Okay, we’re going to take it one game at a time here. Because we don’t want to have our backs against the wall, because then it would be a “do or die” situation.
It’s playoff time, which means you can throw the regular season records out the window. For it’s the second season, and the loser goes home.
It’s not hard to get up for these games, because this is what you dream about when you’re a kid playing the game. The pressure heats up this time of year, but we’ve faced adversity before, so it shouldn’t be a problem for the guys in this dressing room.
We have to be careful of our opponent, however, because they’ve been playing “playoff intensity” games toward the end of the regular season, and I’m sure they’re going to be fired up, especially in their building.
We have to protect our home floor/ice, because nobody’s going to come into “our house” and beat us. That’s why we need our fans’ support, because they’re like a sixth man/skater for us. After all, we have the best fans in the world.
I wouldn’t say the next game is a “must win”, but we don’t want to give our opponents any life. Because as a series goes on, and the longer you let a team hang around, you’re playing with fire. The clinching game, of course, is always the hardest one to win.
We have to stay healthy, and get the bounces, because it’s a game of inches and you have to score ugly sometimes to win in the playoffs. But then again, the playoffs are all about defense, because if you look back at all the championship teams, they all played great defense.
Whether or not our star player plays after his upper body injury, I don’t know. He’s going to be a “game time decision.” But he wants to play.
My job as coach is to get these guys ready to play, but they’ve done it all year and they’ve been waiting all season for this. So I think you’ll see us focus in, because we have all summer to rest.
The only thing that matters is a championship and this is what we’ve talked about since training camp. We played all year for home court/ice advantage, because everyone knows you always want a Game 7 in your building.
Yeah, we lost a game, but it’s a seven-game series so I don’t think the fans should panic because I know the players in that lockerroom aren’t panicking. Sure, there’s some frustration, but we just have to make some plays.
I think our goalie will be fine, but I’m sure there were a couple goals he’d like to have back. We just need to eliminate mistakes and not beat ourselves, because against this team, they’ll make you pay.
I don’t think we’re looking beyond this series, just because all you guys in the media are. We know we have business to take care of, and we intend to do that as quickly as possible.
I just want to contribute, and if that means coming off the bench, then that’s what I’ll do because I’m all about winning. Everyone wants to play but I just have to be ready when my number is called. Because the coach is the coach and he makes those decisions and you have to respect that.
Our star players need to play like star players, because in the playoffs it’s the dirty work that gets the job done, and I haven’t seen enough grit from some of our guys. But it’s going to be a long series, so I’m sure sooner or later they’ll break out.
I don’t want to comment on the officiating because that’ll cost me some money, but you all saw what happened, so draw your own conclusions. But if that’s the way they’re going to call it in this series, then I think the league might want to take a look at it.
I know some of our guys don’t have a lot of playoff experience, but sometimes once the games get going, that doesn’t really matter, and besides, maybe our young guys don’t know any better and they’ll just play on adrenalin and emotion.
You know, we didn’t just “back in” to the playoffs. We feel we belong and if the media and the fans don’t give us any respect, than we can just take an “us against the world” mentality and maybe that’ll just galvanize us.
You can never take any team lightly in the playoffs. We need to hold serve at home, because we don’t want to go to their place tied 1-1, because at that point we’re just making it harder on ourselves. Then again, our guys have been crawling out of foxholes all season so I’m sure they can handle it again.
In a playoff series, the next game is always the most important one.
We don’t pay attention to all that talk about great individual seasons or setting a new franchise record for wins. That’s for all of you to talk about. All we care about in this room is winning a championship.
The playoffs are a grind and the first one to 16 wins and you have to have some luck along the way and win some overtime games and above all, stay healthy.
Why? Because it’s playoff time -- and they said so.
No comments:
Post a Comment