BRUINS QUOTES DON SWEENEY PRESS CONFERENCE Thursday, April 26, 2018

BOSTON BRUINS DON SWEENEY Opening statement… Good morning everyone. Happy to be here. Hope everyone else is as well. Have to give a lot of credit – I started up here last week and saying that we knew the quality of the opponent and the task at hand. I don’t think anybody was surprised it ended up at a Game 7. Twists and turns to get there. But a really quality team. Very dangerous offensively and certainly well coached. We had our work cut out for us and it took every ounce of our hockey club to find a way to win. We’re fortunate that our best effort was put forth in the third period and we’re moving on.

On Tampa… Well they won the Eastern Conference. I think it’s equally a formidable if not even more so task. Not a lot of holes in their lineup. We had some success in the regular season against them. We’re going to have to find a way to replicate that and probably be even better. We had pockets of our game in this past series that we know we need to improve upon and it’s going to take our best effort from start to finish to play against Tampa. We’re a confident group to go in. We deserve to be here. We’re moving on and I’m sure they feel the same way.

On how Tampa’s speed compares to Toronto… I don’t think any of the three teams you’re discussing had trouble scoring goals. At times we had, and maybe that’s the opponent you’re playing against and respect to them. You’re going to have to play against really good players and find a way to contain them. And I’m sure they think the same way of our hockey club and the depth of our scoring. You saw a couple of young players for us last night have big performances and a big stage. It speaks well, and I think our team – it’s been a reflection of how the growth of our team has been throughout the course of the year. I’d be remised if I didn’t acknowledge Bruce [Cassidy] being named one of the coach of the year finalists and his staff and the job that they did. I think again it’s a reflection of the growth of our team. I’ve said all along that our core group has been there. I think it showed up, maybe not so much in the second period but certainly at the end of the night that our group was determined to win and were led by guys that have won before.

On ’s season… I have a long history with Bruce. He’s taken a long road to get back for his second opportunity to be a head coach. I think he’s earned it. To me I think the whole series of jumping in last year and this year has been an extension of the work that he’s done. I think our players have responded. I think he showed confidence in them to go back. You look at Danton Heinen last night. Certainly, his best performance. Showed a lot of confidence in that young man and that’s the type of coach that Bruce is. The body of work that Danton Heinen did the course of the season, you deserve the opportunity last night and he went out and good for him, that’s what Bruce would say. Bruce would also say good for the coach to be rewarded that way.

On winning the regular season series against Tampa… Again, I think you have to acknowledge we caught them on a fresh tired one night and jumped on them early. I just think you have to respect the opponent. They’re a formidable group. You knew last year they were injured and they were going to come back hungry. I think our group has respected the guys they are playing against and go out and put forth their best effort. There have been areas of the game that we’re going to try and attack and break down, and I’m sure they’re going to try and do the same thing. They had a little more time to rest, but hopefully we can go down and start the series off on the right foot.

On if anything in particular stands out on what needs to improve… No. Some internal discussions, there’s some things that we’re going to try to address and some of the things are pretty obvious. I don’t think either goaltender would acknowledge that they thought that they put forth their best performance. At the end of the day, Tuukka [Rask] made some stops in the third period to allow us to continue to push forward. He’s been in that situation and he rose up at the right time.

On assessing Rask’s performance… We’re through. We got through that round. Some games he played really, really well. At the end of the day we have a lot of confidence in Tuukka and I think going into the next series we’ll remain the same level of confidence that we can get the job done and he’ll be there for us.

On building the roster… Again, you put a plan in place and you try and go out – I think a lot of the players, Jake [DeBrusk] spoke about it last night in terms of opportunity – I think our players did acknowledge that it was going to be there if they could grab ahold of it. And there are some ebbs and flows in that. People acknowledge Charlie [McAvoy], but he still played 27 minutes last night. We win a hockey game. There is a steep learning curve. That’s his first game seven. I think having his partner is Zdeno [Chara], I’ve been there. I understand having a partner of that nature to help you through those rough patches. Again, it speaks to what Zdeno brings to our hockey club. David Pastrnak was an emerging player last year. Went through a tough stretch in the playoffs and certainly understands it now. Went out and had a monster playoff for us. Playing against top level competition every night in the top matchups. That’s growth of a player. I think Jake and Danton and any other guys that have grown throughout the course of this year, you hope that continues, but you just don’t know. You just don’t know. That’s the unknown. The best laid plans sometimes go sideways. That was prior to the additions coming down the stretch that we felt we needed to add to the depth of our club knowing what was in front of us in March. We had some guys really step forward for us in that regard. You look at David Krejci’s performance in particular in the second and third period last night. He’s been there. He’s done it and it’s good to be able to lean on those guys.

On Charlie McAvoy… Charlie has played 77 games total in the . Thirteen of them happen to be in the playoffs. I think he’s doing fine. He’s going to continue to grow and learn and be exposed to situations. Teams are now coaching against Charlie. He has to continue to grow from that, learn from it. He’s unfazed, which is a tremendous quality in a young player. So, we’re excited about where Charlie is and more importantly where he can get to.

On Rick Nash… I think there’s been times when Rick has been a big catalyst for our club. Possession, offensive zone, the ability to get to the net. Has he finished at the level we had hoped? Maybe next series. I think he has the capability to do it. He’s gotten chances. Partially by his own design and partially by his line mates. I didn’t necessarily like the retaliatory penalty last night, but he would be the first to acknowledge that that was probably ill-timed. But again, in the areas, in the hard areas of the ice to have opportunities to score, puck possession, creating chances for himself and for others, as advertised and hopefully continues. And he missed a lot of time. We had several players. Riley Nash missed time down the stretch. Hopefully those players will continue to get better and push forward for us because they are big parts of our hockey club. The only way we’re going to win is to have them all going together.

On McQuaid’s health… There’s nothing there.

On McQuaid’s play… I hated the play leading up to why he was put in that position to be perfectly honest with you. But in Adam’s defense, he really got on his horse to try to make a hell of an effort and that’s typical. You guys have all known Adam and what he brings to this hockey club. He broke his leg early in the year and he’s back playing. He’d be the first one to lay down and eat the next shot too. Those guys are really important at this time of the year and we’re happy that he’s coming out of there unscathed and available for Saturday.

On Charlie McAvoy getting his game back… Again, I think there will be ebbs and flows with Charlie. As I said earlier, he’s played 77 total games. There’s going to be that way. There is ebbs and flows for guys that have played 1,000 games. We’re excited about where Charlie is and more importantly where he’s going to get to and what he means to our hockey club. He played 27 minutes in a 7-4 win last night. To me, that’s, he’s on the positive side of the ledger. That to me is a good sign.

On Jake DeBrusk’s development since the draft… There’s been a lot of conversation about that draft. Our scouts were adamant in the players that we chose in that draft. Jake was identified as the guy that they wanted to draft. The reasons, probably last night, a lot of the same reasons. We got a message from one of his former coaches that he knew that was in Jake. Last year was a development year for Jake, and I think this year has been a real nice step, and you’re starting to see the player that hopefully he can continue to become night in and night out on the biggest stage. It’s a testament to our scouting staff, the development group and to Jake himself deserves most of the credit.

On what allows DeBrusk to thrive in the big moments… Well he’s got a combination – we call it a little greasiness to get to the hard areas of the ice. He’s got a deceptive speed about him, and he wants to score goals. He has scored in the past. Even last year, he had an awful lot of chances to score goals in the early part of the year in Providence and they weren’t going in; he was frustrated about it, but the shot volume and the opportunities were there, so we just kept encouraging him, and understand the process that he’ll get there. Last night is a perfect example of that in both situations, to tell you the truth. It could’ve been easy play to stand behind the line when that puck rotates out top, but he didn’t. He got to where he’s supposed to, what’s been preached from our coaches. So then, there’s the coaching, there’s the development and then the player buy-in in that situation. And then, obviously, the individual effort on the second goal was pretty special, but we’ve seen pockets of that. We saw a shift in Toronto that was spectacular, you know, and Krech should’ve buried it. He’d be the first to admit that. But Jake’s shown the ability to do that, and hopefully he continues.

On depth scoring… Well, depth in scoring is paramount. I mean, our fourth line contributed this series, as well. I think the third line, five on five would like to find a way to contribute, but there’s Danton Heinen scoring last night. So, again, it’s paramount to have success, and every team would admit it.

On if players are back up to speed following their injuries… Well, I don’t worry too much about Bergy and Zee, from that regard. I mean, we’ve had conversations with Zdeno throughout the year to maybe manage some minutes so he could go out and play 29 last night, and hopefully, he feels better about that now, because that’s part of the plan. Same thing with Patrice, during the course of the year of trying to spread around minutes that, you know, are hard over the course of the season. Every PK, every situation, so you have juice when you need it most, and he’s going to be the guy that rolls over the boards; let’s be honest. You know, in all those situations, and he’s going to be the one that’s going to respond. But, David Krejci stepped up, like I said, last night and had a hell of a performance, especially in the second and third periods. Riley Nash did miss time. He’d probably be the first to tell you, maybe his timing and such is off, but you’re starting to see his ability to suppress and hopefully will contribute offensively now going forward and get back to full speed.

On Rick Nash’s and Charlie McAvoy’s returns from injuries… Yeah, I mean, they missed time. You hope that you can jump right back in, but you know, Rick didn’t play any games leading up to the playoffs. He jumped right back in at playoff time against a real quality opponent, a fast opponent. Everybody knows, the playoffs, as the year goes along, it goes like this, and then in the playoffs, it takes another notch, and even between games one, two, three, four and – as you go along, they seem to have a greater intensity. It’s hard to imagine, but it is. It’s real. But, again, there are areas where Rick and Riley were important. I mean, you look at the penalty kill and the job that Riley did there. So, we all hope they’re operating at full capacity from here on out, because we need everybody to win.

On if it impressive how David Pastrnak has accepted the challenge in his second playoffs… I was probably more impressed with the response to his answer the other day. That speaks to the growth of David, to tell you the truth. He takes ownership. He would be the first to tell you, he should’ve had the puck out on those two opportunities last night. But, then he also wants the puck on his stick to be able to score the goal that gives us a little breathing room and be in those situations. There are times when maybe he wouldn’t have been able to be put back out in that situation and be trusted. Now he can be and wants to be. Can he be better at it? Yeah, he’s had some times in the game, you know, he had another one in Toronto where it’s like playing whack a mole trying to get the puck out, and he’s not able to do it, but it’s not for lack of effort. Again, that’s just the growth of the player, and he’s a special kid that wants to be on the ice in the biggest moments, and it says a lot about him.

On how Bruce Cassidy handled the situation in Game 7… I said to him, full confidence. Go and have a good night’s sleep before Game 7, because once the game started, Bruce is a damn good bench coach, and I think he’s shown that. I think his players understand it that he sees the game, he’s able to make some adjustments. He just went back to his convictions as to the players, as he mentioned, that had gotten our group to the doorstep of Game 7. He went back to the familiarity and put players back into their slots, and I think they were comfortable with it, and it shows confidence throughout our hockey club, and I think it’s reciprocated to the coach.

On Cassidy being a finalist for the Jack Adams… Yeah, I said it earlier that I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the job that he and his staff did. Full marks for them and our hockey club. It’s a great reflection on all of the group.

On David Backes… I mean, David would probably acknowledge, five on five, he would like to be a little more impactful at times, but the physicality and the leadership you know, in the real heat of the moment which David Backes is going to show up, there’s a comfort level from a coaching standpoint from some players going through it for the first time. He wants to win, and I think that permeates around the room, from his leadership qualities, getting prepared for games, in games, and then after games, hitting reset to be able to get ready for the next one. There’s intrinsic value there that is hard to measure.

On Torey Krug… Yeah, Torey had some pretty special moments offensively in the series. He’s a big part of our transition game, certainly our power play, and when he’s distributing and shooting, rolls up in a big moment to score a real important goal for us last night. Again, he’s a real important part of our hockey club and why we’re able to generate offensively. Had some moments defensively that he’d probably acknowledge, situations that he’d want to rise up, and he will be the next round, because he’ll be better for it. But, another guy that wants the puck on his stick and makes good things happen. He had an impactful series.

On Zdeno Chara and Mitch Marner… I have to acknowledge, Marner was a special player in the series. I thought he – obviously, they’re a talented group, but I thought he was pretty special in the series, and maybe to give him a little different look with Zdeno there and obviously a big physical presence but a stick just to change just a little dynamic every once in a while if we could find that matchup. Zdeno has just continued to evolve. You guys don’t know, really, what he does behind the scenes to continue to shape his game as to what the league demands. Changing how he works out, people talk about his diet, but just his preparation to be a better player. Not to be remaining the same player, but hoping to be a better player, and it says a lot about him. There’s what he’s accomplished, but he wants to accomplish. There’s a big difference in players that are somewhat comfortable in what they have done and look back in the rearview mirror, and Zdeno only looks forward.

#04/26/18#