal.  There’s some good offenses with his offensive part the game.  Defensively they’ve been quite trustworthy throughout the playoffs.  We expect that to continue.

Q.  Nobody would turn down a zero penalties game.  If you look at that from a distance, I’m sure you like your discipline.  But do you think maybe there’s an indication you could have been harder on them, more aggressive?
COACH McLELLAN:  No, I don’t look at it that way at all.  When we look at the tape, when we had opportunities to be physical, we were.  When we had to contain, use positioning and proper sticks, we were.  There’s not many nights that team’s kept to two goals.  Then when you look at the penalties, the situation, I thought we’ve been very disciplined throughout the playoffs.  I turn on that NHL.com, listen to it, all the hockey pundits out there are absolutely shocked the Sharks didn’t take a penalty.  I know Paul Devorski and Brad Watson didn’t sit down and use their 2,300 games of experience and sit there and say, Tonight is going to be the night where we’re not going to give them a penalty.
It doesn’t work that way.  They are some of the best officials in the world.
I’m proud that our team can continue to play with a very disciplined style of game.

Q.  Todd, Dan Boyle is playing about 27 minutes a night for you.  What does he bring?  Seems like a guy, if you had your way, you could play 60.
COACH McLELLAN:  I think if Danny had his way, he’d play 60 as well.  He’s that competitive.  There’s some characters that you’re unable to see through the blind eye, and that’s the locker room.  That’s his competitiveness.  You might see that in his game.  The fire in his eyes and in his belly in the locker room, the ability to grab people, take people with them as he’s competing, he’s very, very strong in that area.  There’s a real resilience to his game, not only the ability to bounce back, but to play the longer shifts, to get caught on the ice when he’s tired.  He competes hard in that area.
Then obviously all his skills:  power-play, moving the puck, vision, all that type of stuff.  So we’re really happy that we have him on our hockey club and wouldn’t want to be playing against him.

Q.  In the last round, Chicago played Dustin Byfuglien, was a factor because of what he did in front.  Yesterday, he scores about a 35-foot slapshot.  Was his shot something that was ever addressed?
COACH McLELLAN:  It was.  Before the series, we addressed the team collectively, Chicago, what they think they might throw at us, what their strengths are.  Then we look at some individuals, break down their games.  Certainly one of the assets that we felt Dustin had was a quick release and a very good shot.  He’s an extremely strong man, so he can shoot the puck.  He reminds me a little of Dany Heatley.  He can shoot the puck with people draped on him.  His goal last night, no one was around him.  He is strong enough to get it away.

Q.  You’ve been carrying seven defensemen.  Is that something you’re going to be sticking to?
COACH McLELLAN:  The good thing is we have another 36 hours to decide what we want to do with our lineup.  I thought the seven defensemen that competed for us last night did a pretty admirable job.  There wasn’t one real weak link.  If we do choose to go that way, we feel comfortable with it.

Q.  Were any other defensive adjustments you’re considering?  The way the Chicago forwards get active back-checking, more to prevent some of the odd-man rushes?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, we just played a series against Detroit.  You know, if you take Detroit, San Jose and Chicago, I think all three teams are very similar.  They play the same way.  So we’re well-equipped.  We’ve had that round of experience against a team that plays like this.  Where they become a very dangerous team is when Keith Seabrook, Campbell, even Hjalmarsson gets active in the rush.  It quickly becomes, instead of a three-on-two, it can become a four-on-two, even a five-on-two.  They’re very active.  We have to be very aware of that.  Their first goal last night was a direct result of that.  They activated their D man, joined the rush and it cost us.

Q.  Can you talk about the pros and cons of using seven defensemen in a game.
COACH McLELLAN:  It varies on how you’re looking at it.  One, you have to look at the lineup that you’re playing against.  Do we prefer to play a set of forwards, left winger, center, and right winger on that fourth line or would we like to move one of our people in and out of there.  You have to look at how much matching is going on in the series.  You have to look at the ability of your defensemen to play against certain players on their team, their lineup.  Wallin is getting healthy enough or is healthy enough to play.  He’s a very big body.  He helps in that area a lot.
There’s a number of factors that come into play.  We’ll make our decision based on who they play and what we feel comfortable with.

Q.  Todd, I know plus-minus can be misleading.  Joe’s number jumps out.  Is it misleading or does it need to come down a little bit?
COACH McLELLAN:  That needs to come down a little bit.  We’re going to probably put the first two series behind us.  We won, it’s over with.  To end up on the back end of two is something that we didn’t plan for obviously.  We’d like to change that.
Again, we can’t just talk Joe.  We have to talk a line, we have to talk a group of five or six, the goaltender included.  I do think we can be better.

Q.  The adversity you faced in the Colorado series, the same situation losing the first one at home, does any of that help you now or the team knowing you’ve been in this position before?
COACH McLELLAN:  Well, it can’t hurt us.  But what I will say is this isn’t Colorado, this is Chicago.  So it’s a completely different team and monster, if you will.  The ability to overcome is going to become very important.  Obviously we’re behind in the series.  We expect our players to rebound.
I felt we played better in Game 1 last night against Chicago than we played in Game 1 against Colorado.  You know, it seems so long ago already.  It’s been almost a month since we played that first game.  We’ve got to live in the moment and try to find a way to overcome this one.

Q.  45 shots last night.  Vast majority of them good shots.  Would you take that number and feel if you had that every game that you would come out pretty good?
COACH McLELLAN:  Yes.  You know, simple answer is yes.  We feel that we could.  Niemi did what he was supposed to do.  He made some tremendous saves.
I did address some of our concerns earlier in regards to a net presence, finding second and third opportunities, making him scramble a little bit more will be a goal of ours.  I’m sure it will be a goal of theirs.  Every coach talks about it now.  It’s a not a secret.  It’s not like we’re reinventing the game to do that.