NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: STARS v DEVILS

June 1, 2000

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: Brian has been playing really, really well. I thought tonight, though, he was trying to do way too much. As a result, they were forcing him to turn the puck over way too much. But when he is on his game he moves the puck and can skate really well. He's a very valuable player for us.

COACH ROBINSON: No, I don't think so. Just a case of nothing happening out there and trying to do it all himself instead of sticking with the game plan, I think more so that.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I think in a way, yes, because Modano can create his own space out there. He is such a skilled player, when he gets the puck, he is very dangerous to any defensemen. Hull, I mean, probably the best pure shooter in the League. Doesn't need, as he showed on that one goal, even though it was four feet off side, he doesn't need a lot of chances.

COACH ROBINSON: Way too much. They lined up 4 across the blue line. They were trying to beat them. That is why we didn't get any penetration.

COACH ROBINSON: No, just guys not doing what they are supposed to do.

COACH ROBINSON: I don't think we dominated the game. I think that Dallas were much more aggressive on their forecheck tonight. I thought our decisions tonight with the puck were very poor, and I think overall that was probably our worse game that we have played in probably the last four, five games. And yet we were still very, very close. So it is encouraging that we can play as poorly as we did and still be close to the Stanley Cup Champions. As much as they may feel good about themselves, we don't feel very good about ourselves, because we didn't show them our best game. So now we are 1 and 1. They didn't play their best game; we didn't play our best game. So we are going back to Dallas to see who is the best when we both play well.

COACH ROBINSON: Just before the goal they came across, I spoke to one of the linesmen about the play, and he missed it. He was looking for the icing and showed clearly on the replay that Lehtinen was about four feet off side when the puck entered the zone, and then shortly after that, the puck went over to Hull and he scored the goal. But, hey, that is not the reason we lost.

COACH ROBINSON: It's not the end of the world. It is the same -- I don't think it is time to panic or anything like that. We certainly know we didn't play very, very well, and we have to play a lot better in that building. We seem to play much better with adversity, and we certainly created enough of that for ourselves. And so we just have to go back to what we have been successful with. And we have stuck to our game plan very, very well. This is certainly not 3-1. It is only one-to-one. There is no reason why we can't go in there and play well and see what happens.