NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v FLYERS

May 20, 1997

Mike Richter

Q. Mike, there have been, like, pockets of time and pockets of time in these games that are kind of opened up into a crazy helter skelter game. What do you attribute that to?

MIKE RICHTER: Well, I think these are two different teams from what you are used to seeing. We have the ability to keep it up, and we have great creative players on offense, and defense for that matter. And when you are playing against a team like the Flyers who also have the ability to create on the rush and really do a good job creating offense, you can get into a situation where you are trading back and forth a little bit. And the first three games surprised me. There is a little bit different need than I expected in that sense just like you are saying. You will go through feeling each other out, then there will be a couple of rush chances traded. But, you know, the key is to be able to keep that creative edge offensively and still maintain your discipline defensively. I think we are close to doing that. But we didn't do it as much as we could have today.

MIKE RICHTER: Well, I mean, it is hard. I don't have to think about it. Really, from my perspective starts with me. I've got to make a couple more big saves and, you know, we will be fine. That always is the answer if it happens. But, in general, you know, especially when we score a goal, we want to maybe control the play a little bit more. Once we tied it at 2, it is important to, you know, just settle it down. We did a really good job tonight of turning the tide. There was pockets of time where the Flyers really looked like they were controlling play. And then I thought in the second period, by the second half, we really were on top of our game and doing a lot of things very, very well. That carried over to the third. We did exactly what we wanted to do in the beginning, but we didn't contain that. I think we just have to play the successfully parts of tonight's game for a full 60 minutes, it will be fine.

MIKE RICHTER: Oh, yeah. I mean, we scored three goals. And you would think with a team that can be as good as we are defensively, it is enough to win. And you have to take responsibility, too. So, you know, I give the Flyers credit. They did a good job getting quality opportunities. But at the same time, you know, it is what you are asked to do, and hopefully hope for it next game.

MIKE RICHTER: No. They have got so many camera angles that, you know, quite often if there is a controversy, they can decipher one way or the other. It is what you want, because that can work for you or against you. You know, some of those times the ref might think it is in and it is not. So, you know, I'd rather have it accurate. And they have enough angles to make it accurate.

MIKE RICHTER: Well, I guess the only thing you can really control was how you are mentally, too. We have a great team. And probably more depth than people give us credit for. The guys that haven't been playing can step in. Like Dallas Eakins did a great job coming in. And we have more of that. Christian Dube did a real good job. And so did Eric Cairns. We -- obviously the injuries don't make it easier. But I still feel we can win with the gaps we have in our lineup. You just have to work that much harder, and we have the capability of doing that. And we almost did it tonight.

MIKE RICHTER: Oh, yeah, you are hoping -- to be honest, I couldn't make that call. I jumped across the net. I put my arm out and sometimes you can get a good read on it yourself. I couldn't. I just put my arm out. I know it hit me and that the question was whether I got it before it went cross the goal line or not. I think if you looked at it long enough to be able to tell that it must have gone over long enough.

MIKE RICHTER: No. I think if you remember playing hard and -- well, those breaks, I don't think they ever necessarily consistently go against you. I think you can -- there is always going to be bad bounces and breaks going your way one way or another. And I'd rather have the ref be accurate on whether it went in or not and not just be guessing. I think if you are working hard, you usually make your breaks. I don't think it is one of those things where we got the breaks in the earlier series and now they would be against us. That is not the case.

MIKE RICHTER: It was knocked down originally by our own guy. So we weren't really arguing that. But Bruce Driver went to swing it back to me. It is pretty much a nothing play if we get that stick back in my hand. And I think it was Zubrus, but I am not sure. One of their guys kicked it away purposely. You can't expect the ref to see everything. There is a lot going on out there. He missed it and they scored a goal.

MIKE RICHTER: Let us say what happens when you are down a couple of goals, you are going to have to open it up, take some chances or else you will lose. We understood that. You might suffer a little bit defensively by trying to get some offensive going. It worked for a bit. I just have to make one or two more saves. It came close. But it didn't happen. Flyers did a really good job, too, of countering. When they had got scored on, they had a couple of good shifts. I don't think it is a matter of not getting too much help. We were in a little bit desperate situation to be down 2 nothing. We did a great job coming back. We didn't finish the job by keeping the lead.