Midday Fix: April 24

One of the benefits of earning a first round sweep in the Stanley Cup playoffs is a team gets to rest. There are potential disadvantages, however, such as a team not having to face the adversity of a loss. Handling the to and fro of a series and developing a thick, tournament tough skin is most often required to win hockey's ultimate prize.
Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant says he's not concerned with the fact his team hasn't had to deal with the aftermath of a playoff loss.
"We've handled it all year long," said Gallant. "If you look at our last road trip, it was really disappointing and I was a little bit upset with the way we played Calgary and Edmonton. Those games weren't really important games, but every time we needed to get ready for important games like San Jose and St. Louis or L.A. in the playoffs, we responded. I'm not worried about our group and we'll play the best we can. If we lose a game over the next stretch, we'll work hard and get ready for the next one. It hasn't been a big issue all year and I don't see it being an issue now."

Gallant held an optional practice for his group on Tuesday. The NHL has yet to announce the schedule for the second round.

Coach Quotes

Highlights from Gallant's media scrum on Tuesday:
Thoughts on having three finalists for NHL awards that are based on character…
Well I think when George (McPhee) and his staff picked the team this summer, they were after good people. We were going to pick good people in the expansion draft and I think we did a good job of that. A lot of that proves it. All good people and good fun, that's what we talk about with our team all the time.
Thoughts on the challenge of defending San Jose…
Well they do a good job. They cycle the puck real well, as good as any team in the league. We've had success against them. They set up good plays. We do the best we can with our defensive zone and we make sure we don't get two guys deep into the corners kind of low.
Thoughts on making sure Fleury has a clear vision of the puck, is that more schematically something you do defensively, or guys need to win one-on- one battles…
Guys need to win one-on-one battles. You need to play your guys. Like I said, they've got some great defensemen that shoot the puck well and get pucks to the net. I think they lead the league at shot attempts on net. We'll make sure we're getting to our checks correctly and doing our job.
Thoughts on breaking out of the monotony of practices daily…
We'll find out. They're in the same boat so that's the good thing. I'm glad we're not playing a team that just finished the series up and had two or three days off. We had an extra day more than them. It's the same boat and we'll see what happens. It's going to be tough, but the players are going to be ready, they're going to be fired up. It's a playoff game, it's not a regular season game.
Thoughts on if it is physically or mentally more challenging for them to get back on the ice for a game…
Mentally. Mentally for sure. The guys are ready to go and want to play as soon as possible. I just think it's mental, you're watching games every night and you're anxious to play. It's that time of year.
Thoughts on San Jose creating matchup issues for the team…
I'm not worried about matchup issues. I'm worried about our guys getting ready to play and putting them in the right situations to do their job on the ice. Everybody spends a lot of times talking about matchup issues but that's fine and it doesn't bother me.
Thoughts on the home-ice advantage being important…
I think home-ice advantage is important. You have to take care of your home ice but again it doesn't matter where or who you're playing. I know our fans are going to get us jacked up and we've played well in front of them all year long. If we're down games and if we have to go on the road and win games, I'm not worried about it. I think our team plays well on the road and we have an unbelievable home record.