With the Calgary Flames set to play their first home playoff game since 2009 Sunday at the Scotiabank Saddledome, here are five questions for Craig Conroy, Calgary Flames assistant general manager and the No. 1 centre on the 2004 edition of the team that went to the Stanley Cup final.
Question: Everyone talks about how the NHL playoffs are different from the regular season, but rarely do people go into the specifics. How exactly are playoffs different?
Answer: It's realizing that every check you throw in Game 1 pays off in Games 5, 6, and 7. It's being able to mentally battle back through hard situations, where you're down a couple in the series, how intense it's going to be, how everything is ramped up, and for you yourself, how you control that. I remember, in 2004, the first game here, when I was in St. Louis, we were always in the playoffs, so I didn't think it was that big a deal. But then you see how excited the city is, that first game here, I was exhausted just in the warmups – because you're flying emotionally. You just need to harness that.
Q: For the Flames, there were eight position players plus your backup goalie that made their NHL playoff debuts on Wednesday and five others in the lineup had just single-digit playoff experience. What does gaining playoff experience now mean to your developing young talent?
A: It's invaluable, this stuff, especially for the Sean Monahans and Johnny Gaudreaus – because they're going to be big parts of this team. It's not as if they're coming in and just feeling it out. I remember in St. Louis, a veteran guy like Al MacInnis could say something and it changes the emotions in the room. You let in a bad goal at the end of the period and he says, 'Hey, it's okay guys, it's one goal. Regroup. Play our game. We're still in this. It might take us six periods. It might take us eight. But don't give up, because things can change on a dime.' I think that's where experience does help. He's been in those situations before, where you've been down two or three goals and you did come back. So he can say that. With our group, I don't know how many can actually say that.
Q: Well, Jiri Hudler, Dennis Wideman, Brandon Bollig and Jonas Hiller can. Not many others though.
A: The one thing I'd say is, when I watched our guys in the days leading up to the L.A. game, they were so relaxed. I mean, I'm pacing around, nervous and they're young, having fun. Sometimes, for the young guys, not knowing is valuable. Everybody says, 'you need playoff experience,' but sometimes, not knowing what to expect can work in your favour a little bit, too.
Q: Is part of the playoff learning curve, learning a lesson in a hurry, because in a best-of-seven series, there isn't time for any slow students?
A: When you're in the battle, the most important thing to know is you're never out of a series until you lose the fourth game. There'll be highs and lows – and it's how you come through those highs and lows that matter. I remember, after the first game in 2004, we were not very good. We came out. We were too excited. We wanted to be overaggressive, so what did we do? We took penalties. And they scored on the power play. [Coach] Darryl Sutter said, 'Okay, we've got it over with. I'll give you this one.' He wasn't mad or anything. He said, 'one's behind us. We learned our lesson. Now let's go play.'
Q: That year you went to the final, 2004, ultimately became a war of attrition. The team you finished up with, especially with the injuries on defence, looked a lot different than the team that started out against Vancouver. What did you learn from that?
A: For the final game of the season, when we called up (John) Ramage and (Brett) Kulak, I told them about that. I said, 'You want to show the coaching staff here what you can do, just in case' – because that year, instantly, we lost both Denis Gauthier and Toni Lydman. We lost guy after guy and then the Steve Montadors and the Mike Commodores came in and made great careers for themselves by doing a great job for us. In the playoffs, it's going to be physical and there will be injuries, so you've got to be ready.