Rob Blake
Rob Blake
Robert Bowlby Blakeis a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player and the current assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. He was originally drafted by the Kings in 1988, appearing in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, winning the James Norris Memorial Trophy and serving as team captain for five seasons in his initial 11-season stint with the club. In 2001, Blake was traded to the Colorado Avalanche and helped the team win their second...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth10 December 1969
CitySimcoe, Canada
That second period, as much time as we spent in our own zone, it was tough to generate things.
They're a very veteran team. They understand they've been in the last two games. A bounce here or there and the games could have been different. Knowing that they have got guys that have been around a long time, had guys that have won Cups and guys with a lot of leadership, that's why we expect their best game.
There's an ongoing investigation, and we talked about this before the game that when an investigation's going on, there's nothing (that is) going to come out of our room.
It was just a scramble. I took a couple shots that got blocked and Andrew (Brunette) made a play out front just to kind of whack the puck there. I was fortunate it went in.
The good thing I see is that there are so many good, young players that are 25 and under. It's great for our game.
The last month of the season did help us prepare for the playoffs. But, the guys still have to understand what's at stake in the playoffs and that the intensity will go up even higher.
I think the last 25, 30 games, we've been battling to find our way into the playoffs, and once we succeeded, I think the emotion was tough to bring. But now we move on against Dallas, and I think you'll see we won't have trouble bringing emotion.
It's the same as any year when I've walked in here.
It's nice we only see him once a year during the regular season. He's a great player and he's done tremendous things for the Colorado Avalanche franchise over the years. We were excited about going in and seeing him. He's a big part of the Avalanche history and always will be.
It's a new season for him, and he knows he can be the difference in the series.
It's always the same. Yeah, we got the first gold medal in 50 years or something like that. But the pressure to win and the expectations to win will always be there.
That makes it even more special to play them. It's nice that they're coming. I think the people around here and anybody that is from Canada originally and moved out here, the Leafs carry a lot of weight with them.
You don't even worry about what happened at the end of the season. Our whole focus is on Dallas this week. We'll go over their game plan and our game plan against them. As far as the regular season, that's forgotten and we go on.
We'll take it. When we come back, we've got teams that we play that we can take advantage of, and that's what we need to do.