On whether anything in particular stands out with Pittsburgh’s power play, or whether the success is based heavily on personnel:
Nothing particular, no. There’s only about four or five goals difference in the two teams there. Not much. Personnel is obvious.
On what he took away from Pittsburgh’s win in Anaheim:
As they said after the game, they weren’t happy with their game in Colorado, and they were happy with their game last night.
On whether the challenges from playing back-to-back nights are overblown:
Yeah, it’s overrated. Too much talk about it. Everyone plays between 12 and, what, 20 [back-to-backs] in the league, probably? It’s been a part of the schedule forever. There’s nothing to it. I mean, when you come out here, it’s what I said. It’s a 40-minute ride from Anaheim to Los Angeles. A lot of guys are way better the second night than they are the first night. The key in back-to-backs is what’s coming into the back-to-back or what’s after the back-to-back. I mean, you look at the last time we played Pittsburgh, and then who was it, Detroit back-to-back? Well, we played in Philly the game before with 11 forwards, so the key in back-to-backs is you need some balance. Pittsburgh, if you looked at their minutes lat night, you’re going to see a balance in minutes. And if you can’t utilize six defensemen and you can’t utilize four lines, then it will get you in the back-to-back, and I’ve said that this year. That rip was a classic example where we were shorthanded, and it might not have hurt us the first night, but it hurt us as the trip goes on, always.
On whether he manages players’ rest and practice schedules differently at this time of the year:
Yeah, I think the days that we aren’t playing, for sure. It’s the communication and the trust with them and seeing what they want or seeing what they need. At the same time, some of the players who aren’t playing very much, make sure that they’re not losing conditioning. They may not be skating, but make sure their fitness level is up, and there are guys – and I don’t like it – but guys who are only playing seven or eight minutes. That means they’re not getting enough, either, in terms of what the machine needs. It’s a balancing act.
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