NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PENGUINS v DEVILS

May 18, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: Yes, Lou and I had talked about that in the morning, actually we've talked about it a couple of times, and I think the experience of Carpenter being there before, the response of importance of these games, any little edge that we can get, we're trying to do that. That's the one and only reason that we did it.

COACH ROBINSON: Not necessarily. What he was helping in mostly was the -- you know guys were coming back, more positioning and the stuff that I don't always have time to do in the course of a game, because you are trying to get your lines ready.

COACH ROBINSON: Which big three?

COACH ROBINSON: Well, there's not much you can do. To me, I think their team consists more of just the big three. They have got their first three lines are as good as any three lines in the League. I think the teams that play against them, the big mistake that they make is that they put all of their energies into three guys and forget about their lesser-knowns who end up, you know, scoring goals on them. You know, they keep Mario and Jagr in check, but now, all of the sudden Straka is scoring or Kovalev is scoring or Morozov is scoring or Lang. You know, this is playoff time and I don't believe in putting all of your energies into three people. Of course, you have to pay special attention, but, no, we're not going to do anything differently than we have all along. You have to be aware of everybody when you're on the ice.

COACH ROBINSON: I'm certainly not coaching with that thought in mind. It certainly was nice to see how we played. I think for a change, we were not waiting to do things. We were jumping. I thought we skated well. Our positioning was much better than it has been in a long time, and guys were confident in each other. We weren't waiting for the other guy to do it. We were initiating. Everybody was reading off of each other, and that's what you need.

COACH ROBINSON: The process is having everybody on the same wavelength. You've got to have five guys thinking the same way. If you've got two guys thinking offensively and one thinking defensively and the other two in between, you know, there's always a hesitation, and you can't have hesitation. No, you've got to have everybody on the same wavelength. I think that's so important, more so because Pittsburgh has the type of players that feed on mistakes, and more mistakes that you make, the more chances that they are going to have. So you really have to limit your chances, and if you do limit your chances, the chances that you give them can't be glaring chances, as we did the other night in New Jersey, where we turned the puck over right at our blue line in the middle, probably the most dangerous place on the ice surface that you can do that. So, if you are going to make mistakes or are going to turn the puck over, you're better to do it where they have 180 feet or whatever to come back and not be making big mistakes on your own end.

COACH ROBINSON: You know, my philosophy is not going to change. The Carolina series is over. The Toronto series is over. The first three games are over. So all we're going to look at is how we are going to prepare ourselves for the fourth game. You know, look over the things we did last game, try to improve on them. Or in some cases, continue doing what we were doing and just prepare for the fourth game. I think any time you start to dwell or live on the past, then you are not preparing yourself for the future. Learn from it, but go on. And playoffs is about, you know, shutting off the game that you just played and getting ready for the next game. So I am hoping that we, and I hope and I'm confident that we can come out and play a strong game, and I think if we play a strong game, then we have a chance to win. If we go out and we try to open things up, then we are playing Penguins hockey and not Devils hockey.

COACH ROBINSON: I would not say insurmountable. We have to look at it as if we win tomorrow, we are in a great position. We go up 3-1, and that's much better than being at 2-2, now 2-2, you are going back home and it is a two-out-of-three series, and a two-out-of-three series are a killer series, especially going against the power that they have. So, this is a big game for us.

COACH ROBINSON: That's not big picture. All we're doing is looking at the next game.

COACH ROBINSON: I think that's understandable. Usually the guys that come off a layoff, such as he had, what, six or eight days, you are either going to come out and have a great game the first game and then a so-so game the next one. Or you're going to kind of struggle a little bit with your time and everything else and then all of the sudden the second and the third game, you're going to start to come on. So, I'm not surprised. I think Niedermayer is going to get between Nieder as he gets along, as he feels better about his condition.

COACH ROBINSON: Very good, yeah. I believe in a guy like Randy because of the way that he plays, given as much time off without sacrificing his timing and conditioning; that this is a key time for him and he can rest and give the best.

COACH ROBINSON: Oh, I think it's always -- it's always nice to get out there and especially on the road and get first goal, because all of the sudden now you take the crowd out of the equation. And, you know, they are a boisterous crowd, any crowd is boisterous in the playoffs, so by scoring the first goal, it does calm things down a little bit.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I don't know about discourage them. I think when you've got great players like that, you have to guard them closely and I know Mario mentioned we were clutching and grabbing, but you do whatever you can within the rules of the game to try to keep them from getting opportunities. I mean, great players like that, you just -- you can't give them a lot of time, because they are going to come back and haunt you and score the goal that's doing going to hurt you. So you have to make life miserable for them.

COACH ROBINSON: I'm not a good reader of body language. Lips, I can read. (Laughter).

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I liked him a lot in L.A.. I think the biggest drawback from when he was in Los Angeles was his workout. We were on him constantly about watching his weight. I thought -- we thought he could play lighter. I don't know what he was, 235 or something like that, and I felt that for him, his ideal weight would have been closer to 230, 225, in there, and that he's the type of guy that his body-makeup, but he had to do the extra. I guess I wasn't convinces enough, because Jacques Lemaire was able to get him to do that, and I think the fact that he was able to play such a key role in Minnesota and was called upon and got to play a lot; you know, he found out firsthand what it was like. But, he's the type of guy that, you know, very steady back there, big and strong, and he's got to play the game simple, but he's got to play it at a high them tempo.

COACH ROBINSON: Confident? Confidence in play and confidence and playoffs don't go hand in hand with me. I'm confident about things when the playoffs are over. I have inner confidence in my team and what they are capable of doing, but I don't like to show that confidence, because I feel the confidence also breeds complacency, and there's no room for complacency in playoffs. You've got to play every shift, every game, every period like it's your last period, and that's the mindset that you have to take in playoff time.