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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v CANADIENS


May 23, 2014


Alain Vigneault


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Practice Day

Q.  It's been two games against Dustin Tokarski.  What have you guys learned about him that maybe didn't show up in a scouting report?  Didn't show up on film?  Is there anything you've gleaned over the two games about him that you didn't know?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Not really.  Benoit had done his homework on him prior to the series, which he should, with our team.  And we knew that he was a really good, young goaltender that battled really hard, that competes real hard, and that's what he's shown so far in this series.

Q.  I was just curious in the scouting report did you learn about him?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Everything was done through Benoit, and he learned through the video he played as a junior and on.

Q.  In the beginning of the series, both coaches were cautious (Indiscernible)?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  I think as games progress in the series, the competitive nature of players and coaches come out.  Obviously, every game has their moments.  Every game has their incidences where sometimes blood can boil from one side to the other.
Yesterday there was an incident where Prust hit Stepan.  You know, that incident, obviously, four referees missed the call.  Stepan is injured.  The same player that called the hit on Price accidental but on purpose.  Late hit, everything that you want to get out of the game, that was his hit on Stepan.  And what saddens me about that hit is, if the call is made on the ice, we're on a 5‑minute power play, and what happened to Dan Carcillo, and what Dan did is inexcusable, and he's going to pay a big price for it, but if the call is made on the ice, he's not put in that position.
So it's unfortunate.  Step right now at this time is probably getting operated on.  He broke his jaw yesterday, so we'll have an idea of the timeframe tomorrow.  But those are stuff that happens during the game that you have to deal with, and that's what we're going to try to do.

Q.  If he suffered a broken jaw, was that something you guys were not privy to at the time?  I guess I'm just wondering why it went past the game?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Well, at the time the doctors checked him out.  I'm not sure if they did X‑rays or whatever.  Everything was done after the game and this morning and found out this morning.

Q.  (Indiscernible)?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  I'll have more an idea after the operation.

Q.  Sunday's game you're either going up 3‑1 or back 2‑2 going against Montreal.  How critical a game is this?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Well, it's another game in the best of 7 series.  Two teams that are battling extremely hard right now.  It was a hard‑fought game last night.  We felt that we did a lot of right things to win that game.  We were up against a good team and their goaltender made some big saves last night.

Q.  Any update on Brassard?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Still day‑to‑day.

Q.  If whatever happens with the league with Carcillo, how does that change then, obviously, Stepan is a question mark too.  How does that change what you have to do with the lineup?  Is this a series where you wanted to play younger guys like Miller and Fast if necessary?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  Well, players that we have on our team, if they're needed, they're ready to play.  There should be no doubt that Dan's not going to be available.  There is no excuse for what he did there.  That being said, we'll have a better idea tomorrow of what's available to us, and we'll make the right decisions.

Q.  You just said Dan's not going to be available.  Have they indicated to you yet what the category of the‑‑
COACH VIGNEAULT:  No, I mean, I'm just using common sense here.

Q.  The Prust hit, the broken jaw is the result of the Prust hit, right?  Nothing different?  Just trying to clarify is all.  Did he say anything during the game about any pain he was experiencing?  Did you guys know anything during the game?
COACH VIGNEAULT:  I didn't ask, and he was playing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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