June 1 postgame quotes: Chicago

Joel Quenneville, on using second opportunities and deflections to beat Jonathan Quick:
“Yeah, that first shot against him is tough. You need traffic. You need a deflection. He finds a way to find pucks. “I think the volume and traffic of shots is the only way to get to this guy.”

Quenneville, on using puck possession to keep Los Angeles from finding its game:
“I certainly liked our start. I thought we did some good things playing in their zone, make them play in their own end. It’s easier said than done. Everyone is going to get their turn. But I still liked the way we played, the contribution we had from all the lines. The D was active as well. We’re pleased.”

Quenneville, on Dave Bolland:
“Bolly is fine. They’re on there for the one goal. One of those plays where you talk about everything going your way, then all of a sudden it’s in our net. I think Bolly is progressing in the playoffs. Looks like he’s finding a little bit more each way. We’re going to need him.”

Quenneville, on whether he has to remind the team to “stay with it,” or whether they know it:
“We mention it. But they knew that. We liked the way we played. We exited the bench with a positive approach, keep playing the same way, stick with it.”

Quenneville, on the Bickell / Toews / Hossa line:
“I liked it. It was efficient. A lot of puck time in offensive zone shifts. They’re dangerous off the rush. Defensively down low in our end, a lot of kill plays as well.”

Quenneville, on the benefit of playing with ample zone time in the first period:
“Trying to get their D to turn or play in their end is something we want to establish. Offensive zone possession is something that you’re making them play in their end, you can wear them down, you get chances, shots. Hopefully you get some power plays off of it. It’s easier said than done, like we just mentioned. They’re going to get their turn in our end.”

Quenneville, on what Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp have meant to the team:
“You can talk about those guys. They scored big goals for us today. We like their consistency, their production. Today you could talk about every players’ contribution to the team game. That’s
what we’re going to need and what we look forward to.”

Quenneville, on the challenge of dealing with frustration after the first period:
“Our approach and demeanor was fine. It’s a long hockey game. You keep doing that, eventually things should go your way. Whether you get a lucky break or bounce, sometimes that’s what we’re going to need. But let’s make sure that the more pucks and the more bodies that go there, hopefully you get the right bounce.”

Quenneville, on using a rebound and a deflection to beat Jonathan Quick:
“He sees the puck. He’s going to be tough. He challenges. He comes out. It’s the next one you have to hope for. You want to make sure he has to look through something to find it. Nice pass-off, middle drive. Nice entry as well, their D are activated. We know if he sees it, we’re going to have a hard time.

Patrick Sharp, on getting traffic in front of Jonathan Quick:
“Yeah, he’s a good goalie. We all know that. He makes saves. He makes saves when he sees the puck, when he doesn’t see the puck. Anytime you can get those second and third chances, that’s the idea. We were fortunate with a couple goals in the second period.”

Sharp, on his goal:
“Started in our zone with a quick pass by Handzus. Got out of our end clean. Attacked on the rush. I said on the ice, we got six D that can all skate, can all make plays. Johnny Oduya made a great play to activate and jump up. That’s something that every team works on in practice, shoot off that pad and go into the net for the rebound. I was fortunate it came right to me.”

Sharp, on whether the team has a strategy to “pepper” Jonathan Quick with shots:
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s the be all, end all of our game strategy. You want to send the puck to the net whenever you can. We don’t get caught up too much in statistics, shots on net. As I mentioned earlier, he’s going to make those saves on the outside. It’s getting into the inside. It’s out-working their defensemen to get those second and third opportunities. Quick is a good goalie. Try not to talk about him too much. Just focus on what we can control out there and find a way to beat him.”

Sharp, on any difference on the attack between the first and second periods:
“I’m not sure anything was really different. First period, we came out, we were skating well, generated a lot of pucks on net. What I mentioned earlier, didn’t get a lot to the inside. I thought weskated well all three periods. Seems like when you score that first goal, the crowd gets into it, you have the momentum going. Hossa scored quickly after. All in all we can be happy with the 60 minutes we played, but we know it’s going to be tougher as the series goes on. Every series we’ve been a
part of gets more physical and more difficult as it goes on.”

Sharp, on whether the three straight wins over Detroit tightened the team’s game:
“Every game is tight out there. There’s not a whole lot of room. It’s tough to get to the net, to get scoring chances. We did our best to put that series behind us against the Wings. It was a huge Game 7. We felt great after the game. We tried to carry that momentum into this series and start fast. Feels good to get that first win. But as I mentioned earlier, there’s a long way to go.

Sharp, on whether there was a challenge in continuing the intensity following a Game 7:
“Maybe a little bit. I mentioned earlier, every series gets more physical and intense as it goes along. Both teams played a strong game for Game 1. Weren’t a whole lot of scoring chances from both sides. Probably going to see a lot more of that going forward. Game 7 is a special night, whatever building it’s in. Being here a couple nights ago, that’s the pace we want to play at, that’s where we want
to get to, and I’m sure we will.”

Sharp, on the quick turnaround for Game 2:
“Yeah, it’s tough. It’s probably not ideal. Both teams are in the same situation. So there’s no excuse there. It’s that time of year where you feel like you’re playing every day, whether you got a day off or two days off. I don’t think it’s an issue from our side.”

Duncan Keith, on whether there was any frustration on trailing despite the shot discrepancy:
“Not really. Obviously it’s not the score we’d like after a first period, but we knew there was a lot of hockey left to be played. We were happy with the way we played other than that goal. But thought we did a good job just sticking with it, regrouping after that period, knowing that we had a pretty strong period. Just tried to keep going from that, stick with it.”

Keith, on the team’s transition out of its zone:
“Yeah, I think it’s something we talk about, trying to have good breakouts. I think it helps a lot when our forwards do a good job coming back supporting us, allowing us to make those short plays. L.A. is good at it. They’re a good forechecking team. They got a lot of big guys that get in there hard. It’s not easy.”

Keith, on Bolland’s late hit and the team’s play over the final minute of the game:
“Yeah, it was a great defensive play by Bolly. Obviously good of him to get up in the play, too, and create that power-play for us. You know, we were up by one goal. Just want to be smart with the puck. I thought we moved it around the way we wanted to there. Just trying to be a little conservative there, protect our lead.”

Keith, on Bryan Bickell’s play to set up Marian Hossa’s goal and his performance on that line:
“I think he’s been great. He’s been rock solid for us all playoffs long. I think any line that he’s on, because of his size, his physicality out there, he provides a lot of space for his linemates. He does a good job getting it on the forecheck for us. It was a nice pass by him to throw it back to me there. I had some time to walk it. He played a great game tonight. He’s been a big part of our offense and our physical play all season long, really.”

Keith, on the team’s experience:
“I think you can always use any little bit of experience to your advantage. I think L.A. has a lot of experience, too. I think everybody’s situation is different. In our situation we were with the lead there late in the game. We’ve had situations like that before. We’ve kept that lead. So it was good to see us keep it and stick with our game plan and just keep trying to be aggressive. You know, as much as experience helps you, you still have to go out there and execute and perform.”

Keith, on the quick turnaround for Game 2:
“Yeah, it’s the same both ways, right? So just have to try to take care of yourself, get the rest when you can. Obviously tonight would be ideal. But, you know, it’s back at it again. It’s going to be good in a way just to get back right at it, no time to think.”

-quotes courtesy of NHL Public Relations and ASAP Sports

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.