NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 15, 1999

Lindy Ruff

LINDY RUFF: I thought most of the game was passion and emotion. I thought we had a game where we came out charging of the gates hitting-wise, emotion-wise, we flooded in, we had a couple of hits, I think, in the second period and that really started to dictate play and we let it all hang out. We had our "D" involved. It was a good hockey game.

LINDY RUFF: Well, I think we did, we didn't give him a lot of quality chances. We gave them outside shots and they came on hard. You got to give them credit. There was times we could have shot the puck from the outside; we didn't shoot it; we just chose to get it deep. But, really, in the third period we gave them three or four chances maybe and mainly perimeter and I think nerves got the best of us. But I think in the first 40 minutes, the emotion and passion was what won us the hockey game.

LINDY RUFF: Well, I thought rolling four lines and trying keep the shift short after two periods, I think the forward with the most ice time had nine or ten minutes. That is not typical with our hockey team. We tried to keep it short. We wanted everybody to finish. We wanted to make sure that every line got going and we didn't worry a lot about the matchups. We made sure we had Peca on Nieuwendyk obviously. After that Primeau or Brown on Modano and then we just let the other guys go.

LINDY RUFF: That line played extremely well for us Primeau, Cunneyworth and Rasmussen. Cunneyworth and Rasmussen played together for the first three months down in Rochester. He has kind of a calming influence on Erik. They kind of know each other, played off each other, but Randy skated extremely well; positionally he was good. He had a lot of fire. I thought he was a great addition for the game.

LINDY RUFF: We told him the -- we said you got to drop a shoulder on a deke. I said you finally listened. He said, well, the puck wasn't in the right place to shoot.

LINDY RUFF: Well, I think the one thing that line did was -- obviously we didn't over use him. I think it got to a point where maybe we overused him a little bit. They respect -- kept their shifts short first period, four and a half minutes, but they cycled it well. Every guy was dogging the puck. We tried to generate shots off that. It hasn't been too often in the four games that we have been able to set that cycle game, get our defense involved. That really what got that line got going for us and Varada, he was a bull down low, along with finishing checks going the other way.

LINDY RUFF: Well, he said it all really. He said -- what he said was, bring it on. I kind of echoed the sentiments. If we are going to play and hope to win a Game 1-0 sitting back, we got to get "D" involved. They are a tough team to create chances against. Dominik said, listen, go for it. If it's break-a-ways or 2-on-1s, you are going to throw on him; I am up to the challenge. And if this team thinks they are going to be physical, I am going to get involved too. I think emotionally he was the leader of the game for us. He set the tone by his statements yesterday.

LINDY RUFF: Well, I think Dominik got a black belt or something, so he will be all right.

LINDY RUFF: Well, you can't -- we can't retaliate and get in an odd numbered situation. Their powerplay is dangerous. Obviously it could break through at any time. If you want to retaliate now, it could cost you. We have got to play smart. If we have got a chance get somebody with open ice and even things up; that is our way of retaliating, or getting somebody down low, but to respond to somebody, running over somebody right now, that is what they are looking for. So we are not going to play into their hands.

LINDY RUFF: I think the one thing that Randy, Wayne and Erik brought was some size and speed. Erik has great speed. Primeau has got great speed. For the most part they were against him. They tried to play physical. Erik has been our leading hitter throughout the Playoffs. We wanted to make sure we got some big bodies out there. Modano is a big man that can fly and we tried to crowd things through the neutral zone and then when we had a chance, we tried to finish him. The line went out and played well against him. We tried to keep that way most of the night.

LINDY RUFF: We kept the Nieuwendyk line at bay. And Joe has been awfully dangerous. I thought he still played pretty well tonight but we kept him off the score sheet and in the first three series when the Peca line scores, playing against other top lines, we don't lose very often. Dixon took advantage of a turnover, scored the goal. They had several other good chances to score, so it was big for us to shut them down. It was equally as big for them to score to get the second goal.

LINDY RUFF: I didn't wonder. I knew we would respond. What I saw on the tape is something I really hadn't seen throughout the whole Playoffs for whatever reason, whether it was emotion, all the hype that was going around, the first home game, we didn't have it. I said we got beaten every aspect of the game and that wasn't going to happen again. I still think we are fairly evenly matched. Dallas is obviously a little better team than us, but if we play like a team I still think we can beat them.