NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAPLE LEAFS v HURRICANES

May 16, 2002

Pat Quinn

COACH QUINN: Obviously, things happen with athletes. They get into grooves sometimes. Even though I'm sure probably at the end of the game they feel very fatigued, that groove takes over. It's kind of a thing that benefits them. Not all the time. There's a wall there someplace. But clearly, they mustered up some good strength.

COACH QUINN: With the penalties, again, as you know, our penalty killers are on those lines, so that gave them an extra burden to log a lot of ice and was a real test for them.

COACH QUINN: We can't play -- I guess if we had a nemesis during the 82-game schedule, we get lax with our defensive position. We cruise a little bit, go to bad spots. Right, now our guys are concentrating more on -- and he saw it in Game 6 and 7 with Ottawa -- we were a lot stronger with our positioning and it carried over tonight. We were quite good through the neutral zone, and it forces a lot of things on the other team. It requires patience and sometimes you get frustrated. A lot of things can happen. So it worked well for us. Even though it was a one-goal game all night long.

COACH QUINN: He's been getting in my opinion stronger through the playoff series, all the games, and tonight might have been his best effort, his best outing, but he's been playing pretty good. Tonight he was around the puck and he had a solid game tonight.

COACH QUINN: There are some nights he still is. (Laughs). You know his history. He's very gifted, and he always shuns that away whenever you talk to him personally, but he knows he's a gifted athlete. He can play any kind of game that he should wish to play. He's that sort of -- he has that sort of skill level. He's been making real contribution battling through the puck, throwing body checks, the things that during 82 games you won't see too often but right now he's doing it. Probably that move from Vancouver to New Jersey was really beneficial in opening up his eyes to what he wants personally out of this game. It's not just economics. We all know that he has that, but there's more in this game. There's more to be had, and I think he shows it sometimes, especially this time of year.

COACH QUINN: There's just obvious, if you happen to win the first game, we did, then it would be a shame not to do your best to win the second game because it obviously can give you a terrific advantage going home. But, let's face it, that was a close game tonight. They had a lot of chances and we needed terrific goaltending. It was a one-goal game again. So, we happened to win this one. We'll look at Game 2 the same way. Let's see if we can be good and do the little things that will help us get a chance to win, and there's no guarantee, but if we do those things, we will have a chance.

COACH QUINN: I think he's getting the feel back. He's always been, to me, not the kind of goalie you write the textbook on. His terrific ability to me is reading the play and he gets himself in the way and he makes the stops. That, to me is his big strength. I think he's getting that feeling back, or has it back.

COACH QUINN: I'm thinking about a two-hour practice. I don't want them to lose that. (Laughs). Obviously, the day should stand us in good stead as far as healing up a little bit and bow getting rest that one day doesn't allow you. I don't want it to lull us into some mental drop. The physical part, we all know at this time of year, that's probably the side that's the least important. So we sure don't want to have any drop in that alertness and sharpness around the puck and position that we need to have to advance.

COACH QUINN: I try not to let myself think about that a lot. You know, as a coach, you're one of the leaders of the team, so you can't show an emotion that indicates that we've lost some people; and therefore, what's the use. We worked hard and long to get here. And look around, let's see if we can do it with what we've got and why can't we. I think that's just an attitude that you have to have when you're in team sports.