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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v BRUINS

May 14, 2011

Claude Julien

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game One

Tampa Bay Â– 5
Boston - 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said you were optimistic and confident about Tyler Seguin. He proved you right tonight.
COACH JULIEN: He had a good game. I thought when he had his chance, he took advantage and scored. Obviously, he had a lot of energy tonight and excitement in his game.
He was a good player for us.

Q. Not too much success on the faceoff tonight. You talked about that with Bergeron out. How much did that affect the game?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I said that before we even played the game that it's so important to start with the puck. When you don't win as many draws as you're used to, you're backpedaling a little bit. Those lost draws, we know how quickly they counter, certainly didn't help our game tonight.

Q. Was the effort there tonight and then rust got in the way?
COACH JULIEN: I think we could have had a better effort. I think overall as a team definitely you're going to need to be better, get a better effort there.
Rust was even on both sides as far as the time off. You don't want to use rust as an excuse. But I think the effort was something that we're going to need more of, a better effort.
The other part, too, is the fact that when we gave them that 3-0 lead, it was certainly, again, a little bit like in that MontrÃ©al series. I thought we gave them some easy goals. That was more of our doing than it was theirs.
Until that point, I thought we had started the game really well, had good momentum. But those three goals certainly set us back.

Q. Claude, a lot has been made about the amount of shots they've been blocking per game. Seemed like the shot that St. Louis blocked off the halfway through the first period off the Boychuk slap, really seemed to ignite them. Then 20 second later they come back and score three quick goals. Talk about that play.
COACH JULIEN: Maybe they can elaborate more on that play. The goal wasn't because St. Louis blocked the shot. It was more our mistakes. Anybody who knows the game will see the mistakes on all three goals. They were pretty obvious.

Q. They didn't use the 1-3-1 in the first period. Did that throw you off at all?
COACH JULIEN: Absolutely not. The one thing we know is they use the 1-3-1, they use the 1-2-2. They vary, period, shifts. They do that all the time. Their goal is to try to throw us off. But we knew coming into the series they alternate and we were ready for that.

Q. You guys did regroup against MontrÃ©al, cleaned up the game in the back end. What has to be the focal point coming out next game in order to be cleaner and quicker and not fumble under pressure?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I don't know if we fumbled under pressure. Again, it depends how you want to look at those things. I think those mistakes are mistakes that you can correct easily. They were uncharacteristic of our hockey club. Of the first three goals, I don't feel there was a good goal out of all of those things. A blind back pass, a backhand from a tough angle, and we lose the puck beside the net on our own. Is there really something that they did so well that created that? No. I think it's more about us.
Give them credit for pouncing on those opportunities and capitalizing, that's part of the game. You got to look at your team and say, What can you do better? We got to make sure we're a little better with puck management. That wasn't there tonight.

Q. From an even strength perspective, Chris Kelly with Marchand and Recchi, how did that strike you tonight?
COACH JULIEN: Well, I mean, we moved things around a little bit. When you're battling from behind, you're trying to get some goals, you end up killing penalties, we had power-plays it was back and forth. We moved guys around a little bit. We had to do that.
Again, you've got to work with what you've got. We've got a couple days here to look at the situation. If we want to make some changes, we'll have time to do that.

Q. Moving the lines around a little bit, how do you think they fared with Seguin and Recchi making the switch?
COACH JULIEN: It was just a switch. I think he played a couple of shifts with another line and stuff like that. It was to make sure we got him in the game. He skated well, had a goal, had some opportunities. This was an opportunity for him to go in and help us out.
With all the power-plays and penalties, stuff that we had, it was important to move Tyler into some spots here. That's all we did.

Q. With the way Tyler played, was there any thought of using him on the power-play?
COACH JULIEN: That's a no comment.

Q. You talked about maybe making some changes over the next couple of days. Is this a case where maybe making up for Patrice's absence is easier on paper than it is once in action?
COACH JULIEN: No, you look around. Hindsight is always 20/20, right? We felt and we still feel that Kelly was the guy that was going to step into that position here. You look around, you say, What else can we do with these things? We moved the guys around a little bit.
But you got to live with those losses. Just because you lose a game, it doesn't mean it's because of that. Again, I think I spoke enough about what we did at the beginning of the game that threw us off. You take those three goals away, you have a different hockey game. That's basically it.
I don't think it's the fact that we have Kelly in a certain place or that. I think it's more of our own doing. We just have to focus on what we need to do here in the next game to make it better.
It's as simple as that.

Q. The last time you lost in the playoffs, you came back the next night with MontrÃ©al. This time you have a couple days in between. Is that better to correct the mistakes or are you worried about letting this dwell on their minds?
COACH JULIEN: No matter what the situation would be, I think we'd make the corrections. If we have a lot of time or a little time, we'll make sure as a coaching staff we get prepared to make those adjustments and those kind of things, we'll be ready. Right now we have a couple days to do that. It just gives us a little bit more time.
This is what we're paid for, to make the adjustments no matter what. If we were playing tomorrow, we'd make sure those adjustments were made before tomorrow night's game.

Q. The Campbell line had more minutes tonight than they usually do, more than the Peverley line. It does shake up your roster than just one line.
COACH JULIEN: It does. But at the same time what I'm also saying is I thought the Campbell line did some pretty good forechecking. They kept the puck in the offensive zone quite a bit. Those guys had some opportunities there.
You kind of look at your bench and you use what you can. Some nights some lines are going better than others. Peverley's line was just okay tonight. Even if Tyler scored, they're okay.
So we just utilize the lines as best we could to try to get ourselves back in the game.
They did a good job. They blocked some shots, took away some scoring chances. Even in the second period, I thought we had some scoring chances, but we missed the net on great opportunities. Those kind of things, you got to better yourselves with, and you have to hit the net if you plan on scoring some goals.

Q. The power-plays, 0-4, there were a couple chances early in the second when you were close. Are the numbers any better than they look or was it a problem area again tonight?
COACH JULIEN: I thought our execution certainly could have been better, especially on the entries. We had some rims. At one point the puck went by three of our guys. Those are execution. Guys have to be better in those areas. We know that.
So if we do our job properly, I think we're going to have success. But they need the execution. I think the plan for the power-play is good and we know how good they've been on the kill, what we need to do. We had some opportunities, too.
You need the execution to be there and you need the killer instinct. When you have a chance, you have to bury those things. Same thing with the loose pucks, you got to be first on those, make sure you get them and not the other team. So execution, killer instinct is something that needs to be better on our power-play moving forward here.

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