Quote Post

Sorry to post these so close to game time, but here are the quotes from yesterday, typed up in the order of interviews:

Darryl Smith on the difference between Games 1 and 2 and Game 3: Just the intensity part of it. I think (Tuesday) night we came out a little flat, and they got two kind of lucky goals. You don’t want to say lucky, they worked hard for them, but they got some bounces early. I think our team just has to really realize that it’s a long game; it’s 60 minutes for a reason. If there’s 50 minutes left in the game, it’s still a lot of time. We just have to really come out, and I think the first goal is huge.

On the third period of Game 3: I don’t know if there was really a drop-off, but I just, I don’t know what it was (Tuesday) night. But I think all the guys in the room know we have to play better if we’re going to win a championship. Everybody in the room knows it, coaches know it, players know it, trainers know it – everybody. We just have to come out with a better effort. In playoffs, it’s a 10-minute rule; win or lose, you enjoy it or dwell on it for 10 minutes, then you turn the page. So I think that’s what we have to keep doing.

On working around the Americans’ defense: I think we just have to move the puck a little bit quicker, and when the puck’s on our stick, shoot it right away. Instead of letting them get in the shooting lanes and things like that, we really just have to move it. The puck moves a lot quicker than a person, so if we can just move the puck and get guys to the net and crash the net hard, I’m sure we’ll get some goals like that.

On the Bucks’ defensive play: I think so far our defense has been all right. We’ve played pretty well, and to limit a team like this, with that many skill players to the amount of goals that we have allowed, I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job. But there’s always room for improvement, especially in playoffs. If we could shut them out every game, that’s our goal, but something that we really take pride in is our defense, and I think we really just have to keep working at it and keep talking down low – that really helps everybody.

On needing a win tonight: It’s huge. Either we’re one game away from elimination, or we tie the series back up. I think (tonight’s) going to be a really pivotal game, and I think everybody in the room knows it. We talked about it on the ice today in practice, and everybody just has to come ready to work. I think everybody knows the importance of the game. It would be a lot better having Game 5 here at home, too, tied up at 2 instead of being down 3-1, so I think that’s what everybody’s looking forward to.

Todd Griffith on whether the team’s intensity dropped in Game 3: Not really. Sometimes when they get those two quick goals, it’s a little hit to the ego, but we did come through, and we did try to get back into it, scoring a goal and guys were hitting and stuff like that. You run into those kind of games coming off a long road trip, but I think we’re going to be fine. We’re going to persevere these last two games (at home) and come out on top.

On how the Bucks can score in this series: Just get pucks to the net. The puck that came to the slot just happened to go in for me, so we’re going to need our defense to shoot more and get our big bodies in front of the net and get some screens and get some goals.

On whether the hostility between the teams will carry over: I hope so. You always want the intensity. It brings your heart rate up, and it helps out down the road when you come into the third period if you get guys fighting and guys playing the rough stuff. Usually, they’re the guys who are going to score the goals. I’m pretty sure it’s going to carry over. Obviously, me and (Mike) Salekin really don’t like each other too much, and that’s not just from playing here – we’ve hated each other for the last couple years. Everyone’s going to be into the game, everyone’s going to be hitting and trying to fight and play whatever they have to do. Fighting is part of the game, and if it happens out there, it happens, so it’s going to be a good one.

On winning Game 1 on the road: It’s huge when you go into a rink and steal a game. Obviously, it doesn’t really mean anything now that they’ve come in and beaten us in our rink. Right now, we’re on an even keel, and we’re just trying to take one game at a time. We’re going to play (tonight), and we’re going to win tonight, and then we’re going to play Saturday and hopefully win Saturday, then go into their rink, and we’ll have to steal one.

On the importance of winning tonight: It’s really important. Going down 3-1 is really tough, so winning (tonight) is really, really big for us. Our guys are ready, our guys have been working hard; we’ve gone over quite a few things, and I don’t see us losing (tonight). So we’re going to bear through it, and we’re going to come out on top.

Coach Ruskowski on working around the Americans’ defense: I think we have to be more conscientious when we get the puck back at the point. It doesn’t have to be a blistering slap shot; we just have to get the puck to the net. If it’s a wrist shot, then let’s do a wrist shot. If you have a chance to really wind up and crank it, then we wind up and crank it, shoot hard. But our point men have to be more conscientious; they have to shoot with their heads up, see where they’re shooting. Instead of burying their heads and just hoping it gets the puck to the net, we have to make sure it does get to the net.

On problems with the power play in Game 3: Our passing was off again. When we pass well, we play well, and when we don’t pass well, we struggle. We struggled last night because we didn’t make any good passes. If you want to have a good power play, or if you want to have a good breakout, that first has to be on the stick, it has to be handled, and everybody else has to play the right position to get the puck out and get it in the offensive zone. We didn’t pass very well last night. Every time we pass well, we play well, and every time we don’t, we struggle, and that’s what happened last night. It seems like we were always a step behind. Instead of going right after the guy, we hesitated, and by the time we decided to go, the puck was already going out and we were going in. That’s kind of bothersome, worrisome for me. I don’t know why they did that. They hesitated. They have to read and react quickly and make good passes.

On passing in the neutral zone: It’s crucial. A bad pass makes for a bad play, a good play makes for a good play. The flow is there, you’re forechecking well, everything just falls into place when you pass well. You look at the NHL, you watch their games and how they pass and how they can control the pass when they get it, and it seems like guys are always in position – boom, boom, boom, they’re making offensive chances to score. When you make bad passes, you seem like you’re in your own zone more than you should be, and that was kind of the scenario (Tuesday). We had chances last game, we just couldn’t bury them. When they had chances, they buried them. They’re just a good hockey team.

On the effect of the Americans scoring twice early: It definitely took away from our game plan, no question about that. We had to change game plans and try to now instead of making sure we do something, we had to try to create some offense. So it took us out of our game plan. Those two goals didn’t help at all. It’s tough to score against a team that’s as good as Allen, so we’ll just have to make sure we’re more conscientious (tonight).

On how the defense is playing so far this series: We’ve got to win the 1-on-1 battles in our zone. We have to win them in their zone, too, but it’s crucial to win the 1-on-1 battles in our zone. We say to the guys, ‘If you win the little battles, you’ll win the war,’ and we didn’t win the little battles anywhere on the ice. We did sometimes, but not on a consistent basis, and we have to win those little battles. We have to win those little battles.

On the Bucks’ mentality going into those battles: If I knew the answer to that, I’d probably bottle it and be a millionaire. I don’t know what their mentality is. Their mentality is, ‘This is what we’re supposed to do, let’s do it every time,’ but when they get away from it, I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe they’re thinking something different from what I’m thinking. Maybe they’re trying to take away a pass or block this, but they should be doing this – this is what they’re taught to do. Sometimes I walk away kind of scratching my head and go, ‘Huh. That’s not what I taught them.’ It’s frustrating as a coach.

On trying to get on the same page in Wednesday’s practice: We changed around a couple things, and hopefully it’ll work. We’ll see. But again, you can teach it, but they have to execute the game plan. The game plan is what they have to do, they have to execute it to the best of their ability, knowing what they have to do and how to do it. So we changed things up a little bit, and I said, ‘When you have a second today, just go over what we did today, what we went over and what I taught you. That way, when it comes to the game, you’ll be so prepared it will come naturally to you.’

On tonight’s starting goalie: I really haven’t made that decision. I’m really not totally convinced what I’m going to do yet. I really haven’t, I don’t know.

On tonight’s game significance for the entire season: We’ve fought adversity all year. Just look at the weight chart. We had to put another weight chart because we had so many guys come in and leave, either hurt, in here for a short while or gone somewhere else… it’s been a very trying year. We’ve gone through a lot. And we’re going to have to persevere. Knowing that we’re down two games to one, we’re going to have to persevere, come back and win the hockey game (tonight). All I ever ask my players is to give me their best. Do our system and give me your best. If the best isn’t good enough, then we’ll walk away saying, ‘Oh well, we have to improve for next year.’ Our good players that are going to be healthy staying here all year. You take our No. 1 goalie away, (Lance) Monych leaves, bring another goalie in here and he wants to go back; it was just a year that the good Lord really trusted my patience. He really did. It was a difficult year, a lot of ups and downs, and we persevered. We just have to persevere again.

On getting a win at home: It was big (Tuesday); if we could have won that, momentum would have come to (tonight). But it’s huge. Our fans have been there with us through thick and thin. They saw us play badly, they saw us play well, they saw us play inconsistently, and they saw us play consistently. We just need their help. Right now, we need their help. The more we have in here, the louder they are, the better we play, the more consistent we are, and the more energy we have. It’s a big part of our success having people come in here. I sure wish we had won (Tuesday) because then I know momentum would have built for (tonight’s) game, but I just hope people will realize that we need their help and come out and support us.

On the amateur situation: I'm waiting for a number right now on a defenseman. We'll see. Hopefully get that number soon. He's an American kid, so I don't have to worry about visas and all that kind of stuff. So I'm just waiting right now to get a text message to get a number and see if we can bring him in.