Q. Some of the players talked about how bad the ice was this morning. Do you expect it to be a factor?
COACH VIGNEAULT: The ice is the same for both teams. Throughout the season, teams play sometimes on real good ice and sometimes on ice that is not as good.
So I think it will get better, though, as the day goes on here.
Q. The league said they were going to address all of the extracurricular between-whistle stuff with the teams. Did you address it with your players or feel the need to?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Well, all year long we’ve played whistle to whistle. That hasn’t changed in this series. All the referees have to do is call the ones who initiate the scrums. That’s going to stop right there.
Q. You talked earlier about getting clarification on Tim Thomas’ play. He initiated contact with Henrik Sedin. That’s against the rules. No call. Have you got clarification on that?
COACH VIGNEAULT: We asked the league. Part of Thomas’ way of playing is playing out of the blue paint, initiating contact, roaming out there. He seems to think that once he’s out, set, makes the save, that he can go directly back in his net without having anybody behind him.
Well, that’s wrong. He’s got the wrong rule on that. If we’re behind him, that’s our ice and we’re allowed to stay there.
We’ve talked to the NHL about that. We’ve talked to the NHL about him initiating contact like did on Hank. They’re aware of it. Hopefully they’re going to handle it.
Q. Because it’s so unfamiliar to see a goaltender body check a player.
COACH VIGNEAULT: Does that go in the stats (smiling)?
Q. Most of us weren’t even sure if it’s legal because surely you can’t body check him. What explanation did the league give you on his ability to throw a hit like that?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I’m not going to give you the explanation.
I will tell you, everybody is aware of it, we talked to it prior to this series, about the way he plays. We got clarification on what is allowable as far as him coming back in his net after he’s out five or ten feet past the blue paint. Hopefully everything will get sorted out on the ice.
Q. Your defensemen moved the puck very fluidly at Vancouver. Boston wanted better puck management to get hits on your D in Game 3. How do you feel like that part of the game went for you?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I think overall Boston obviously after the first period took advantage of a couple of our mistakes, a couple of situations: Alex Edler’s broken stick, Ryan Kesler putting the puck in the net. Those are things that are going to happen in games.
For us, we’ve moved on past that game. We’ve analyzed it. We know some areas where we definitely need to be better, and I expect our team to be better in those areas tonight.
Q. You said soft ice is the same for both teams. Is there anything you would do to adjust to try to take away an edge?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Again, the ice is the same for both teams. You just got to play with the ice surface.
I think it will get better tonight. I think teams will be fine.
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