NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PENGUINS v DEVILS

May 13, 2001

Ivan Hlinka

Craig Patrick

CRAIG PATRICK: It always takes time to settle into a series. I didn't see anything that surprised us. I thought they played an extremely strong game. We started out well, but seemed to falter as the time passed on. I think it is going to be a real good series. They are an excellent hockey club with a lot of depth, and we'll see what we are made of, but we think we have enough depth. As long as we stay healthy, we'll be okay.

CRAIG PATRICK: No. I think he's got plenty left. I think we are a little bit drained coming into the game because of our three overtime games at the end of the last series, and then the short turnaround. But we have an extra day here, so I think everybody will bounce back as strong as we possibly can on Tuesday.

CRAIG PATRICK: That's the way it rolls. There's no problem with that. They got an extra day of rest, but that's all right. It will all even out. We'll get our rest and our strength back and be ready to go on Tuesday and then see how we do from there.

CRAIG PATRICK: No, we are not. We are entitled to four recalls. We have used them all. We can bring people on emergency. That will be the only case, if we run into some injury problems, depth problems, we could bring somebody in on emergency. Otherwise, we'll use what we have here.

CRAIG PATRICK: I think he looked great. I think it was terrific they went down and played the way he played. He came back with a whole lot of confidence. Feel goods about his game. Feels very helpful for us, allowing us to play four lines which we definitely needed to do against Buffalo and we are going to have to do in this series, as well.

CRAIG PATRICK: They have been great. We have some good young kids down there. Their character is starting to come through and they are getting a lot more confidence themselves. We are seeing the best of them right now. They are really, really playing well. We are so pleased the young defensemen. Some guys emerged after we traded Slaney and Sven Butenschon because they were not getting the proper ice time to allow their games to come to the top. And now that they have their ice time, they are playing extremely well. Same thing with the forwards, we are putting people out there all year. They are getting some quality time now and it is starting to show.

COACH HLINKA: Think it is a good question, but I think it is too soon for me to answer it right now. We will look at the practice tomorrow and we've still got one more day and we will see after that.

COACH HLINKA: You know, I already said right after the game I don't like to talk about who is more tired. You know, we already got 14 games behind us. We got the last two, three games in overtime, and then -- I think we've got a long way to go to do -- to do the Stanley Cup title, and I don't like to talk about who is more tired.

COACH HLINKA: We start to play the last ten minutes for -- I used three lines and after the last three minutes, maybe just ten people there. Jaromir was on the ice right before we called -- before we called the break. He was a little bit tired and was still about one minute -- 1:30 or something like that, and he is still on the bench, but he was there for last 45 seconds.

COACH HLINKA: You know, it's a difficult answer for me. Sometimes, you know, sometimes you have to decide what is more important for your team. Like, score the goal under power play and the goal can be for 4-1, or sometimes you need the kill penalty if you are in front 2-1. There are special things that are very important for the team, and maybe sometimes -- sometimes he can use the other guys, but, you know, to kill the penalty, it's a very important thing to do in the hockey game.

CRAIG PATRICK: I don't think so. I heard his answer like you did earlier. He's shooting whenever he gets his chance. He's not holding back because he's got a sore shoulder.