NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAPLE LEAFS v HURRICANES

May 24, 2002

Tie Domi

Gary Roberts

TIE DOMI: Well, obviously, we're still confident. We played well enough to win, but we didn't. Tomorrow is another day and another game. Tomorrow is the last straw. Hopefully we can do some damage. We're really not getting in front of Irbe and we are not getting to the net.

GARY ROBERTS: Well, I think they are a strong, big team. They are very patient. Just one of those things where you've got to try and get loose, you've got to try and get to the net. The puck is not following us around left and right like it did earlier in the playoffs. We all know you go through situations where you have success and the puck follows you around, and then you go through games where you feel like you work hard but you don't accomplish a lot. I think that's what a lot of us are feeling right now.

GARY ROBERTS: It does seem strange, but I don't think it has a lot to do with that. We have key people back that have been key people for us all year, that have contributed to our success, and I don't think that's a factor. I think it's just we are playing a real stubborn team who maybe we didn't respect as much as we should have earlier in the series. We won the first game and didn't play great, but still won the game, and just never got things going after that. We need to respect our opponent. Obviously, they are up 3-1; so I think we respect our opponent. We need to go in there and continue to do the things I thought we did well last night. I thought we did make up some ground in some areas, but we do need to get more to Arturs Irbe and try to break that balloon that he has.

GARY ROBERTS: We got some traffic at times, but it just seems like the puck is bouncing out to an area where there is not a Toronto Maple Leaf; there a is a Carolina Hurricane defenseman. They are doing a great job of holding up the zone. I thought we played a pretty strong game, but in our forecheck we are not getting a lot. The referee isn't going to call the hooking and holding that you're getting when you're trying to get into forechecks, but you understand that that's the way it is in the playoffs. We have to do a better job of fighting through it and create some more opportunities by doing that.

GARY ROBERTS: I don't know. We haven't heard.

GARY ROBERTS: Hey, playoff hockey, you're trying to be intense and you're trying to battle them as hard as they are battling you, and you get in situations where you pass the line sometimes and I understand that. We have to do better tomorrow night. Just take the good with the bad. That's the way it works. But we have to be smart to go into Carolina and win tomorrow night.

GARY ROBERTS: Well, trying to do the things that brought us success in the playoffs, and that's moving the puck and getting in and getting the puck to the net. I thought we did that at times last night and had our best game of the series, but didn't score a goal. That's how it goes. We'll just keep the same drive, keep getting the pucks to the net and hopefully things will work out.

GARY ROBERTS: Well, I don't want to give away any secrets. You guys obviously noticed that. We are trying to break the trap, there is no doubt, and they do a good job. They are very well coached and they have a disciplined group of guys. I was there for three years and I know them very well. They are doing what they have to do to win, and it's not pretty. But for us, we have to win some ugly hockey games to get back in it. It's not to go to be a pretty series and will continue to not be unless we can find a way to get in there and create some havoc in front of their goalie.