NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLUES v AVALANCHE

May 16, 2001

Jamal Mayers

Chris Pronger

Joel Quenneville

Scott Young

SCOTT YOUNG: I knew that I had a little space as long as Pierre could get me the puck. I knew Blake was standing there. I don't know if it deflected off him or what. I just wanted to get a quick shot off.

SCOTT YOUNG: Well, I think -- you know, obviously it must win for us. But the way we kept coming back in the game and getting the timely goal, you know, Mellanby's goal, Jamal's goal, we never quit. We showed a lot of character.

JAMAL MAYERS: Well, I mean, there's a lot at stake. And they've got a lot of fight in them. It's playoff hockey. They came out strong in the beginning of the overtimes, but I think that we seem to find energy ourselves.

JAMAL MAYERS: Well, obviously it's huge. We lose that game, it's uphill struggle at 3-0. But now we've got Game 4, 2-1 and win another home game and even it up. Just play physical during the game. Limit our turnovers and in the give any rush chances. They score a lot off the rush and if we limit that, we'll be successful.

SCOTT YOUNG: Well, I think we're encouraged by the fact that we have the puck in their end and we're getting a lot of shots on them, getting a lot of chances. You just have to believe that it's eventually going to go in the net. We have to get by the net, get by their defensemen, box by Patrick. I don't think it gets us down. We feel eventually it's going to go in.

CHRIS PRONGER: Well, I think there's a lot more we can do. You know, we still made a lot of mistakes out there. They got three goals, penalty killing. We've got to be a lot better. We've got to sacrifice, whether it be throwing yourself in front of a shot or what have you. You look at Colorado, they get in front of a lot of shots, they get down and block. We've got to do the same thing. If you've got to, throw your face in front of t. I think this was step in the right direction for our team.

JAMAL MAYERS: Well, just try to -- Prongs made a great play, I'm not sure who gave him the puck in the slot there. But we talked about it all series long and getting to the net and trying to make it difficult for Roy. I was just fortunate enough to tip it and just hope for the best. It was just a good play all around by everyone.

CHRIS PRONGER: Well, I think that we showed a lot of resilience as a group here and I think collectively we just dug down and knew that we were controlling the play for the most part, if you look at the shots. So I think that we just stuck with our game plan and try not to get down. We have a lot of leaders in the room that help keep us focused on what we're trying to do.

CHRIS PRONGER:Well, I think going in with the crowd booing him, I don't think anybody was too happy about that. He's one of the biggest reasons why we're here right now. We knew he'd shake it off and come back with a better effort. I think you saw that. He made some huge saves for us in the third period to keep it 3-2. And again in overtime, that one save in the first overtime, when we got his stick on that empty net, that right there just show there's no quit in him. He was good in there again for us and played well for us to win.

CHRIS PRONGER: Exactly.

SCOTT YOUNG: Well, I think that they showed tonight that they're not going to relax at all in this series. They're going to come after us whether think're up 2-0 in the series or 2-1. They came out and played hard and they're not going to quit. And we have to just kind of put this one in the back of your minds, try to keep some momentum in the next game. It keep as lot of home in the series now and we feel that we can go into this next game and with the next one, but it's not going to be easy.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: That was a great effort. You can't speak enough of what the guys accomplished tonight. We got ourselves way back in the mid of the series. Right from the goalie, had to overcome some adversity throughout the game. But the perseverence was relentless. And think we got it to a new level and we're happy where we're had and we're going to continue going forward.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: We're excited about coming home. We felt we'd get energized and the crowd was great. Our start was exactly what we wanted. They got back into playing catchup again which we've been familiar with throughout this series. But to come back twice in the third period against that team, you don't do that very often. We got through it with a great overtime. I don't know how many pucks we had to throw at the net, but we finally got it on No. 60 tonight. They give everything they had tonight. And I think this game will be instrumental, us going guard.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Well, I think he overcame a tough start. He made that big save there in the overtime, which turned out to be game saving type save. And I thought he had several saves after that. Blake in the middle of the ice coming down off the point a couple time, which were real dangerous. But he got the win and he's going get better from that. We're all pleased with everybody's contribution tonight and we overcome a little bit. But Roman was big when we needed him.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Well, I thought that was a weak call. I thought he got kind of draped down and he just hit him. I don't think it was -- I agree what the other penalty was. We showed that we competed. The first two periods both ways there was a number of penalties and there was a lot of special team play and a lot of four on four. We did what we had to do to get ourselves in the game.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: I'm not worried about his production, but I love how he competed. That second and third effort was there tonight. I thought we had a contribution from him and the guy that is we talked about going into it that we needed from him and we got it from everybody.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Yes. I thought we finished up with the Dallas series on and emotional high of getting everybody into the game. And today you can compare that game to the last couple games against Dallas. I think we went to a new level tonight and that's where we're hoping to get to. We're going to sustain it.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Yes. I think there was a lot of penalties out there. They were going both ways. But I think we had to -- that was the way it was going to be called. I think both teams adjusted and once you got later in the game, both teams recognized the way the game was going to be called and try to fight through whatever they could.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Well, that's a play that's going to come back and hand you when you miss and opportunity like that. It looked like we were extremely vulnerable. He was down and out. But Roman's still got his stick out there and it was his last hope and it turned out to be a great hope.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: I thought we did an extremely good job of getting there. And making it tough on them and making it tough on Patrick. We've got to continue to do that. It takes a lot of work to get there. But the way we battled and fought for our space tonight, is particularly to get in front of the net was noticeable and it's something that you've got to do if you want to get to him.

COACH QUENNEVILLE: Well, I'm extremely happy with the results. But I loved how we competed and played. That's -- it makes you feel really good about where we're at. I get a lot of reward after that. The win tonight solidified where we're at. Because it would have been and injustice to come out with a loss tonight.