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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: DUCKS VS PREDATORS

May 16, 2017

Peter Laviolette

Anaheim, California - Postgame

Nashville - 2, Anaheim - 1

Nashville leads series, 2-1

Q. Coach, it's the second time in these Playoffs that you guys have been trailing at home and Filip has been able to bring you guys back in the game. What does it say about his ability to score those clutch goals for your team?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Well, he scores a lot of goals. Not just ones that get us back into the game. But I mean, he scored goals in different ways at different times. So that's what he does. He's good at it. And he had a terrific game tonight.

Q. I don't think they had lost with a lead going into the third in the Playoffs this year. But the way you guys were playing them in the third and kind of buzzing, did you feel something was going to come there?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I mean, you could sense going into that third period between the second and the third, but going into the third the guys were saying the right things. They were confident.

I think they believed that they were playing a decent game, and if we just stayed with it that we would eventually get one to drop and then see where it goes from there.

Q. You mentioned that patience, Peter. How important is it to be able to keep patient and not get frustrated considering all the shots they were putting on Gibson?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: It's frustrating. You know, you think you're playing a good game. It's so tight. The scores at this time of the year generally are fairly low. And you wonder if 1-0 is going to do it for the night. So there was a lot of attempts. There was a lot of opportunities.

Their goaltender, I thought, played well and gave them a chance to hang in there and win a hockey game. But going out for the third, I think our guys stepped on the gas a little bit more and continued to push in the offensive zone.

Q. Wonder if you could just talk about Pekka bouncing back, a little bit of a tough angle goal there in the first but didn't seem to faze him much as the game went on?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: I thought he played a great game. It's one of those tough ones. It's a hard angle. There's a lot of things I think that go through a goaltender's mind when those hard angle shots come in and there's people going to the net and there's a backdoor presence. But I thought he played terrific prior to that and his response from that was excellent. You knew he was going to have a good game tonight and he did.

Q. I know we keep asking you this and we keep talking about it, but how much confidence is there right now in this building for your team no matter the circumstance?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Well, I think there's confidence in our group. I think the guys -- like I said, they believed going into the game that they could be successful even though it's coming off a loss, a hard-fought loss in Anaheim in Game 2. I think there was belief going into the third period that we could be successful as well.

Being at home here, I think, is an advantage for us because of the environment and the atmosphere that the fans bring. So it was a good place to be and a good spot to be in. If you need to score a goal and you need to have a big period, it's a good spot to do it in this building.

Q. Wonder if you could talk about Cody's situation there after the hit. Levels Harry there in the second I guess it was. Is it the right thing for him to do, even though it ends up being a power play for them? Do you like the fact that he's coming in, sticking up for his guy in a situation like that there?
COACH LAVIOLETTE: Cody, he walks a line where he has to do his job, and he does it unbelievable. There wouldn't be one guy in the room that would want anything different. And we need to figure out how to win a hockey game if something like that happens. He's been a warrior for our team since he got here.

And what he did was -- our guys appreciate his toughness and his response. In the end, we ended up winning a hockey game. So we're not talking about it.

But I can tell you that it's nice to have Cody in the lineup. He brings an energy. He brings an element of toughness. And I think he does an excellent job at what he does.

MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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