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Monday, April 26, 2010

Ovechkin speaks after morning skate in Montreal


washcaps: WATCH: Two Man Advantage Game 6 Preview from Morning Skate in MTL: Ovi, Bruce, Martin, LaPierre, Knuble

via Dan Rosen, NHL.COM:

Alexander Semin was the only player not to skate this morning. Have you seen him today and is he OK?
"Yeah, he's my roommate, so he's here. He's fine."

Is he upset about the goal drought he's been going through in this series?
"I think he's not upset about how he plays; he has a chance to score goals, you can see that. Every player who scores goals has a period of time when you can't score goals. When you score one goal all the pressure in your mind is going to be OK. Last game he had pretty good chances and he didn't score. I hope today he's going to."

Was Bruce (Boudreau) calm, cool and himself yesterday? Because he was pretty hot after the game Friday.
"I think everybody was pretty hot after the game. Everybody was a little bit upset and a little bit disappointed, but it's the playoffs. We got a lead, 3-1, and still didn't win the series. Last game, by the 10-minute mark, we had played terrible. It was our worst 10 minutes in a long time."

You guys must feel confident coming here, given your success in Games 3 and 4 in this building?
"Yeah, we love playing here. It's a great building and the pressure is not on us. When we play at home we want to show the crowd what we can do and maybe we don't get into the game and need a couple of minutes to wake up and make some good plays. Here we know it's going to be a hard time for us, but it'll be all right."

Do you feel like you've unlocked some of the mysteries of the power play to get that part of the game untracked?
"We know and all understand that in playoffs it's not the same as the regular season and everybody gives attention to power play, shorthanded and five-on-five. Again, we had lots of good chances, but we didn't score. That's our key to score goals in order to win the game."

Your line was on the ice for both of the Canadiens' goals last game. Was it just a matter of circumstance? Or do you feel that your line didn't have a great game?
"One goal was my mistake, I was too high on the blue line and didn't stay in the middle of our zone and they scored the goal. But, still, it doesn't matter whose mistake it is. If somebody makes a mistake we have to cover it."

Do you know who P.K. Subban is, the young defenseman Montreal called up today?
"Yeah, I've heard of him a couple of times, but have never seen him play."

Every series has gone seven games in your career, so how much do you want to avoid that now?
"I think it's not about me -- the whole organization wants to win this game right now and not go back to play a seventh game in Washington. It's going to be hard, but I think we can do it."

Your coach is getting upset that he keeps getting asked about Mike Green not producing. The same thing happened in the playoffs last year. Is he playing different or down on himself?
"No, the playoffs and the regular season are two different things and I think he is trying to play more defensive than offensive. Everybody knows we have good forwards who can score goals. What Greenie needs to do is play good defensively. I don't think he's playing bad."

With a guy like Semin or a guy like Green, do you say anything to them, joke around with them or just act the same way?
"No, I don't think we have to joke about it or talk about it a lot with those guys. They're professionals and they have experience and know exactly what they have to do. We just try to help them, but the most important thing right now is it's not about personal results; it's about the team results. If we win the game nobody is going to say this guy played bad and this guy played bad. If we lose the game, everybody played bad."


By Mike Vogel:
Since Washington is the team that lost the last game, all eyes are on Boudreau to see what alterations he has in store for tonight. What we know is this. Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn is back in after missing the last two games with an injury, and Tyler Sloan will be out as a result.

Center David Steckel will be back in the lineup for tonight’s Game 6, and Brendan Morrison seems to be the likeliest corresponding healthy scratch.

Those two moves account for the personnel changes, but some personnel shifts are also in the cards. It’s possible that Boudreau will juggle the Caps’ line combinations in an effort to jump-start struggling sniper Alexander Semin, who is without a goal in his last 12 playoff games.

You can also expect some changes on Washington’s power play, perhaps even the inclusion of John Carlson as a point man and a move of Alex Ovechkin to the front line.

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1 comment:

BobbyG said...

"We love playing here. It's a great building and the pressure is not on us. When we play at home we want to show the crowd what we can do and maybe we don't get into the game and need a couple of minutes to wake up and make some good plays. Here we know it's going to be a hard time for us, but it'll be all right."

I don't get some of what Ovie is getting at here. Is he saying there's less pressure playing in Montreal or is he suggesting generally that there's less pressure playing on the road? I can see why he personally likes playing in Montreal because he's done so well there in the past. But if he's suggesting it's easier to play on the road than at home because there's less pressure, then what good is the so-called "home ice advantage" that the Caps earned as a result of their having the best record overall during the regular season?