NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAPLE LEAFS v HURRICANES

May 15, 2002

Travis Green

Curtis Joseph

Mats Sundin

MATS SUNDIN: I don't know. I guess we are going to have a look at it again tomorrow morning. I have not talked to the doctors, but, yeah, I'm feeling better every day that's gone by.

MATS SUNDIN: I don't know, we'll have to see tomorrow morning.

MATS SUNDIN: You look at the way the team has been playing these two series, it's been amazing to watch the effort and the type of hockey we have been playing and the adversity we have gone through. It's been a great job by all of the players that have been playing so far, and the injured guys obviously wants to be a part of what's going on and you want to be out there playing. So the guys that are hurt are obviously doing their best to get healthy.

TRAVIS GREEN: Well, I think whenever we've had days off, we've watched their games. Obviously, a real hard-working team, and looks like they have got four lines that are playing really good. Obviously, the BBC line is really rolling, and I think they play a lot like us. They try to work hard for 60 minutes and limit your chances.

CURTIS JOSEPH: Well, it seems like we have gone through a lot of adversity, no question. We've been able to come through with guys coming in and playing real solid and trying to play mistake-free hockey. The other night, we got some big goals from Alex, and that's just been the way it's been going. Just every time it looks like we are down, we come up with a big game.

CURTIS JOSEPH: I think you are always learning, always learning about your team. I think we did learn a few things, and for sure, we came off a tough series in the first round. Maybe we were not quite ready for the first game against Ottawa. So, yeah, a lesson learned, hopefully.

CURTIS JOSEPH: No question. He has all the tools to be as good as he wants to be, defensively and offensively. Big, strong guy who can skate, and shoot the puck, and he's been great. Loves to play and very passionate about the game. Not too many faults in his game. Sometimes he tries too hard like the rest of us, but that's a good thing.

CURTIS JOSEPH: No question. We are really battling for the puck and the centermen are really coming down and battling for the puck on our end. Attention to detail, I think, and battling along the boards. The guys who have stepped in defensively have really played well and really battled hard and really want to play.

TRAVIS GREEN: Well, it's a small part, a little thing, but all of the little things amount up to big things. Obviously, they have got a couple of guys that are very strong on the draws, and two of the best are Brind'Amour and Francis. So it will definitely be a challenge.

TRAVIS GREEN: Well, I think even when he came into the league, you saw that he was going to be a great player. He was young, made some mistakes. Like Curtis said, has always tried maybe a little too hard even then and tried to do things he shouldn't do. Now, I mean he's really a complete package for a defenseman. He can play in about every situation. He's a workhorse. He can play as many minutes as you need, and he's matured a lot as a person, too. He brings a lot of stuff off the ice, too, that's very valuable to the team.

TRAVIS GREEN: He's a real leader now in the room. He works as hard as anyone off the ice. You know, he's very passionate about the game and it rubs off on everyone.

TRAVIS GREEN: Well, you learn. Probably shouldn't take 12 penalties. Just learn, learn every series. You've got to learn from your mistakes and we definitely didn't have a very good game. So we'd better be better tomorrow or we won't have a very good result.

CURTIS JOSEPH: Gary, yeah, he's really played extremely well. He has seemed to get big goals when we needed them and be very physical. I think that play has been contagious for our whole team.

CURTIS JOSEPH: I think like Travis touched upon, we've had some adversity that we have learned from. I think that's been good for our hockey club. We haven't played great all the time, which might be a blessing in some respect, and it's built character through our team. We know that each round gets even more difficult. So we're going to need some bodies back and contributions from everybody .