May 16 morning skate quotes: Anaheim

Teemu Selanne, on the possibility that this is his last NHL game:
Well it’s obviously something that you know, but that’s not the focus. This is a big game. It’s funny how it works, we were down 2-0 in this series. If somebody would have told us that there would be a Game 7, we would take it. Then you’re up 3-2, you don’t want it. That’s how it goes. Obviously we all know the situation and it’s going to be exciting.

Selanne, on his emotions before Game 7:
It’s obviously a little bit more exciting. You’re body feels different for sure. But that’s how you create energy and passion and then at game time it’s going to come out.

Selanne, on his pre-game nap:
Oh I don’t know about that. [Reporter: No nap today?] I always have a little nap, but the older you get you don’t need it anymore.

Selanne, on receiving messages from former teammates:
Yeah, a little bit, but I try not to read them.

Selanne, on saying something to the team before the game:
I don’t know. These situations, I don’t think you need much. A lot of times like this situation, less is more. It’s all about just playing your best. That’s what everybody is going to think and the approach is to get that out. You go from there.

Selanne, on the team saying they need to win for the coaching staff and front office:
Obviously we want to do this for ourselves. I don’t want to put any individual more than another. This is for us. We can enjoy this. It’s very special.

Selanne, on playing in a Game 7:
Obviously it’s very special. You know that it’s live or die. Like I said, you have to enjoy this. Obviously, we know what the situation is. Just do it, very simple.

Selanne, on when he scored the game-winning goal in a Game 7:
The game winner is always big. Obviously every little kid dreams about scoring the game winner in Game 7. But you want to win, it doesn’t matter who scores those goals. You just have to find a way to get the job done. That’s pretty much all that matters.

Selanne, on this year’s team being more confident than last year’s:
Absolutely those experiences that we’ve faced before I really believe are going to help us right now. It’s just a matter of executing at the right time and try to take advantage of those chances that we have.

Selanne, on taking the focus off of himself:
That’s why I didn’t talk with the media yesterday. I didn’t want anybody talking too much about some player’s last game or something. It’s not about that. It’s all distractions that shouldn’t be here. The focus is going to be this game and only this game.

Ryan Getzlaf, on there being something special about the morning of Game 7:
No, it feels like we’re here going through the motions the same way we always do, enjoying ourselves. We’re excited though for tonight.

Getzlaf, on whether he feels nervous:
Nope, not any more. You know what? I’m excited. It’s an opportunity for our team, obviously, to move on and put somebody else behind us. That’s obviously our goal tonight.

Getzlaf, on putting an emphasis on getting the first goal:
We don’t want to put too much emphasis on it, because if it doesn’t happen you have a big letdown. Obviously we know the importance of it, but it’s more important to get off to a good start. We come out to a good start and play our game the way we can, that’s fine.

Getzlaf, on the key to the game:
It’s about playing hockey and playing our game. We’ve had a lot of success throughout this season in big games when we’ve just stuck to our system and played our thing. That’s what our game plan is going out.

Getzlaf, on whether experience helps to keep them calm:
It can only help. When you’ve been in these situations it helps you relax, play your game, do the things properly and not overthink everything. That’s obviously what we’re going to try to portray to our group here.

Getzlaf, whether the Ducks are motivated by their exit from last year’s playoffs:
It’s big. Last year was a big letdown for us after the season that we had. We learned a lot out of that and obviously going into that Game 6 against Dallas, I thought our guys did a great job of just sticking together and doing the things that we need to do and hopefully we can carry that into tonight.

Getzlaf, on what he might say to the team before the game:
There is no big secret, that’s the thing. I could say anything I want in the room. I could stand up and holler and say everything. But everybody knows that it’s tough. There’s no big standup speech that needs to happen in a Game 7. Everybody knows what’s at stake here and we just have to go out and play.

Getzlaf, on his line battling against Anze Kopitar’s line:
It’s been great. Its’ been an outstanding battle, good clean battle. There is no cheap stuff, that kind of thing. It’s just a hard fought game every night.

Getzlaf, on whether Anaheim will win if his line can outperform Los Angeles’ top players:
I feel if our team does. Our team has got to outplay that team. They’ve got a lot of depth over there and so do we. I think that that’s what we’ve thrived on all season, is having our groups play the way we can and we expect that tonight out of everybody.

Bruce Boudreau, on having Daniel Winnik on a line with Mathieu Perreault and Teemu Selanne:
It’s just a little tweak. Maroon played with Palmieri and Bonino in the American league when they were the best line in the league and they’ve had moments up here that have been very good. [I’m] just trying to create a little bit of chemistry. I think Winnie is a better skater than Paddy and might be able to be a little bit better defensively on that line. Depending on how the game goes, lines might change an awful lot tonight.

Boudreau, on how he feels before Game 7:
I’m excited. Hey, this is Game 7 and it’s the only game in town tonight. I think for hockey people, it’s a real exciting time. It’s a real exciting time for Southern California. You either fear it or embrace it. We want to embrace it. We want to go after it.

Boudreau, on what this game means to the rivalry with Los Angeles:
I think that either team and either fan base that wins tonight will have bragging rights until next year. There’s no doubt. Knowing the fan bases and the teams a little bit, they’ll hold it over the other team. There are no lines drawn in the sand here. It’s like you’re either an LA King or you’re an Anaheim Duck. There’s no ‘Well I like both teams, I don’t really care who wins.’ None of that, it’s going to be one or the other. And I think the whole southern part of the state is in this. When you’re drawing up rivalries and you’re drawing up ‘Jeez I wish the Kings would play the Ducks in a series.’ You want a seven game series, with the home team winning. I think that’s the best way to have it.

Boudreau, on what he won’t do in Game 7 based on previous experiences:
My job is to not act around the team like I’m nervous. I don’t want to change my routine and then all of them say ‘Oh jeez the coach is really nervous, we must be nervous.’ Trying to keep the same routines going with what we did this morning in the pre-game skate and the little bit of video we showed and the little meetings we had. We don’t to change, to make it any special. I don’t want to sit here and think I’m inventing the wheel and say ‘Bruce you have to do something outlandish today to win this game.’ Every game has basically been a one-goal game. You just have to go out there and play just as hard as we’ve done and hopefully we get the breaks and not them.

Boudreau, on thinking about this possibly being Selanne’s last game:
No not once, to me anyway. I mean the guys might talk about it. I don’t know when I’m not there. But I haven’t mentioned it and Teemu hasn’t mentioned it and anybody else hasn’t mentioned it.

Boudreau, on Boston and Pittsburgh playing tentative in their home Game 7s:
Were you in our meeting? [Reporter: No.] It was Colorado also was the very same way and so was San Jose. All the higher seeded teams seemed to very tentative, so we talked a little bit about that.