Video added 10:52am PT— not all of it is the same material as the transcript below.
Q. What did you like about your alignment or defensive performance in Game 5 that kept the Bruins from being able to get the pucks through, which seems to be the key to their forecheck, getting it to good places? You guys seemed to prevent that pretty well in Game 5?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I think we kept the puck out of neutral zone and took away some of their forecheck. Obviously they’re such a skilled team they can throw different things at you, and we’re going to have to be ready tonight.
Q. Roberto has been talked about for what he said and his play here. How would you assess the way he has mentally handled all of the stuff that’s been thrown at him?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I don’t think he really cares, to tell you the truth.
I think he has one thing in his mind and he wants to win. He’s been looking for an opportunity like this his whole pro career and it’s in front of him now. So all of this extra little stuff goin’ around, I don’t think it’s very important to him.
Q. You guys have used the “one game at a time” thing all year, how much more difficult is that tonight with the cup in the building?
COACH VIGNEAULT: For us, it’s about staying in the moment. We know as a group we have to be better tonight. We have to be better 5-on-5, we have to be better on our power play. I know I said that for Game 3 and 4, but tonight I really, really, really mean, that tonight we’re going to have to be better on our power play.
I think everybody is excited about the opportunity. Yes, we want to enjoy the moment, but we know we have to be focused and put our best game on the ice.
Q. Coach, you’re on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup. What kind of words will you say tonight to your team before the game?
COACH VIGNEAULT: We’re not going to talk about the cup, we’re going to talk about the process and what we need to do on the ice to put our best game there. If we do that then usually the results take care of themselves. That’s been our whole mind-set since day one of training camp, and it’s not going to change tonight.
Q. Alain, you have players who have been this far before. How valuable do you think it is when Raffi Torres says he wants to address the room or Mikael Samuelsson who is with you, just to have the presence of those guys to settle everybody down tonight, how important is that?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Obviously, having that veteran experience guys that can share their past experience with the rest of our group, we’ve had a strong dressing room, real strong leadership group. I’ve really let them do their thing and I’m not going to change tonight.
Q. I know you’ve kind of felt that the statistics in this series are skewed based on what’s happened in the second period of time. Is that something you need to address before the second period or what needs to change there?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Our guys are aware of it. We’ve talked about making every shift count and making every period count and that’s what we’re going to try to do tonight.
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