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Q & A With Coach Vigneault This Morning

by Paul on 06/10/11 at 03:52 PM ET
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Q.  Can you tell me what you like about Chris Tanev’s game?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  When we’ve used Chris this year he’s real steady, can make a first pass at the forecheck.  He’s a kid that is playing in Manitoba, and we got in injury trouble and he came up and did a real solid job for us.

Q.  You said you were being untruthful about your power play being ready to get there.  Are they ready to get there tonight?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  I certainly hope so!  (Laughter.)  We all know that our power play has been one of our weapons all year long.  It’s kept the opposition honest.  We’ve got some really skilled players that can make it work and go to the areas where it can work, and it’s been real good all year.

Right now, obviously, we’ve run into a patch here of a little bit more of a challenge.  But I’ve got a lot of faith in these guys, we’ve spent a lot of times looking at different options here and I think like I said last game, I think tonight’s the night.

Q.  Alain, it seemed as if the first two games were played more on your team’s terms and the next two the way Boston wants to play.  What are the elements that will decide whose terms this game gets played by?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  In Boston our first two periods were real good.  I think we came out real good in their building.

But for whatever reason the second periods have been a little bit more challenging for us and we’re aware of it.  It was challenging in the second game here and it was challenging in the two games there.  We’re aware of that, we’ve talked about it with our group here.  You’ve got to make every shift and every period count, and you’ve got to play to your strengths.

Boston has a game that they like to play.  We like to play fast paced game and that’s what we’re going to try to put on the ice tonight.

Q.  Coach, what are you seeing from Kesler’s line right now, 5-on-5, what do you need from them tonight?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  I think they’ve got to try and get on the inside a little bit more.  That whole line has great speed and when they do get the puck on the fly, they can take it to the net.

But you’ve got to take it to the net, stay in front and, you know, compete for that net front presence.  And all those guys can do that.  They’ve proven it at different times this year, and I’m confident that we’re going to do that tonight.

Q.  Would you comment on Christopher Tanev and how you think he has progressed to this point?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  I just did that.

Q.  Have you changed your mind since then?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  No!  (Laughter.)

Q.  Is Hamhuis going to make the trip to Boston?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  Yes.

Q.  So he has a chance of returning in this series?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  Day-to-day.  You always come through, right?  (Laughter.)

Q.  I know you’ve told me many times you’re not going to discuss your lineup, but Christopher Tanev came off with the players who were playing and Keith Ballard stayed out late.  Can we read something into that?

COACH VIGNEAULT:  We’ll see tonight. 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Vancouver Canucks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: alain+vigneault

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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