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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: SHARKS v PENGUINS

June 6, 2016

Peter DeBoer

San Jose, California: Game Four

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is the status on Hertl?
COACH DeBOER: Day‑to‑day. He's out tonight.

Q. What kind of weapons do you have in your arsenal when you can move Couture up to the top line? How does it help you when you do that?
COACH DeBOER: It helped us the other night, sure. It would be similar to them moving Crosby, Malkin and Kessel together. You have three great players playing together. But in order to do that, that hurts you in other parts of the lineup. You have to be comfortable you can survive doing that with the other parts.
We got away with it the other night. We shortened the bench. We had some guys, I thought, give us some real supreme efforts underneath that group. But I don't know if that's something that we can go to all the time.

Q. You haven't played with a lead yet. I know it's obviously important to play with a lead. Even just for confidence, would it be nice to spend some time having a lead in one of these games?
COACH DeBOER: Yeah, we'd like the lead. The game plan isn't not to play with the lead. We're trying (laughter).
I think early in the playoffs, it was a huge part. I think the L.A. series, we had the lead almost every game, maybe other than one. It's a big part.
The scores show that. The team that scores first usually wins. We get it. We've got to find a way to get it going. It's not like this has been an issue throughout the playoffs. I think we've actually been pretty good at getting the first goal throughout the playoffs.
For some reason we haven't started well here in the three games as far as scoring. We've got to do that. I'd like to be in that position. I think the game changes at that point.

Q. You've talked a lot about the importance of having interchangeability in your roster. How much of a luxury is that in the moment when you have to shorten your bench?
COACH DeBOER: We've talked about it all year. Not only when you shorten your bench, when Tomas Hertl goes down, you've got somebody that you can put on the wing with Joe and Jumbo. They're not going to look at you like, What are we doing here? They're comfortable. They feel that replacement, there's not going to be a significant drop‑off.
That's rare to have that type. This guy was playing on our third or fourth line, he can jump up and do that. There's other options there to do that, which is nice. I think that shows you the depth. I think more importantly it shows the IQ of our group.
Good players just want to play with smart players. Maybe they're not the biggest guy on their wing, the fastest guy, but you have to be able to think the game. I think the depth of our lineup, we have some good hockey IQ down there.

Q. Always looking for developing trends in a series. A lot of us notice you stand at these press conferences as opposed to sitting.
COACH DeBOER: Very perceptive (laughter).
Like a lot of my moves, there's not a lot of thought put into it. I'm winging it. The chair is kind of low. I'm just not comfortable sitting down. I don't have a good answer for you (laughter).

Q. I know that second unit, power play unit, doesn't get a ton of time out here. What did you think of Chris up there in Game3?
COACH DeBOER: Again, goes to that interchangeability. When Hertl goes out and you can put a guy with hockey IQ, some offensive instincts, like Tierney has, he's a good play‑maker. I think the group looks around and goes, Okay, Hertl is out, Tierney is in, we're in the same spot.
That's important. If you start thinking you've taken a huge step back because someone has gone down, those kind of planted seeds become issues. So I don't think that's the case.
I think Tierns is a guy that can easily jump in there on the power play.

Q. So much talk in this series about the Penguins and their blocking shots. Looking back at Game3, were there opportunities you had to shoot by the block, soft spot in the middle? Did you see any of that?
COACH DeBOER: I think the way Pittsburgh plays, every opportunity they get, they're fronting, looking to knock pucks down. As opposed to getting involved in boxing you out, they're looking to knock them down and go the other way.
We've got to get them by that wall of blockers some way, somehow, either with high tips or using the boards or going around them or going through them. The ones that have got through, we scored on some of them, Justin Braun's goal the other night.
We're going to keep shooting. We have some plans in place to try and get around that. But it's definitely been an issue, and a credit to them for what a job they've done so far on that.
Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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