NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 31, 2001

Bob Hartley

COACH HARTLEY: Well, I felt we had great focus. Third goal was obviously very big for us, but after this I felt that we kept going after them. When the puck was in our zone we did an outstanding job and what I really liked was our pressure in the neutral zone. We cut down lots of their passes, broke down lots of their plays. That made it easier for us because obviously they can put lots of pressure. They have lots of skills in the offensive zone and we were able to contain them on the outside.

COACH HARTLEY: Like I said this morning, when everybody is skating, like the line matchups, all what you want in the book, like is way overrated. We had a great game from our four lines. Everyone stepped up. Obviously Sakic against Arnott is quite a matchup but with Bourque, Foote, Stevens out there, Rafalski, there is not much room. There is not much room. It is tough to generate any offense and I felt that our four lines came to play. They gave us energy. They went to the net and you look at the goals that we scored, I think that we had good traffic in front of their net.

COACH HARTLEY: I thought the treadmill was slipping under my feet, I can tell you that a couple of heart beats is an understatement. But hey, Patrick, is so good around the net and that time like, they read his play. That could have been the turning point of the game but we came right back the start of the third and we scored the winning goals. Talking about a turn of event, that was huge.

COACH HARTLEY: Hey, we take this one game at a time. I love the approach that my players are showing. Once again tonight we were facing adversity. Our leadership, our tenacity, our skills, our experience were certainly major factors and everyone showed up to work. Like I said, throughout the year, our guys always respond very well to adversity and once again tonight we proved it.

COACH HARTLEY: Two great skaters. Nieminen and Hinote two great skaters (inaudible) very huge draws tonight, Drury, the way Nieminen and Hinote are driving to Brodeur's net, it puts big pressure not only on Brodeur, but also their defensemen. You look at the goal they scored, typically driving the net and it was a very simple play but a big one.

COACH HARTLEY: Just as I said at the end of the second period they could have scored like the go ahead goal. We come right back and great execution, big faceoff by Joe Sakic, we went to the net once again and Ray picked the top corner. I think that it is not the first one that he scored in his career like this tonight. Like great shot, and can't happen to a better guy than Bourque.

COACH HARTLEY: I think he is a marked man, Adam. It's very simple. I think that Adam Foote is a marked man.