NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: STARS v DEVILS

June 6, 2000

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: I don't think it is an advantage or disadvantage for either one. It depends on which team is suffering most from bumps and bruises. And I think both teams are probably a little banged up. It has been a very physical series. So I think if there was momentum involved, it would hurt the team that has momentum. As I said last night at the press conference, when you get to the Stanley Cup Finals, I think momentum is kind of thrown out the door. Each game is its own little series, and that is the way that we have to look at it.

COACH ROBINSON: We were there firsthand, and we know that everybody was kind of counting us out. And there is a lot of veterans on the Stars, and I am sure they all believe that they have got nothing to lose, and they are going to come out and give it their best shot. So that is the way that we have got to look at it as well. We have got to look at this as being like a 7th game. We have to be prepared to go hard. It took 40 minutes for us to get on track. I think we made some mistakes. We got a little overexuberant; took some needless penalties. That is a great powerplay that they have got, and we can't expect to score shorthanded goals to win us games, especially Finals like this. We have to play smart, and we have to be ready go.

COACH ROBINSON: Everybody else looks at them as rookies. I don't. I look at them as hockey players with talent and with strengths, and you don't put a guy out there because he is first year in the League. You put a guy out there because you believe that he is capable of fulfilling whatever you want done on that shift. So I don't look at a guy as a rookie. I look at a guy that he is an another member of our team and a very important member of our team.

COACH ROBINSON: Trust me, they are nervous. I could be there father, but I still get really nervous. If you don't get nervous, then you don't care. I can't say that they don't care. They care a lot. Everybody hides their nervousness in different ways, and it is up to each of the individuals to use that nervousness and that energy that they have to help them be better players on the ice. I think that is what is happening right now. They are using that nervousness to help them play through fatigue, because I am sure I know everybody is fatigued at this point. You don't play as long as we have and not get a little bit tired. So that is how you have got to use that nervousness.

COACH ROBINSON: I really -- I don't look at it from a personal standpoint. I look at this as a great opportunity. We have come a long way. We have gone through a lot of obstacles up until now, and the satisfaction and the feeling that I get is when it is over. You know the old saying you don't count their chickens before they are hatched. We have got a long way to go now, and there is nothing that we want to do more then to get this thing over with, no more than myself. I mean, we have been at this a long time; got a grandson waiting to see his grandfather. So I'd like to get back and see him.

COACH ROBINSON: You try not to think about it. I think that what you have to do, and what I try to do, is just to concentrate on what you have to do to play and what you are going to be facing. And what you try to do is to think what they are thinking about. I think that is maybe what helps you, that, you know, you try to put yourself in their situation and what they were thinking if you were the one that were in their position. You go out there like there is no tomorrow. Try to take it a shift at a time and not get yourself too emotionally involved and do something foolish out there that could cause your team to be at a disadvantage.

COACH ROBINSON: Everybody thinks differently, but I know how I would feel if I was in that position. In fact, I have got nothing to lose. You just go out there and try to do the best that you can. And I am sure they realize that they were in this game right up until third period last night, so they have got a lot of very good hockey players over there, veteran hockey players that have been there before, and they are not going to quit, we know that.

COACH ROBINSON: A couple of bounces here and there. You look at every series, and there's always things that happen along the way, where you get a bounce here or a lucky goal or an opportunity that, you know, went wide. I look back to the game last night and -- where Modano has that great chance. Marty comes sliding out and makes a great save, you know. So there are always little turning points that can make a difference in a series.

COACH ROBINSON: No.

COACH ROBINSON: What is my message?

COACH ROBINSON: Get some rest. Get some fluids in your body, because these two games here were really hot. I think rest at this point is really important at this juncture of the series. Try to stay focused. I think that is the most important thing. When you are in this position, you know you are going to have thousands of people telling you how great you are and how you are going to walk around with the Cup the next game and so on, so forth. And that has got to be the furthest thing from your mind. You have to deal with reality, and reality is we still got to win another game, and it is a big win and probably the hardest one to win.

COACH ROBINSON: Our youth? Thank you very, very much (Laughter.) Well, I think -- I don't know if youth has a huge bearing on it. This is something that as a coach you cannot teach how to be in pressure situations and be in a situation like this. This is a great teacher for them, and it is going to help them in their future careers, and everybody has made a contribution. That is the great thing about this Playoff run is that we have had some outstanding leadership from our veterans, but we have gotten, you know, every night there is somebody else that has stepped it up, and it hasn't just been a one- or a two-man team. That is what it has been. It has been a team effort, from guys that maybe only got in two or three games, to guys that are out there practicing and not maybe getting involved in the games. It has been a team effort from everybody.

COACH ROBINSON: It is always great to win it in front of your home crowd. But personally, I had as much fun winning it on the road, because that plane ride back was always fun.

COACH ROBINSON: The fourth win is always the toughest one because, I don't know, for some reason or other, you know, the end looks like it is so close, but yet it is so, so far away. You know, you got to keep telling yourself that it is -- that it is not over; and like I said, there is going to be so many distractions with people telling you, oh, you know, you are going to win it at home; so on, so forth. You just got to really, really -- this is a -- more a mental time of the year than any time before that, because it -- there are so many distractions, and we have to be and remain as focused as we ever have.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, yeah. But like I said, last one is the toughest one.

COACH ROBINSON: There is a lot of difference. As I said before, I think the toughest thing about being a coach is that you have to be preparing 20 or 24 guys as opposed to just preparing yourself. And you are always thinking of what you can do to prepare them and what you can say, and say it at the right time, and when is the best time, and stuff like that. So it is difficult.

COACH ROBINSON: Yes, a lot more.

COACH ROBINSON: Carpenter and I were talking about that the other night, and Carp was a player when we won the Cup here 1994/1995, I guess it was. He was just telling me that the feeling that he got when we won in Philadelphia, something that he has never seen before. I said it was great as a player because you were so banged up and you have been playing for so long and you are going: "Oh, geez, it is finally over. My bruises can go away." For a coach, it is just seeing guys that have never been there before, the euphoria that they are seeing, and, you know -- actually, you know what they are feeling because you were there before. So it is great to see guys that are jumping around like little kids. It is just -- it is a super feeling for a coach.

COACH ROBINSON: The first time I think it is like a novelty, it is great, and it is something that you have never felt before, but the second one, you know, you are kind of looking forward to it, because you know the feeling that you had before. And so I think you get to relish the second one a little more than you did maybe the first one because it is -- all the first-time memories and everything else, you probably said to yourself: Well, gee, there are a lot of things -- I was so excited. There were a lot of things that I had done. So you can use the second one maybe a little bit more to your advantage.

COACH ROBINSON: I haven't done anything differently.

COACH ROBINSON: No. I was still keen when I left L.A.. Everybody just said I looked older, so I am now older.