NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 8, 1999

Lindy Ruff

COACH RUFF: Well, I think it is pretty easy to get out-played. We took a lot of penalties. We were shorthanded. I don't know what the count was, 9 or 10 by the end, but I think you saw in the third period when we stayed out of box we started to take the game away. I think we got stronger. Nine-day layoff probably affected us, but we got our legs underneath us and came around.

COACH RUFF: Our penalty killing has been very good throughout the Playoffs. I don't think you get this far without having good special teams. Dallas is the same way. Their powerplay is dangerous and they are a tough team to get powerplay goals against.

COACH RUFF: Well, Woolley just joined late, was wide open, nobody picked him up and just one-timed it, I believe it found the five-wall.

COACH RUFF: No, he has played -- I could probably list two years, probably 20 or 30 like this, but when we needed him early in the game and especially when we were killing powerplays, he made some saves that gave us the chance to get back in the game and gave us a chance to win. It was just a great performance.

COACH RUFF: I haven't had a conversation with him yet so I can't even comment on that.

COACH RUFF: That is the conversation I was going to have with the supervisor afterwards. (laughter). A lot of the penalties were deserved. I thought the play that bothered me most was the goal that was called away when Varada wasn't even in the crease and I don't believe he knocked him backwards the way he did. The puck was up in the air. They came together and the puck went in. That is probably the play that upset me the most.

COACH RUFF: I think the nine-day layoff and nerves, obviously, we got a young team; haven't been in this position. I expected a storm in the first five or ten minutes and we were undisciplined at times, but we found a way to win it.

COACH RUFF: Well, I think the one thing when your powerplay is going as good as it is, and he is a big part of that, he gets a lot of points himself and Zhitnik have been kind of the quarterbacks the whole time they have got pucks through. He has joined a lot of times. And I think the majority of his points have been powerplay points, but, you know, it goes along with the special teams when they are going well, a lot of people reap the benefits and he has one of them.

COACH RUFF: At times a little bit. Penalty-wise it reminded me of Ottawa for sure. But I thought as the game went on we started to come on and in the third period for the longest period of time I think we only gave him one shot that was from outside the blue line, so our legs got underneath us, and I don't think you can simulate the intensity that came in the first five minutes in practice although I thought conditioning later on paid off for us.

COACH RUFF: No, we realize as a team that they are a extremely tough team to generate chances against. You saw what they did against Colorado the last two games. We figured we would probably get nine or ten chances going into the game and we may have got a few more by the end of the night. But the point we wanted to make was get it deep; make sure we get it below the goal line; make sure the defense got to go all the way back. We were sloppy in the first two periods. In the third we dumped it in every time and got some pursuit going.

COACH RUFF: No, we have a team that believes even before the game. I think the good thing is we can't get swept now anyways. So we eliminate that in one night. We hope to maybe sneak another one out of here, but you know, east has been the last three years. We just won one for the east.