NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAPLE LEAFS v HURRICANES

May 28, 2002

Paul Maurice

COACH MAURICE: I don't know. It's all wrapped up in the game. I haven't had a lot of time. I'm very pleased for a lot of the faces after the game, the relief, I think, on some of them, and the knowing that a lot of those faces have been here long enough that they remember other times. It's good for them to enjoy hockey again.

COACH MAURICE: I'm talking about Wesley and O'Neill and Kapanen and Francis and some of those guys, the coaches, Jim Rutherford, who have seen some thin times, and who will get a chance for a while to enjoy a real good series.

COACH MAURICE: I was concerned after the third because we played stronger and stronger as the game went on and had great chances to score. Joseph kept making those saves. And then, you don't get it out twice at the end of the game, and the guys that do it are your guys, and you wonder how that affects them. And Gelinas in Boston, four years ago, and in Greensboro three years ago -- the puck was all alone in front of the goaltender and the puck was dumped in front of the net and we lost the game. Now, scoring the goal, that was his. It was a bad day. You had to really watch it on video to really appreciate what happened. It was like hitting out of a bunker with a sand wedge and straight upcoming over the net.

COACH MAURICE: Both ends. Great saves. Jeff O'Neill had more hits alone tonight than in 20 games this season. Believe me, it's incredible what Joseph did. There's great goaltending in this series and a lot was said about the traps and the grind and the clutching and grabbing, but there was some good goaltending in the series.

COACH MAURICE: Rightfully so. At the end of the day. That line played very well. It was appropriate that one of those guys scored that goal. Wallins had two and we've had different guys in overtime. It's never the guys that you think, but appropriate for Marty. He's worked so hard. He deserves a little sunshine.

COACH MAURICE: We just did it so often all year, that overtime wasn't a big deal for us. I don't know, to be honest with you. One thing is that our game maybe doesn't change a whole lot from start to finish. Again, stronger tonight than in the last game. Our third periods are always real good. We're a really well-conditioned hockey team. But both the overtimes that we faced, or two of the overtimes that is we faced in this series came after late goals that were really a punch. But Archie made just enough saves there to give us a chance. Toronto played hard. They just don't quit and they never quit. That's the fear, you lose that game, and you all are all over us, and now I don't have to answer any of those, thank God. (Smiles).

COACH MAURICE: Just the tape recorder from the 7.6 seconds left. But in all honesty, we probably felt a little awkward tonight going into that overtime. It's still early in the series, but we felt it on the bench and thought we were a little uptight coming into the overtime. And we should be. That was tough.

COACH MAURICE: I was actually really pleased; that that goal goes in, it was very quickly after. But you can't possibly imagine how much bad luck this team had this year and still found ways to get to where they did this year. It's amazing, it's an amazing story, it really is. It's such a great story. I don't want to compare the two, because one is life and death and the other isn't, but it's the Saku Koivu great story great story in Montreal. It was a great story here. Everything that they have gone through, and they built this team with depth, and to survive exactly what happened. I'm not sure that maybe Pat Quinn got enough credit for the fact that he added all of those bodies. There was so much talk, for exactly what happened. They got decimated by injuries. Not so much by in our series, but in that Ottawa series against a very good team, they just lost a hell of a lot of horses. That's a credit to them. We probably benefitted from it because they had spent a lot to get here.

COACH MAURICE: We applied for underdog status. We will not be favored; is that fair to say? But then again, were we at any point? So that's not any big concern. We'll probably have a little fun with it, and take them home, rest the mongrels and see what we can do.