Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 Post Game Comments

Pens Coach Michel Therrien on trying to generate offense against Detroit, especially getting Evgeni Malkin going. Also, comments on the defensive style of the Red Wings and their two goaltending interference calls.

It’s really tough to generate offense against that team. They’re good on obstruction. It’s going to be tough to generate any type of offense, if the rules remain the same. So it’s the first time we’re facing a team that the obstruction is there, and we’re having a hard time skating to take away ice.

We took two penalties tonight on the goalie. We never take penalty to the goalie in the playoff. I’ll tell you something, I reviewed those plays. He’s a good actor. He goes to players, and he’s diving. Took away our power play. Got to get focused. I know our players are frustrated right now. It’s tough to play the game. But Osgood did the same thing against Dallas under Ribeiro.

Our team never go to goalie. We never did it. And we don’t target the goalie. But this is, want to talk about experience, he goes to players, and he knows what to do, I guess.

note: After seeing replays of Sykora’s interference penalty, I understand why the referees had to call it. However, even as a Detroit fan, I do have to somewhat agree that it could have been a no call. In fact, I’m willing to bet that had Hasek been in goal, it would have been a no call.

Sidney Crosby on what the Pens need to do offensively

We just have to execute. I mean, they got a few chances. Did they really get that many scoring chances on us? I don’t think they did. They got a few and put them in. And we hit a post and pucks go through us by the net that we don’t put in. That’s the difference, to be honest. They’re not getting that many scoring chances more than us. We’re not executing.

We get odd-man rushes, very few, but when we get them, we have to capitalize on them. But by no means are they outchancing us by a whole lot. It’s just the nature of the game. It’s tight in the neutral zone. It’s like that for both teams.

I mean, if they’re skating down every time, getting odd-man rushes and tons of chances, I’d be worried. But it’s the nature of the game, and they’re capitalizing and we’re not.

Mike Babcock on the defensive effort by the Wings so far

I don’t know about surprised. All year long we’ve done a pretty good job defensively. We had the least close games in the National Hockey League. That doesn’t happen by accident. That’s over 82 games. We have committed people that way, and we feel we have a pretty good plan and our plan is simple. We like to play on offense. So the faster and better you play defense, the more time you have the puck.

Nicklas Lidstrom on if he thinks Crosby and Malkin are getting frustrated

I don’t think they look frustrated. No, they’re still trying hard. We’re trying to have the forwards come back real hard against them. Take their time and space away, especially around the blue lines. And we’ve been able to do that. We need to give a lot of credit to the forwards, how they’re coming out helping out.

Chris Osgood on if he can see frustration on the Penguins faces

No, I don’t focus on that. I focus on the puck. They’re driving the net. [Penguins forward Ryan] Malone was in front of me quite a bit tonight. So was [Penguins forward Gary] Roberts. They had guys going to the net. They had some opportunities in the power play in the first. And in the second, I thought they played real well again.

We held them back. But we just got our backcheckers back and “D” getting pucks back quick. That’s what our team is about. It’s all team defense, and we play as a team. And that’s why we win games, because we’re a complete team.

Sidney Crosby on whether or not the Penguins are pressing

I don’t think so. We believe in what’s got us here. I don’t think we’re going to change a whole lot. Besides getting more pucks in the net, I think that’s always the key no matter who you play, but especially against this team, you want to get their defensemen turning, get some traffic. But I thought, like I said tonight, we did a better job of that.

Around the net they do a pretty good job picking up sticks. Sometimes they’re grabbing your stick, things like that. You’ve just got to battle through it and find ways to get your stick on the puck. But I think that we did a lot better job here tonight at trying to create things like that.