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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENSMay 16, 2014Alain VigneaultMONTREAL, QUEBEC: Practice Day Q. You're in Montreal now. You were saying yesterday you see Montreal as a difficult team because they don't have a lot of flaws. Is that something you can explain? COACH VIGNEAULT:  I've been pouring over tape. I mean, I've watched all their games against Tampa Bay where they swept Tampa in four, and I've watched almost all of the Boston series. You know, I still haven't found anything so far that I can grasp my finger around what we need to do against this team. I mean, they've just beaten the best team in the NHL. They've beaten the team that was a Stanley Cup finalist last year that beat the New York Rangers in the second round. You know, they're a team right now that, obviously, have home ice advantage. They've obviously are considered the favorites in this series. You know, it's a really strong team that we're trying to work our way through right now and find areas that we might be able to exploit. Q. I asked this earlier, you started your NHL coaching year in Montreal, and, obviously done quite well since then. What did that experience, that first experience do for you that's helped you to where you are now? COACH VIGNEAULT: Well, my first NHL gig as a head coach in a beautiful place, a Canadian city where hockey is passionate, hockey is demanding. Expectations were always very high, so I learned a lot. I worked with some great people. It took me six years to get another kick at the can, and obviously when I got my other chance, I used my experience in Montreal and my experience of going back to Junior and also going to the American League and tried to help my new NHL team the best way I could. Now this year the Rangers have given me another opportunity and that's what I'm trying to do. Q. Montreal players are talking today about fighting complacency based on what they've done. COACH VIGNEAULT: One thing that Montreal has to know is I know that they felt that the Boston Bruins didn't respect them very much. We've got a tremendous amount of respect for them, for their players, their staff. They're a great organization, and right now they're the team to beat. We're coming in here, and we're going to try to put our best foot forward. We know it's a tough challenge for us, but we're going to give it our best. Q. In the middle of the Penguins series you had mentioned how the schedule kind of caught up with you guys. Were you at all concerned about that after two Game 7s? COACH VIGNEAULT: No, I mean, we were fortunate, I would say, that we finished our series against the Penguins on Tuesday. It gave us almost two full days off, and we had a good practice today and just flew into Montreal. We're as healthy as a team can be at this time of the year. We're fresh, and we're looking forward to the afternoon game in Montreal. Q. You must have heard how loud this place got the other night and singing the anthem and everything. Are you guys ready for that? COACH VIGNEAULT: Oh, geez, we're looking forward to it. This is the best time of the year. This is an incredible building to play in. Our building is loud, Montreal's building is loud. Both fan bases are very passionate, and it should be a lot of fun. I mean, like I said, we've got a tremendous amount of respect for Montreal and what they do. We're going to go out there and try to play our best game, because obviously that's what we're going to need to beat such a strong opponent. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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