NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 17, 1999

Lindy Ruff

LINDY RUFF: I have no read on it yet. Our doctors are looking at him.

LINDY RUFF: I had thought both teams emotionally really gave it everything they had. It was a lot of emotion out there on both sides and it was tight as tight could be. Not a lot of ice for either team.

LINDY RUFF: Well, I thought we worked extremely hard tonight. Even in the third period we let it all hang out. We had the pressure on them. We weren't generating a lot of quality chances. We did have a couple truly good ones, we had a deflected shot that just went wide of the net; couple other ones down low. But you know, the games are so tight, it is a 1-goal game, a team that gets the break or scores the powerplay goal obviously gets the upperhand. But you know, as we said before, you can't get too high after winning and you can't get too low after losing. We are a confident team in our building and our players believe they will be back here for Game 7.

LINDY RUFF: I don't -- there wasn't a lot of matchups. Didn't think Ken tried to get away from too many. I didn't look to too many. Seemed like all lines were equally matched. It was down in front of net, you just don't get too much. Five guys laying there blocking shots, knocking people down, it was that way at both ends. I thought we came out really good in the first period. They took it to us for a while in the second and then the third period Dallas must have iced it 10, 12 times to relieve pressure.

LINDY RUFF: No, he had a very good night. I thought both goaltenders played extremely well. It has been typical for every game. You just don't get much and there hasn't been a lot of mistakes made by either goaltender.

LINDY RUFF: I was angry because Hitch was angry at me, so I guess we were both emotional. He started yelling at me; I was yelling back. Crowd was so loud I couldn't hear what he was yelling. I doubt if he could hear what I was yelling. Heck with it. (laughs)

LINDY RUFF: I thought he played very well. Skated well obviously. They got a break on the faceoff; we wanted to get the second goal. Zhitnik tried to deke him and obviously picked his pocket. He played well and wasn't that he had a lot of chances. I thought he skated well. Thanks.