NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v FLYERS

May 20, 1997

Russ Courtnall

Q. It has been a real physical series. Does it wear down this team and how are you guys adjusting to it?

RUSS COURTNALL: Both teams are giving a lot of body checks. I wouldn't say that -- I don't see an advantage to either team. I think both teams are playing very physical and I think both teams are feeling just like in any Playoff series, they are feeling the aches and pains.

RUSS COURTNALL: Yeah, it was unfortunate. We obviously didn't want to start that way. We battled back. But, to get back to your question, we didn't have that start in our minds when we went out on the ice.

RUSS COURTNALL: No, I thought we played well. Once we got going - and we made some mistakes - but we know we can -- we proved we can win and we are going to stay positive here and get ready for the next game.

RUSS COURTNALL: I don't know, because I missed a few goals, I was on the bench. I am sure we will look at it and see what went on in those plays.

RUSS COURTNALL: Yeah, it was unfortunate. It was exciting there a little bit to get back into the game and to contribute and then to, you know, turn around and be back behind the eight ball again, that was tough. It would have been nice to come back and win. But we didn't and we will just have to go forward.

RUSS COURTNALL: I think that really our linesmen are playing really well. I have been playing with Luc and Mikey and later on playing with Mark, I felt like our line has done a good job and we have created a lot of opportunities for ourselves. We just haven't cashed in on them. We kept saying to one another that the goals will come and they, you know, they came. We got a couple there. But, I think it is just from our work ethic, we have gone out and worked hard and cycled well and had good scoring opportunities.

RUSS COURTNALL: We didn't probably move the puck around quite as much as we would have liked to. But, that is another thing we will look at and see where we went wrong and regroup. There is a few things, I am sure, that Colie is going to have us look at and improve on.

RUSS COURTNALL: We are a confident team. We are -- we feel good about ourselves and we are definitely not walking with our heads down. We are ready to come back here and play a hard game on Friday.