NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLUES v AVALANCHE

May 14, 2001

Scott Mellanby

Chris Pronger

Joel Quenneville

CHRIS PRONGER: Sometimes that's the way it works. You know, they've got a pretty good team. You know, in order to get to them, we have to get out to the lead early. We seemed to spot them a goal early in the game. It's tough battling back. You're skating uphill all the time. You know, when you give a team like that the lead all the time, it's tough playing against them. They just sit back, get the puck out. Patrick plays the puck so well, a lot of times it's tough to get a forecheck.

SCOTT MELLANBY: Well, I mean, I think we're encouraged by tonight. I mean, we didn't win, but we did a lot of things better. We had a lot of chances. I don't think we need to change a lot from what we did tonight. I mean, sometimes you play good games and you don't win; sometimes you play poorly and you do win. I think the important thing is to -- getting down to nothing is tough. We were up 2-0 to Dallas last series going home to St. Louis. I was scared to death. We're still in this series. You know, obviously we have to go out and win Game 3.

CHRIS PRONGER: Well, the first goal, you know, just puck had eyes. It's one of those things, it just seemed -- hit the post and went in. It's a pretty good shot. Traffic. Roman didn't see it coming off his stick. They get the empty net goal. I don't play count that as a power-play goal. They were 1-3. We certainly have to be a little bit better, but at the same time, you know, they score four seconds into a power-play. I don't know if you can even consider that a power-play.

CHRIS PRONGER: I don't think we're worried about the shots. It's just quality scoring chances and limiting where they're getting their shots from. If they shoot from the red line or blue line, that's fine. We just keep them to the perimeter and shut down the scoring lanes, try to create some turnovers and get in the transition game.

SCOTT MELLANBY: Well, it's tough to take when they go up by two goals. Obviously it's a big hole. Yeah, we felt obviously pretty good. To reiterate, we feel we had a lot of chances. It could have been our game tonight. But that's the way it goes. You know, now we're just going to have to overcome some adversity here and go back and get focused on winning the next game.

(Coach Quenneville joins press conference.)

COACH QUENNVILLE: Yeah, that was a tough loss. I think we were much better than the first game. We still have to be better to turn it around next game at home. I thought in the second period we had a lot of sustained pressure on their end, much in the third. But we've got to make sure that the shots get through and create some traffic. But, you know, I didn't think we got outplayed at all. But it was a loss. You've got to come back and get better.

COACH QUENNVILLE: Well, I think, you know, they're hard workers. They are lines that try to keep it simple knowing that their objective ties check and bring some energy to the games. You know, they've been working.

COACH QUENNVILLE: I think some of our top guys up front need to be better than their top guys. I think that will be the difference.

COACH QUENNVILLE: Yeah, it's frustrating knowing that there was a call, the elbow right to the head. You can't take a penalty there.

COACH QUENNVILLE: Well, you don't like losing any game. I know that being down 2-0 is a tough hole. But we go home and get some momentum back, get a win under our belt playing in front of our crowd, we'll need that. But we know that we got better and we'll continue to get better to get that first win.