NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: HURRICANES v RED WINGS

June 12, 2002

Paul Maurice

COACH MAURICE: We hope to do that then (laughs). I would like to think that we have better motivation than trying to delay a party. But it'd sure make it a lot easier making it to the airport; wouldn't it? (LAUGHTER)

COACH MAURICE: Regardless of what I think, it won't change anything. So we'll leave it at that. And they have got enough depth in their organization that they will put an NHL defenseman in the lineup. If they need to, there's enough defensemen there that can play a few extra minutes to cover it.

COACH MAURICE: No, Arturs played very well, very consistent. He's made a lot of saves. With the quality of Detroit's shooters, made saves look easier than they were. And he's really played very consistently for us. I will say this again, even in that stretch where he came out of the net, it wasn't a problem with confidence or ability or the game actually. It was he has got a couple of bad breaks, bad bounces. And in those two games especially, our team was struggling. And that's why. It was still early in the Playoffs, that's why that change was made. Since that time, or even including that time, he's played very well.

COACH MAURICE: There's pressure everyday, there should be. When you don't have any, then you have got a problem. I'd be far more concerned about the lack of pressure than us feeling it too much. We need that. You need that pressure. It comes from knowing that you are still in the fight. So we're looking for those signs that there's too little pressure, if we sense that. We haven't over the last two days. But if we do, we would start squeezing a little bit.

COACH MAURICE: Yeah, we got a little frustrated there after going a number of periods without putting a puck in the net and tried to generate our offense a little differently, that's all it takes. It's not -- it's not something that you haven't seen already this year in the Playoffs. I think that Colorado would probably admit to doing that at a point in their last series. I think Philadelphia would admit to doing it against Toronto, and/or against Ottawa and Ottawa would probably admit to it against Toronto. That's what happened in those stretches. You get down there and you are not scoring in the games; gets later in the series there's that pressure to try to create something differently. Because what you have done hasn't scored you enough, hasn't put enough pucks in the net. We have to stay with our game and just be quicker be sharper and more disciplined in a lot of ways. That does not mean sitting back or playing more passive hockey. The opposite is true. Our game is not believe it or not people the trap. It's there's a forechecking system and I think if you went through our games that we played this year, and I haven't looked at this number but I would say easily over half the games, easily we have spent more time in the other team's zone than our own; that's usually an indicator of how well we're playing.

COACH MAURICE: It is all top secret now; didn't get to see practice today so all these majors changes that we have made will be unveiled on you tomorrow night. That's a treat for you. (LAUGHTER). Sorry. It was a good question though.

COACH MAURICE: You'd like to think so but this is obviously a different situation than any other time. So we rely on what we have relied on all year and that's great leadership that we do have in the room, you know, try to build a little bit of a positive feeling; at the same time keep a certain amount of that sense of urgency which is so important in this game, but that urgency can't take you to take you out of your element. Detroit is now sitting right in theirs. They have got a 3-1 lead, and whether it's in the game or in the series that's when they are at their most dangerous because they can play that real solid defensive style, not give you nothing and wait for you to crack, and run out of position and pinch too hard when you shouldn't. All those things that maybe we were guilty of at times in the last game they are waiting for that now.

COACH MAURICE: That would be top secret.

With the exception of our last game and only in parts of it, it's not like it was 3-0 at the start of the game. There are big chunks of what we are doing that we want to keep that we have done well that our players performed well. And I'd have no problem putting David Tanabe in the lineup. He's a good player and you know, sure, I'd like him to experience a little bit of this, but at the same time the guys that we have in the lineup got us here and they haven't done enough to deserve to come out. I think there's something to that. I think there's an important -- when you sacrifice as much as some of these guys have, you deserve the right to stay in. That's really not a statement about David Tanabe because he's a fine young player and we won't be hurting ourselves by putting him in, that's for sure.

COACH MAURICE: Sure, that's a good thing to feel because if you are down 3-1 and felt you have played your best you won't be bringing a lot of hope into this game. We feel that and I think we do every game. I don't think there was a loss that we have had this year that we didn't think there were things that we could do better. That's a good feeling to have. I know that we all feel that same way, that we have got more to bring; we have got more to offer, and we'll be in a position to do that.

COACH MAURICE: We are going to really work on him not leading any rushes, that's for sure. (LAUGHTER) I know that's making light of it, but the question is a good one because there have been times when things weren't going as well, that Arturs had a tendency to wander a little bit; get more physically involved in the game. That's the one thing that he's done extremely well in the Playoffs this year is really controlled his game to stopping pucks and being patient and position himself and not getting caught up in reaching for things that he can't get to, and again we rely on his experience there. We're not going to have to hold his hand in this one. But the emotions will run a little hotter here tomorrow and you do keep an eye on it. If he gets out early, then one of the veteran guys will swing by the net and say something politely to him and he will be fine.

COACH MAURICE: Well, I think that and a lot of people are going to disagree with me on this, but the foundation of both teams is their defensive game. You see Detroit and the names tell you that they are all offense run and gun. But their team game is not like that at all. Their team game is really based on 5 men playing great defense. Show you videotape after tape, clips of them having four and five at the defensive blue line, you know, two pressuring up and two guys driving back and one guy holding the middle. It's really difficult to get in on. That's why the home team, whether it's the two of us playing each other or against other teams, the home team always feels more pressure to put on a bit more of an offensive show, and in a lot of ways, sets up the road team's game.

COACH MAURICE: I change my mood and my attitude and my tone quite a bit over the course of the year, but there's a certain range that you stay in, you know, I mean, you only kick things once or twice a year, and that's an unusual day for you. But sure, there's been change over the course and your demeanor toward the team in the course of this series and every series it's not being consistent having the same mood everyday. It's not doing things that you don't or as a staff do ever and then coming up with something because I don't -- this game for our team has rarely been about emotion. You have watched us play all year, we played hard and sure, there's a handful of games that every team has that are dogs that you forget about, but it's not been ever with our team really a problem that emotionally you have a lot of ups-and-downs in the season. Even when things aren't going or when things were going well we played pretty much the same game and brought the same intensity level. I am not worried or at least I won't express that to the team that I felt that we were on a downswing or that our emotions weren't there.

COACH MAURICE: Kind of caught half and half, for one we got out at the end of the Jersey series it was 5-1, so it was the last game, so everybody knew. Some of them wanted to clap; some of them didn't want to clap. It was -- hey, we appreciate their support over the course of the year and we would certainly like to give them another show.