NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 27, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I mean, depends. You have to look at the game back over again you know, see what went wrong and see what adjustments you can make. I mean, as much as the score indicated, we only gave up 10 scoring chances. They scored 5 goals on them. So, there is some work to be done, but just small adjustments. I think most of it is, I think the trip took more out of us than we like to admit. Getting here the day before and the rest is that we got outhustled and outworked. Normally you can make up for mistakes or whatever, but most of the time our team doesn't get outworked.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, we wanted to get certain defensemen out there against certain lines and the fact that Scotty and Daneyko played the previous series against the Lemieux line, we just were kind of searching as to who we might put together against the Sakic line or who we might play against the Drury line. So, I think when a game gets going like it did last night, I guess you are just searching for some little spark somewhere that maybe will give the team a lift or change the momentum around a little bit.

COACH ROBINSON: I won't call it a shock. I think we were all very, very disappointed. I think we weren't happy with our game. We weren't happy with the way that we got handled physically and how we got handled in the work area. So, I think more so than being shocked I think disappointment is a better word.

COACH ROBINSON: We have got a number of options. We have got a few players that have played on the right side before, Corkum is also a good possibility. He has played the right side. By putting him in the lineup it also gives you an extra penalty killer and another guy that can take faceoffs. We weren't poor on faceoffs, but yet again that's an area that we could shape up.

COACH ROBINSON: No, all indications, he is out for the series, yeah.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, there is -- I guess everybody has got different theories. There is a theory where you come in a week before which of course, we couldn't do and then there is the other theory where you come in as late as possible and the altitude doesn't have as much of an effect on you. We took the latter. We tried it during the regular season. We stayed in Phoenix and come up the day of the game; couldn't do that in this case because we all had to come in and talk to all you wonderful people the day before, so we did it as late as we could with that thought in mind.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, it wasn't so much just McKay. It was that whole line, Bobby Holik and Sergei Brylin and at times we even -- we had Nemchinov and Mogilny, but I think the tandem of Daneyko and Stevens also had a big effect as well. I think Bobby Holik played some of his best hockey as well.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, no, I still think you know, Bob mentioned that he would like the matchup of Sakic going against Arnott. So, I think that if they want to keep that matchup I feel very comfortable with it too because I think that the Arnott line is capable of playing better as well. As far as defensive pairings go, we will probably make some changes, but most of the time we'd probably like to get Scotty out there.

COACH ROBINSON: No, because I don't think that we can afford to take penalties on that team. They have got a good powerplay. There is a better way of delivering a message and that's just to play physical. Last night, aside from a little bit in the third period, I don't remember too many times that any of their players really received any kind of a bad check out there and you know, if -- with a -- with their speed, if they are not being physically challenged then they are going to skate and they are going to skate against you all night. So, we have to do a much better job of getting on them and finishing the checks when they are there without running around and getting out of position.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I don't -- Scotty is always going to be a physical presence but it just doesn't come down to Scotty Stevens to set the tone. This comes down to other guys on the team. The Arnotts and the Bobby Holiks and the Eliases and so on and so forth, I mean, everybody has to contribute. You are in the Finals right now and if you want to play and you want to play at your best and you are not scoring goals then you have to do other things well. That means that guys that don't normally consider themselves physical players they still have to be a part of the physical game. They have got Hinote and Drury and even Joe's out there finishing checks and we have to get the same thing from our players.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I don't think so. I think what they did is they just -- they outhustled us, beat us to the loose pucks. A lot of the times we were caught standing still; they were dumping pucks and chipping them past us with speed and we weren't in good position.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, this isn't about Scott Stevens. It is about the New Jersey Devils. Certainly it is not because of Scott Stevens that we lost 5-0. It was because we collectively - and that starts right from the goaltender right now - did not play at our best. If you are not playing at your best in the Stanley Cup Finals, you are not going to win games because there is a reason why the Avalanche are here. It is because they are a good team and they play well. So we have to play well to compete. We are not just going to be able to put our sticks on the ice because we are the defending, so-called defending champions. You have to go out there and you have to play well.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I was kind of happy at least we showed a little bit of life. We didn't show too much before that. So at least we showed a little bit of spunk and showed that at least we cared and we are upset that we weren't playing well. I wouldn't like to see that become a habit of running around and doing the things that we did, but at least we showed a little bit that we were upset.

COACH ROBINSON: Yeah, I think Scotty is fast enough. I think really when it comes down to it, I don't think that -- and I don't believe that you should sacrifice, you know, momentum and position on the ice just because you want to get a change and get somebody against another player. If the opportunity is there, then of course you want one of your better defensive players and Scotty is one of our better defensive players out there against their best defensive player. But not at all costs. I have faith that if somebody else is on the ice when Sakic is there that they can do the job as well. You just have to be aware of -- it is like any great hockey player, you have to be aware of where they are on the ice, and I don't think that our awareness last night was where it should be.

COACH ROBINSON: If I had an explanation for it probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. I thought that we were well prepared. We went over how they were playing. I think that No. 1, everybody here is such great writers are players read everything that you wrote about them and believed in it and unfortunately I also believe you do a great job, but I haven't seen an article yet that is going to help you win a hockey game. I think we just read how good we were and how we were going to walk all over the Avalanche and we started to believe all of our clippings and read all of our clippings just how good we were and forgot that the games are still one and lost on the ice.

COACH ROBINSON: I think what happens is the air is thin and if you stay out there on the ice too long and you get into a long shift you deplete the oxygen in your blood system and all of a sudden the lactic acid builds up in your legs. You not only lose your breath but all of a sudden now you don't have the same jump in your legs, so I think it is so important that you not get caught in a long shift just because of the thinness of the air.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I breath pretty good and I am pretty old. I think it is mostly that you got to be careful no matter how old you are, just of not getting caught in a long shift. I think even a young kid out there, if he gets caught early in the game I think that affects him just as much as it does an older player.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I don't think so. I think collectively as a team we weren't as good as we should have been and I think they frustrated us more because they didn't give us very much room to skate and they were outhustling us and outhitting us and our players just started to get frustrated because they didn't have that room. But I don't think it had anything to do with more than what Foote was doing than what Ray or Blakey or de Vries or anybody else was doing. They just -- they were in our face more than they should have been.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, probably I might -- what I will probably end up doing is putting Corkum, he seems to be the legitimate choice, right-hand shot, and he gives us another penalty killer, he is also a good centerman in the event that we need a big faceoff. So seems the most likely candidate.

COACH ROBINSON: Yeah, probably. I still believe that, especially when you get to this point and against a team like Colorado who have a lot of energy and a lot of speed, I think in the end four lines is going to pay dividends. I am not going to say the fourth line is going to get as much as maybe the other three, but in the long run, I am a firm believer in going with your full club, if you want to play the way that we have to play.

COACH ROBINSON: Certainly rather lose the first game 5-0 than the 7th game 5-0 in the playoffs. It doesn't matter if you lose 5-0 or 1-0, it is still a loss. Every game is different. I think we would have been ecstatic if we had to have come in here thinking we were going to take both games. So the only thing that we can do is get ourselves home-ice advantage by going after the second game. I think Blakey is right in that the nice thing about the Playoffs, especially when you are on the losing end is that you can push that other one aside, but you also have to learn from it as well.

COACH ROBINSON: I have done that. It would be different if we moved Madden up to the left side, but I think that that line, Madden line has been a very good line for us. As a matter of fact, was probably our best line as far as their energy and finishing checks and having scoring chances last night. You hate to break that line up. So it makes sense to better to move one than to move a bunch of guys around.