Pre-game comments ahead of Thursday night’s game versus Tampa Bay.
Mike Babcock
Brian Boyle says he’s good to go. How important is he in the entire scheme of things here as he solidifies the fourth line.
Babcock: He’s been huge for us. We acquired him for a reason. Leadership, he’s played a tonne of playoff games, he’s a good voice in the room and on the bench. A good, calming composure about him. I think it’s been real important for our group that way. As important as his play is, maybe that part is even more important. But he’s been excellent.
How do you feel the players are reacting to the chance to close it out here and the pressure associated with that?
Babcock: We’ve got a game today. We’re getting ready to play. We didn’t play well, didn’t have much energy the other night. We’re excited to play. It’s a great opportunity for us. We earned the right to be in these games and we look forward to playing Tampa.
How aware are you of all of the various scenarios in which you can clinch?
Babcock: I’m a pretty smart guy.
As the games get heavier at this time of year, how effective and useful is a guy like Leo Komarov and the type of game that he plays?
Babcock: He’s real important for us, obviously. We have a lot of young guys. Young and heavy don’t tend to go together. You learn to get heavy on your stick, you learn to be strong in battles over time as you get stronger in your career through the summers. Leo is a guy who is effective for us. He’s ultra-competitive. The bigger the games are, the harder he plays. He’s an important guy for us. Real important.
Do you expect Soshnikov will be back before the end of the regular season?
Babcock: I don’t know the answer to that. Obviously, when we go out to skate, he’s not available. He tells me he’s feeling good, but I’ve heard lots of that before. Obviously, it’s important that our medical staff looks after our guys, and that’s why they don’t let coaches make those decisions.
Have you seen an uptick in Mitch’s play since he’s gotten over his illness?
Babcock: I thought he fit in good with our group last game – the whole bunch of us, not very good. But I think he seems to be doing better. He’s got his energy level back. He’s an important guy for us. He competes hard and is good with and without the puck. When he’s going, he can push a line.
What sort of challenge do you see in the Lightning here tonight?
Babcock: A good veteran team. They know how to play. They always play hard. They’re a proud group. They’ve been in the playoffs. They expect to be real good. It’s like anybody at this time of year that has a chance. You can smell it, sniff it. You want to be in. They’re going to dig in. It’ll be a good game tonight.
What’s it like as a coach when you watch a group like this – a very young group – starting to take what you’re trying to teach them, putting it together, and getting good at it?
Babcock: Obviously, with any group, you’ve got to find a way to play that is going to lead to being successful. We’ve played our kids. We haven’t fluctuated from that. Even when we made trades, we still played our kids. We play our kids and put them in all important situations. If we’re going to get it done, they’ve got to be a big part of it. I think the growth of the group has been good individually and collectively. We do a lot of good things lots of nights. We’re silly sometimes. I think we’ve been pretty good in this last run here. A couple of nights we didn’t have very much energy and we weren’t as good. Other than that, we’ve played pretty well.
Do you and your staff as coaches sit back and take a real sense of accomplishment?
Babcock: I think probably this summer over a spiced rum by the lake, or something like that, you have a chance to do that. In the mean time, we’ve got a game today.
Brian Boyle
Are you good to go tonight?
Boyle: Yeah, I feel good. We’ll see, but I’m feeling good. If it was up to me, yeah.
What’s the opportunity tonight? What’s this like? It’s an elimination game for your former team and you guys can clinch.
Boyle: We can clinch. It’s important. Also, we’re coming off a game where we weren’t particularly happy with ourselves. It’s a good opportunity for us. We’re now in game 80, and it’s a good opportunity for us. You set up goals at the beginning of the year and pretty much every team wants to be in the playoffs. To get the checkmark next to your name and cross it off the list is a good feeling.
Is learning how to close something that happens organically? That killer instinct, type of thing — do you sense that in the room?
Boyle: Yeah, I think that’s just overblown. Killer instinct, come on. It’s a great opportunity. We should be really excited about this. I think it’s been six months of work for these guys. Me coming in here, I’ve been working — whether it be with this team or not – for the same thing all year long, too, and trying to get better as a player. It’s a long-term goal. It takes a lot of work, a lot of hard nights sometimes, and a few disappointments. When you get to this opportunity, you’ve done so many good things, you better believe in yourself. I think we do.
It takes balance, as well. How important have the four lines been in terms of contributing and allowing the next line to go out and do their thing successfully?
Boyle: Everybody wants to contribute. Everyone has a role and an opportunity to have an impact on the game. I think everybody is taking their role seriously. Everybody wants to make a big impact. Guys want to continue to get better and better, which is great to see. We’re progressing as a club, I think, which is really great to see. A lot of people look at times year-to-year, but you can definitely improve during the year. Like I said before, you learn some lessons and you have some ups and downs during the season. As a group, I know our line wants to keep contributing and getting better and better. If we do that, it’s going to make our team better. I think every line has that mindset.
Was there any conversation about you coming back into the game the other night, or was it an automatic no?
Boyle: That was just kind of, for me, whether I was going to be able to help the club or not. I really didn’t think I was going to. I didn’t think, with how it was going, I was going to be able to help us win a game or have a good impact on the game. Those are tough. I think that’s probably the first time I’ve done that, but sometimes it’s how it has to go. Obviously, you speak with the professionals and they can guide you and you trust them. Fortunate for me and for us, we have a great group of those guys. Tht’s just how it goes sometimes. Again, it’s one game of 82 and there are some important games [coming up]. It’s kind of based on a number of things.
Was there any initial concern it could be longer term than it ended up being?
Boyle: Not really, no. I don’t think so.
Connor Brown
First of all: The opportunity to get close to 20, and now you’ve got your locker mate in Mitch Marner that close as well. How important is that? The individual goals that go along with the team goals and how both have gone together this season to make it as good as it has been for the Leafs?
Brown: I think, with how big the games are and how tight the race is, it’s been good for us to put individual goals on the backburner and let them take care of themselves. Just play the way we’ve been playing and they’ll take care of themselves.
The big guy, Auston, on the verge of 40 goals. Put that into perspective. Just incredible, isn’t it? 19 years of age.
Brown: That’s crazy, especially with how tight the league is nowadays and how good everyone is defensively. To score 40 is a huge feat. I’m sure he’ll do it in many seasons to come here.
Head on a swivel, always keeping your eyes open… what is it like to have Ovechkin come in on you the other night?
Brown: Yeah, I was getting rubbed out and I saw the big man coming and there was nowhere to go. You just kind of absorb it. He plays hard and I felt like that was a clean hit, so nothing wrong with it. That’s the way it goes.
People talk about the rookie wall, but you guys have been producing all season long. Has there been a key to your preparation to make sure that you’ve still been producing to this point?
Brown: I think the veterans in this room have done a good job of really giving us the confidence to play game in and game out. With the coaches, they go along with that, really just being able to entrust us and let us play. I feel like we’ve grown because of it.
How important is rest on off days at this point in the season?
Brown: It’s massive. It’s a big grind in this league, playing every other night. When you take an off-day, you’ve got to take full advantage of it. That’s what we did yesterday.
Can you compare the NHL schedule to when you were making deep runs with the Otters, or is it different?
Brown: It’s much different just because in junior you’re often playing on weekends. You’ll have the whole week off and play Friday-Saturday, or Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Just playing every other game after game is taxing. It’s a grind, but they do such a good job taking care of us on and off the ice here that we feel fresh.
Matt Hunwick
What have you liked about the third pairing that has been consistent all year long but that has really stabilized things from the back end the last few weeks?
Hunwick: We’ve been playing pretty well since the start of the New Year here. Trying and be a consistent, solid pairing that the coaches can rely on. Obviously, I think we’ve been kind of changing up the pairs a little bit throughout the game just based on the situation and who we’re playing against, but I think we feel very comfortable playing with one another at this point.
You look at him. He’s a big man, but he can get there when he has to. His foot speed is deceptive, don’t you think?
Hunwick: I think so. I’m sure it’s surprised a lot of other people just based on his size and how big of a man he is. When he needs to skate and get the red line, or make a play in the D-zone, he can certainly do it.
Your skates, your stick… how important is that to being effective when the forecheck is on in order to get the puck out as efficiently as possible?
Hunwick: Part of it is getting back quick. The other part is reading the forecheck and what plays might be available. Sometimes it’s just taking a hit and making a little pop pass. Every situation is a little bit different, but skating is a huge attribute for me, and I need to make sure my feet are moving on a nightly basis.
Challenging power play tonight in Tampa. Given what you guys have been able to do on the penalty kill, how important is the PK to keeping you guys active and getting that much-needed point and moving from there?
Hunwick: Our special teams have been really good all year long. Our power play has been in the top five it seems like all season, and our PK top ten. It’s a big part of our success this year. Obviously, this time of year it’s a lot more critical. I think every penalty, every power play is that much more crucial because it seems like the penalties aren’t called nearly as much. You have to be ready when your name is called to go out there.
