NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 17, 2002

Sergei Fedorov

Igor Larionov

IGOR LARIONOV: I didn't skate today. I was doing my therapy and workout on the bike. And it's a game-time decision.

SERGEI FEDOROV: Well, I think it's too late to talk about getting ready. I think we should be ready for tomorrow because there is a game at 3:00 and there is really no time left. It's been always intense and very tough series for both teams. I think every game, it's like a battle out there. And you can see so many things out there, physical content and skill content and lots of power plays, penalty killings, lots of skating and great plays, and obviously quite a few saves out there. Both teams got great goalies and both teams got great squads, so --

IGOR LARIONOV: I think he's been the key forward of the Avalanche. He played great. The last series against the Avalanche and Sharks, he was the one that actually did it. I'm always going to respect that and pay attention to him because he's the guy who can do damage by himself.

SERGEI FEDOROV: We had two days off after Saturday last week, and then we had a couple meetings and a couple of practices, just skating after those two days off. We work on shooting and skating and passing skills. They were very intense. I thought everybody did a very good job. They skated very hard. The last two or three practices were special practices because we were working on power play, penalty killings, and breakouts and 3-on-2s, 2-on-1s, something like that because it's going to be a very intense and fast skating series.

IGOR LARIONOV: I think they're the two best goalies in the world playing against each other. Pat has been tremendous in the last two games against San Jose. He's playing best, and his team needs him to play the best. Dominik Hasek, he's playing great hockey for us also. I would say it's a huge challenge and huge chance for Dominik and we know that, and I think Dominik would be even more strong and more sharp in this series.