NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

June 6, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: Well to me I don't think you base the fact that you are winning on whether you have a Conn Smythe trophy winner. I think to me I have got 25 Conn Smythe Trophy winners on my club. I don't look at individual awards. I think that individual awards are nice but teams win championship not individuals. I think it is just a testament of what this Playoff series has been like and this -- the whole Playoffs have been like because each series there has been a different guy pick us up at different times and really that's what the Playoffs are all about.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I didn't base a lot of importance on it only because aside from the first game Sakic really wasn't hurting us that much - looking at the games more and more when you have got a guy like Bobby that thrives on that kind of a challenge you know, probably I was -- I made a mistake by not maybe doing it earlier. But I think since we have been doing it Bobby has picked up his game and really you can't say that Sykora and Elias have picked there's up because at times they are still playing against him. But it just seems that Bobby has elevated his game.

COACH ROBINSON: He looked fine in practice. But he looked fine the other day. He just said that in Colorado he is having trouble focusing and I don't think that is the case today. He seems to be fine. All indication is that he will be ready for tomorrow.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, Bobby reacts very positively when he is given a challenge. I think that is where he plays his best when he is given a challenge. Bobby is just a big, strong hockey player that, as you say, fits in almost any era because he is a good skater; he has got great size and strength, just all of the attributes that you want in a hockey player, plus he loves to win.

COACH ROBINSON: Not only tells them how hard it is to win, but it gives them a good example for what our opponents are facing as well coming into here. The Avs faced elimination against the Kings as well. So this -- that's a hungry team over there and they have got a lot of veterans that I know will be ready to play here tomorrow night. Nothing in this Playoff series has come easy. Certainly this is not the time to think that this game is going to be any different than any of the other games played in the series so far.

COACH ROBINSON: No. I make moves for a reason but I don't -- I don't look back and scrutinize everything that I do. I look at a game for what the players are doing, not what the coach is doing. I will look at a game try to figure out what the other team is trying to do and maybe counteract what they are doing, but I didn't watch myself as a player and I don't like to watch myself as a coach.

COACH ROBINSON: They are a momentum changer. They can go in and change the momentum of a game by -- because they are physical and they all seem to get under peoples' skin, but at the same time they are capable of getting the puck in the other end and doing some damage low. John scored some big goals for us in the Playoffs and so has Turner, so that -- every team wishes they had a line like that, a line that you can rely on. You can play against anybody; play in any situation. Of course, Pando has just been a real workhorse out there. He is the kind of guy that you know, just goes hard every shift, every time he is on the ice. They are great people to have.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I liked Turner when he played in Montreal but the first thing that I noticed when he got here was how much he was all over the place. He just went. He didn't know where he was going and what he was going to get done, he was just more determined on going somewhere, hitting something and trying to create something. So I think the biggest thing that we had to work on was you know, his positioning and giving him a purpose for what he was doing because he is a big strong kid. He has pretty good hands for a big man. So that was the biggest change that we had with Turner. This is another guy that has got a great character.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I think when you get this far I think maybe one of the other series it's -- desperate team there's a little different desperation. I think the desperation here is that this is the ultimate for these hockey players. This is what they live for and -- it is a little bit of a different kind of desperation here - where there is no tomorrow for a lot of us. I think that they are going to come and you are going to see their best game of the series. You are not going to see them leave anything on the bench. There's a lot of pride over there. Like I said before, they are a very proud team; very well coached and they have got a lot of good veterans that know what it takes. It is going to take our best game of the year.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, the only explanation that I can tell you is my thought is that I think there are more distractions at home than there are on the road. I think it is harder for a team to really focus as well at home as it is on the road. You have family here. You have friends; people calling you, wanting tickets, wanting you to do this; want you to go here; telling how great you are and everything else. I think it distracts from your focus on the game. When you are on the road you are in a strange town and the only thing you have got to worry about is what time you have got to get up and what time you go to bed; maybe go see a movie. You only have to think about hockey. So I think that's probably the major reason that it is harder on the -- at home than on the road.

COACH ROBINSON: It has been that long, eh? (Laughs). I haven't really thought about that to be honest with you. I mean, the makeup, the core of the team is pretty well the same as when I took over. I think we have added a few key people in Alex being here and of course, every one of those young kids that were there for the first time when I took over are now -- have one more year under their belt and that makes a big difference as well. I think the addition of Jimmy McKenzie and Corkum and Odie and guys like that have given us a great amount of character. I think the biggest thing is our -- chemistry is a big thing. Everybody gets along well. Everybody wants to play for each other. That's the most important thing.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I mean, that's the only way you can create any kind of offense, let alone speed. If you are constantly getting the puck behind you or in your feet then you have to lose a stride and I think it is very important. But the importance comes from you know, being in the right position first of all, and being allowed the time to do it. We know darn well -- I mean, if you give Colorado time they have got -- they are a very high-skilled level team so you give them a lot of time, they are going to make those kind of passes. We have been just trying to get on them as quickly as possible and not allowing them time to make those passes. We try to stress -- I think a lot of our practices are geared around passing, passing and moving the puck because that's a big part of the game.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I think we kind of both come from the same kind of a background as far as hockey goes. Played together or played against each other for so long in different Canada Cups and what have you. Then I got to coach Slava for the first part when he was still with us in 1994. Very proud individual; very smart hockey mind. I think if he has one major drawback is that there is so many things that are in his mind like great hockey things that sometimes he has problems getting across because of the language barrier. I think he has done an unbelievable job as far as being able to get his point across in a language that is very, very difficult. English language is difficult. I think he has come along way and learned a lot, a lot about the game; a lot about himself, and he has been a great asset for us.

COACH ROBINSON: Never satisfied until everything is over with. To answer that question, we have been fortunate that we have been flirting with very dangerous situations so far and we have come away from them and that's why this makes tomorrow night's game that much more important because you don't win it then you are flirting with a Game 7, and that is not the right way to go. I think when you get an opponent in a position where you could eliminate them you have to take advantage of it because you never give a good hockey team a second chance.

COACH ROBINSON: No, you never get tired of winning Cups. You never get tired of being in this position because the time you start to be tired of doing this is the time -- it is time to go on and do something else. This is something that all of us work and strive for, whether you are a hockey player or coach, so I think the newness never becomes old.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, as you said, there are -- there's a big difference between being a coach and a player. I think as a player when the Playoffs were over and you have won the Cup it's just the satisfaction of knowing that you don't have to get banged up and beat up for another night and you are just kind of glad it is over. As a coach, I think it is just a culmination of a lot of long nights and sleepless hours and a lot of happiness for what you have had to put in in order to keep your group of 25 or 23, whatever it may be, players together as a unit and trying to get them to play at their best every night. So I got a tremendous amount of satisfaction from my Cups as a player, but I think for some reason or other I get even more satisfaction out of doing it as a coach.