NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 14, 1999

Lindy Ruff

LINDY RUFF: Well, Geoff obviously had a pretty tough year scoring-wise. But during the Playoffs he has kind of recaptured some of his form. He has worked extremely hard. He has become more of a two-way player I guess. I think the game has dictated that out of a lot of players that you really can't be just one-dimensional anymore. You have got to be able to play both ends of the rink. I think he has come of age a little bit in that category and offensively he has done a very good job in the Playoffs for us. He has been one of our better skaters for us.

LINDY RUFF: Well, number one, we didn't pass the puck very well in the game. That was our biggest problem. Number two, I didn't think we skated very well. I don't think we are going to have another game where we combine the way we skate and the way we pass all in one. Granted they did a very good job. They have done a very good job throughout the Playoffs. We expect that. But in the same sense, we feel that we are going to do a lot better job in the two areas of passing and skating.

LINDY RUFF: Well, obviously we were upset with losing and the way we lost. But it was one game. You got to throw that out. It is a situation now where we got to get down over that game. We are very disappointed and upset the way we went about it. In the same sense we were leading the game with five minutes left in the second period and in a game where we played poorly. There are some positives in there too in knowing that if we pick it up and get it back to the way we skated and handle the puck in the earlier series, you know, we will be fine. But it was a big downer, the whole town was pumped up, obviously the crowd here was pumped up. Pilot Field was pumped up. So, it was disappointing in that sense, the players are disappointed. They wanted to give everybody what they came to see and in that sense it was a bit of a let-down.

LINDY RUFF: Joey is a pretty good playmaker. Their thinking was Sanderson in that spot, his speed was opening up a lot of things in previous series. Joe is a better puck handler and passer. We thought we would take a look at that in today's practice. It is not something that we are going to stick with. We just thought we would see how it looked and how you guys would react.

LINDY RUFF: Well, the one thing we did do is we kind of went out of our way to keep hitting and wasted a lot of energy at times. We want to finish all our checks, but we don't want to be running from one corner of the rink to the other end of the rink; then pretty soon after 30 seconds we have got three forwards that are worn out from running all over the place. We got to be a lot more under control. When hits are there we got to take them, and the physical part of the game has been a big plus for us throughout the three-plus series so far and we want to keep that end of it up. But a little bit more under control. When it is not there we just can't go looking for it.

LINDY RUFF: You said that we came back with our worst performance after losing...

LINDY RUFF: No, not at all. The group inside is very confident. I think we have matured in that sense where we have realized we made a lot of mistakes; we didn't, you know, I don't think we handled the little bit of pressure at home by showing some character with the puck and we didn't want to handle it very much, where in previous series we hung on to it. We made some nice plays, kind of reverted to that whacking it off the glass and it doesn't matter if there is anybody there, just get rid of it. Against Dallas, it is tough to play like that. I think we have already regrouped. It was a good practice today and I don't see anything that resembles what we did last year.

LINDY RUFF: Well, the one thing we are going to stress is I think, number one, is a lot shorter shifts, with every line show. That means we play two lines against Nieuwendyk, might get 15 seconds of Curtis Brown then might get 30 seconds of Michael Peca. It might get a few more seconds of Primeau and whoever else. But the one thing we did very poorly in the game was overextend our shifts. Where Dallas averaged maybe 30 seconds there were periods in the second period where they outchanged us two-for-one. They played two lines against one of our line. That type of energy it took its toll on us. That is why we got hemmed in our own end. It cost us a goal at one time where we didn't get off, and definitely one thing we are really going to pay attention to in the next game.

LINDY RUFF: Well, that was one drill we tried to do at the end of today was not go with the big slapshot but just try to get it through. The thing you got to understand is even if you get it through the first two guys that laid down you have got two defensemen that are stacking up trying to glove or back a wrist shot with their body. I think they have proven in the three series before that they are very capable of blocking almost anything. We just got to find a way to get them through just find holes and get them through and make sure that our forwards and in front of the net; get position on their defensemen, that their defensemen just don't jump out and knock down those wrist shots we throw at the net.

LINDY RUFF: Well, they are a very good team defensively. They are the beast team we have played defensively. They know how to take care of the other team's top line. They do it by committee. They have got a couple lines that got some great veteran character checkers that have been through the wars, have been through the Stanley Cups. You look at Skrudland, Keane, Carbonneau, the likes of these guys, Verbeek, they don't make a lot of mistakes that give us those opportunities or give a Satan an opportunity. Plus, every time he steps on the ice, he is facing three or four of their biggest defensemen. And there is no way around that. You got to battle through it. But any mistake you got to try to take advantage of.

LINDY RUFF: We didn't get a lot of shots through. We had the 5-on-3 where three times we went to shoot it we broke sticks. We didn't expect to generate a lot against Dallas' penalty killing because it was so good. But we knew if we got that one or two chance we would have to take advantage of it. They did a very good job of killing penalties. We didn't do a very good job of getting shots through. There is no secret there you have got to get a couple of shots through. You have got to miss those two guys that lay down in front and then look for a rebound. That is really the only success we have had through the Playoffs is the rebounds, is the goaltender not seeing it and the puck bouncing one way or the other and capitalizing; having players in the right position to take advantage of that. If our defense don't get it through, our powerplay doesn't have much success.

LINDY RUFF: I definitely agree with that. For some reason our defense didn't want to get involved the other night. It wasn't the game plan to have them pull out. Our success in the first three rounds was because we pinched, because we had five guys involved, and typically we didn't give up a lot even though we played like that. We are going to try to get back to that. We are going to harp on it. But in the same sense, if you don't get it deep and there was a lot of times again where we were playing one-on-one hockey just inside the line, it doesn't give our defense chance to get involved. We are going to try make sure we get it deep; get our defense involved, you know, the goal we did score was because Richard Smehlik got involved in the play, got down low and coverage got messed up again and all of a sudden you score a goal. That is very important to our team.

LINDY RUFF: We are bringing up three players. Obviously Brown is going to come up and Sylvester and Randy Cunneyworth. We have got all those options. Grosek is still laboring with back spasms; won't be able to play. We have got four options there. We could try -- and Sylvester has had some Playoff experience with us already and Cunneyworth, he has been their best player throughout the Playoffs, with Rochester and a veteran guy that can play in any situation. And Randy played with us during the year, and that did a very good job for us. So we have got two or three options now.

LINDY RUFF: No. We approached the game with Modano knowing he was going to play, didn't even second guess that situation.

LINDY RUFF: Well, you know, the line isn't getting much done. They haven't given up much to the Modano line although Hull did score the game winner in Dallas, but overall, offensively they have struggled. Defensively they have done a fine job still, but our scoring comes from committee. We rely on them to chip in with the goals and they were a big part of our success so far. So it is a situation we need goals to come from every direction again and they are a big part of it.

LINDY RUFF: Well, right now Nieuwendyk is their most dangerous player, so we are going to have to address that situation. As I said, we will look at keeping the shifts very short and use two lines against them if we have to, but No. 1, we will give the assignment to Michael in all likelihood, but the same sense you got to realize that Modano is still very a very injurious player too and whoever plays with him, so, that is kind of a catch 22, you set one guy free and shut down the other one and we might have another guy that breaks loose for him. First and foremost, we want to try keep that line at bay. They have done a good job against us and we have to regroup.

LINDY RUFF: No. We thought that Curtis Brown with Satan and Sanderson could play against them. In the same sense try to get little bit of offense. The matchups in the first two games we didn't -- it was Nieuwendyk played against Peca. He played against a lot of our lines, against Primeau. We weren't concerned. We knew they were a very good line. We had our players aware of it. We tried to keep everybody involved.

LINDY RUFF: No, I don't think so. I think that Dallas is a very well conditioned club; even their older players who are skating very well for then. I don't think the advantage lies in young legs right now. If that was the case, the game the other night, we should have looked a lot better against them but because that was three games in five nights, so that I was thinking that theory a lot earlier, but I am in the thinking it anymore.

LINDY RUFF: I don't know if Randy -- Randy didn't play for us in the Playoffs last year I don't think. But he played with us curing the regular season with us this year; isn't that true?

VOICE: We signed Cunneyworth this summer.

LINDY RUFF: Time flies. (LAUGHTER) But I think the answer to the question is he supplied us some good veteran savvy during the year for us. We brought him up at a time when we were struggling. He scored some important goals fours. He is a Skrudland, Keane, type of guy that for his age is high energy and still has good legs underneath him and is very smart. So that is the reason he is here.

LINDY RUFF: I can't explain it. Obviously the better team must get ahead and just go on to win it is what it is. I know we are expecting to change that. We have got a confident group in there that still with our goaltending and our team's speed and aggressiveness we think we can claw our way back into this. Being down one game isn't the end of the world.

LINDY RUFF: I don't know what the common denominator is. My only thinking is if it happens that many times then the better team has always got the lead. We still feel we can fight our way through this.

LINDY RUFF: No. I think I haven't been out on the town obviously, but sounds like you guys have. (laughter). My two four-year-olds that I was helping train the bike yesterday, they seemed all right with it. I think that there was a lot of hype going into this home game. Obviously it was disappointing, was a letdown, but I think we go out and win Game 4, we get it right back to that level.