NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: RED WINGS v FLYERS

June 5, 1997

Terry Murray

TERRY MURRAY: Did I find a problem with it?

TERRY MURRAY: We have got to find a way to stop the bleeding, no doubt that the game today, it was an embarrassment. Detroit come out and really took it to us. We got the first goal of the game which we really wanted to do. It has been something that we thought was a problem in the first two games. And, they came right back and gained the lead almost at will. And, we have got to find a way. We have got to give a better effort, a complete total effort from everybody. We just got to find a way to get the job done here for one game now.

TERRY MURRAY: It doesn't matter if I did or not. That is irrelevant to the game tonight. What your best can be has nothing to do with what you need to in order to win a game. We just have to play better. That is all there is to it. The number of odd rushes against that we gave up tonight again were probably in the double digits and that is totally unacceptable, really uncharacteristic of our hockey club. We have got to just play better defensively and we are having a very tough time doing that. But, again, we need to get the job done. We got to get one win.

TERRY MURRAY: I think everybody saw what happened on the tie-in goal to make it 1-1, they are on the power play. We have a chance to get the puck with absolutely no forecheck pressure and get it out of our zone and we turn it over and it is in our net. And, those are -- the next goal, it's the same. It is just a puck possession that we have at our blue line. We are overhandling it, lose possession, and, again, it is a 2-1 game. So, there is nothing magical or mystery to what needs to be done in order to take care of some of the problems.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, I thought that the -- you know, I addressed that a couple of times already before today's game. The holdups that are going on out there is not allowing any forechecking, that was in the first two games, but that -- tonight that was not a part of the game. That was not there as far as part of the problem, rather, for us. We just didn't come out and do the stuff that we have to do in order to play a good game. Again, as I said, we have to get a complete and a total effort, a much better effort from everybody on our hockey club.

TERRY MURRAY: That hurts but it is not a killer. It is an opportunity. I thought the -- you know, the 5 on 3, the most -- the first thing you got to do is just get possession on in the offensive zone. Give it an opportunity to set it up and move the puck around and if you can get some possession time in the offensive zone for a minute, a minute and a half, there is going to be fatigue that will set in. With the three penalty killers, we never gave ourself the opportunity to do a job as far as moving the puck around and making fatigue a part of the problem for us.

TERRY MURRAY: It is not that at all. I think that after we got the lead and it became 2-1 very quick, it looked like we were just stunned. And then right away it is 3 to 1 and it had nothing to do with not trying. I thought there was a lot of good effort, but it is just not directed in the right way now. We need to get our heads squared. We need to start thinking a lot better, making decisions away from the puck. Again, as I alluded to, with the number of odd rushes that we have given up, probably I would think over a dozen again tonight, those are decisions that you make away from the puck. And, that started as soon as it became 2 to 1, we got ourselves into, let us chase the puck, let us hunt it down, let us get this thing even right away. And, Detroit are just too good of a hockey club if you are going to have three guys pursuing the puck deep in the zone, they move the puck so well, that they move by you very quickly and you have three guys trapped. And, it just never settled itself out after that. So the lack -- it is not a lack of effort. We need a more of a total effort, a complete effort. And, that includes the mental side of the game.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, you know, right now, I think we all need some confidence. I am not going to sit up here and cut anybody up or point the finger at any one player because we all need some confidence right now. I think we really need to stick together as a team. We have been through hard times before and difficult times. You hate like hell to see it at the Stanley Cup Finals, but right now we -- most important people right now are the guys that are in the dressing room. We need to support and each other and pat each other on the back, find a way to build our confidence level back up and get things going again in Game 4.

TERRY MURRAY: That comes back to the word you just said, "the team." I mean, Eric is a key part of our hockey club and I need more out of him than what we saw tonight. But, I definitely need more from John LeClair, from Michael Renberg. I need more from our defense. We need more from everybody. That is all there is to it. Again, when you lose like this, and you are looking to finger one or two players, that is the wrong thing to do. It is a team effort and it was lacking.

TERRY MURRAY: All we are looking for is one game. That is what we want. I don't know what the answer to that question is. I don't have a crystal ball. I think I would be BS'ing everybody if I said, yes, sure we can. We just want one win. That is it. We have got to come in the game Saturday and have our heads on straight, play smarter. If we can get one win, then we will look at the next one after that.

TERRY MURRAY: We have got good leadership in our dressing room. There have been plenty of situations over the past three years that you need people in the room to say and do the right stuff, to go on the ice and follow through with what they are saying and not just let it be lip service. We know what we have to do. That, we feel very comfortable with. We feel that, as a team, we addressed a lot of the areas in the past couple of days. But, you got to -- the change has to come from within. We have got to make that internally. We have to make it mentally and then go out and do it. We are only showing very sporadic play with doing the right stuff.

TERRY MURRAY: No. Paul Coffey -- we talked about this this morning. Paul Coffey was not here with the team. He received a concussion in Game 2 and was tested by our doctors back in Philadelphia. He was not cleared by our doctor. He rode the bike this morning for six, seven minutes and, you know, dizziness again. Big part of the area of concern, it is a slight concussion, but the fact that there was another concussion going back in December in Vancouver when he ran into one of his teammates, and any time you have that second concussion within six months, there is, I think, a greater hesitancy, to protect the player. So, he will have another test done tomorrow and everything is day-to-day.

TERRY MURRAY: Yeah, I am. I didn't think that the -- you know, even in the game tonight, there was a good feeling in the early part of it. We don't feel that Detroit come out and really had blown us away in any of the games with -- you know, I can say tonight is the exception as the game got going, and, certainly looked that way. But, in the first two games, we looked in the mirror, we saw ourselves as the worst enemy. And, that is where we have just got to get a better hold on our own game and approach Saturday's game as: Let us do things the right way. Let us give ourselves an opportunity to win one and then take it from there.