NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

June 8, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: I wish I knew. It seems that different teams show up every night. They come out the very first game of the series. We looked like we didn't belong and then all of a sudden we come back and play a good game the second game and since then it has been kind of back and forth, no one really kind of taken over. We were fortunate to win, you know, two in a row, but then we just didn't put a very good effort in last night, so I don't know how to really answer your question. I think that certainly what it is going to come down to is you know, the team that can stay as patient as possible and it looks like the one that can make the other team pay for its first mistake usually has got the upper hand.

COACH ROBINSON: Well the only adjustment that we have to make is to go back playing the way that we did in games 4 and 5. I thought we -- especially in Game 5 we played a much better game as far as applying pressure and forcing them into mistakes, and when we sit back and wait for them, I mean, that seems to be the thing that is hurting us right now. The other thing being that we have to get our powerplay going because that game could have been over in the first period with a number of powerplay chances that we had. And we have to stop taking stupid penalties at the wrong time.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, it's not going to make that much of a difference today. The game starts tomorrow. The preparation starts today and I think, you know, we started preparing ourselves, but it doesn't make any sense to be uptight about it. I think we have all said it, that if we were to take this position starting September, and somebody offered you a chance to play the 7th game of a Stanley Cup Final, would you take it. Of course, you'd be crazy not to. We are in a terrific position to be -- you know, two teams -- the only two teams left in the League battle for six games, traveled, went through a lot of highs and lows and now ultimately comes down to 60 minutes of hockey. If you can't give and sacrifice 60 minutes of hockey then you may be in the wrong sport because right now there's no more practices. After this there will only be your questions one more time and all you have got to do is just go out and give your best for maybe at the most 10, 15 minutes depending on who you are. If you are others maybe 29 or 30 minutes, but that's all it comes down to.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, that's -- I mean, you can go farther back than that. Bill Gadsbye played 20 something years and never won a Stanley Cup as well. But before you start feeling some other for other people you start feeling some other for your own people and we have got a lot of people in our dressing room as well that haven't won it before. And we also have other people that have a chance in the team that was here last year, have a chance to win it two times in a row which is something that is also very, very unique. But I also sympathize with Bob and Ray but I can't really feel sorry if they don't win it because that means that I have a chance to win it again and our people. That's just the way the sport goes, there always has to be a winner and there always has to be a loser.

COACH ROBINSON: If it's anything the way the other games have gone nobody has been conservative. I think Colorado are the type of team that really come out and come at you right off the bat. That's what I think that we have to be prepared for, this building is going to be very, very noisy. There's going to be a lot of emotion involved and we have to be under control of our emotions and we have to take over that crowd. In order to do that, we have got to back them up in their end and we have got to bang them and be physical on them as much as we can. But also we have to be able to play good position and not give them as much room as we did last night.

COACH ROBINSON: Yes. I think there's also a lot of pride involved. I think that our team was embarrassed in our own building in front of our own fans, and there's only one way to combat that embarrassment and that's to come out and play hard and win tomorrow night.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, it doesn't happen very often. I was involved in one actually my very first year in the League, 1972/1973 in Montreal against Chicago battle of the goaltenders, Tony Esposito and Kenny Dryden, and the Queens Elizabeth was all set up for the big bash after we won the Cup at 8-7 for Chicago, we had to go back to Chicago, we were down two to nothing with about a minute left to go in the first minute. Henri Richard scored a goal, made a comeback, won the Game 4-2. I have been there before. I know what it is like to have it so close and almost lose it. But I also know how sweet it is to win in the other team's building.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I think that question has been asked about three or four times and I will repeat that I think that we play better on the road because we have also less distractions. We don't have family and friends and everybody else, you don't have people calling for tickets, asking for passes. The only thing we have to concentrate on the road for is the hockey game and that's probably the major reason why we play better on the road.

COACH ROBINSON: I think they do. I think once you win it. Once I think you realize just how hard it is to get there and if you have ever had that feeling you ask anybody that's ever won it they can't describe the feeling. But all you know is that you want to have that feeling again. It is something that that never goes away. You always have that every time you step on the ice, whether it is training camp, or whether it is the middle of the season, you have that picture in your mind and you want to have that feeling back.

COACH ROBINSON: I think when you get down to the 7th game, I think actually in this series you know, I think both teams have stuck to the four lines a little more than maybe they would normally do. But I still think our guys are well rested and fresh. So I think I will probably if I have to shorten the bench and go with the guys that I feel are ready to play and ready to play hard.

COACH ROBINSON: If you don't play nervous you are not in the Playoffs or you don't care. That's, I mean, I have been 30 years in the business and I still get as nervous for these games as I did for my first game. That's just part of it. You have -- but you have to control your nervousness and make it work for you. That's going to be the most important thing.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I was big Chicago Blackhawk fan so I was always Bobby Hull and that's as far as my memories go back. You always remember, you know, playing for a Stanley Cup and scoring the winning goal and all that kind of stuff. But really when it gets to this point, I don't really -- me it was different when I was a player but as a coach I don't really look back on my career and what I did as much as maybe looking and trying to find little things that might help our players to make them feel more relaxed or to give them some kind of an idea of what they are facing. So you do search back and look for things that may help.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, no, I don't -- you know, everybody is an expert when you can look back and say would have, should have, could have, I don't think I would have done anything any different. You always try to have a gut feeling, you know, why do I play Sutton instead of O'Donnell, or you know, should I put Arnott in or should I have tried to keep matches. You always play with those things in your mind, but you can't dwell on those. You just got to look for answers and look for things that you have got to work onto make you better in the next game.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, the biggest reason I can see that and it's tough to really say whether it is right or wrong, is that what I said last night is that we had -- I think we had too many guys that were looking to be the answer instead of being a part of the answer. By that I mean, instead of being the one that maybe had to go and take a beating in front of the net instead of being the one in the slot taking the shot, we wanted to be the guy taking the shot all the time, so we wanted to be the one to score the goal not the one that created the goal. So I think we ended up playing too much as a bunch of individuals as opposed to a team.