NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: RED WINGS v FLYERS

May 31, 1997

Dale Hawerchuk

Q. Talk about the mistakes made in the Playoffs and how that affects--

DALE HAWERCHUK: We didn't make mistakes. We gave them a couple of gifts. You can do that in a regular season. You give any two pros -- any two pros a 2 on 0, it is a good chance they are going to score.

DALE HAWERCHUK: Sometimes you give the puck up. On a 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 you can recover, but 2 and 0 is tough in this League.

DALE HAWERCHUK: They played smart. Everybody watches films and we watched them and I am sure they watched us. They get - we have got some adjusting to do, no question. I think they played us pretty well. And, we kind of knew what we had to do. But, we didn't execute like we wanted to.

DALE HAWERCHUK: It is a big game. Every game is big, no question. This is our building and we are not pleased with losing here.

DALE HAWERCHUK: The big thing they did was they stymied us in the neutral zone and made a lot of turnovers up high. We were a little bit stubborn at times. We didn't get the puck deep enough. Like I say, those are things we will have to adjust to.

DALE HAWERCHUK: Yeah, we want to play more on their end. And, I think they cover the front of their net pretty well. But, we are going to have to work our grinding game in the corners and do -- get the puck to the net and try to figure on some deflections and some rebounds.

DALE HAWERCHUK: They just played better than we did tonight, that is why they won. We had a couple of chances to get back into it, but it didn't happen. Now, we have got to look at Game 2.

DALE HAWERCHUK: I think they kind of tease you at times. They give you a bit of the neutral zone and we tried to carry it a little too much. Then they jump you and usually they got three, four guys back. We just didn't get the puck deep enough. By the time we did dump it in, we were a little late and whatever, had no speed, trying to hold the blue line. So, there will be adjustments every game in this series.

DALE HAWERCHUK: I thought we were a little nervous, and made a couple mistakes. But, I think at the same time, we got over that pretty quick. I would say the first couple of shifts we might have been a little nervous, but we will be there.

DALE HAWERCHUK: No, I don't think so. As a pro you get used to that pretty early. That is pretty awesome your first few games. But, I think what gets to you is you think about how far you have come and how long you have worked or whatever. But, you know, here it is the first time. But, that gets over with real quick. But, we were fine after that. We just made a couple boners that we gave them, I mean, 2 on 0s, even if they are two on ones we might have been able to get away with one of them or maybe both of them.

DALE HAWERCHUK: Puts a lot of pressure on every game. But no question, Game 2 is going to be a big game. This is our building.