NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: RED WINGS v FLYERS

June 4, 1997

Mike Vernon

MIKE VERNON: They have been in Playoff situations before, so I mean, Hextall, Coffey, Brind'Amour they have all had Playoff experiences, so, I mean, they are a good hockey club. And, I mean, the experiences they have gone through in some other series, and things like that, I am sure helps them also. And, they are a good road team. They are probably saying it is going to be good to get out of Philly and get on the road and they can probably simplify their game maybe a little more. And take maybe a little bit pressure off. We have to continue to put that pressure on them. We have to continue to do the things we were doing on the ice to be successful

MIKE VERNON: I will play the puck if I have a chance. I am not the guy that likes to rifle the puck out of the end zone, especially with the glass now days, you put it up on the glass, we have seen several games in Playoffs where the puck hit one of the partitions and bounced in front of them. I think Gretzky scored a goal that way against the Flyers in Philly. I just try to make a play with the puck. I try not to take a risky approach to it.

MIKE VERNON: Obviously, we haven't won a thing yet. That is the approach we are taking. We are just going to have to continue what we have done, work hard, and hard work says a lot for this hockey club. I mean, when we are not skating and we are not working hard, it just allows the opposition to get back into the game and back into a series. I mean, we saw it last game. You know, we had a couple of penalties, we kind of sat back after getting a 2-nothing lead and they came back and tied it up. We have to continue the hard work and skating aspect of it and continue to be in their face all night.

MIKE VERNON: I am not shooting at those guys, so I just, you know, whoever they put in, I am sure -- they will probably -- I don't know who they are going to come back with. I have no idea and, you know, I don't think it really is a main concern of our hockey club. I mean, no matter who they have, we have to get to the net. We have to get the rebounds. We have to do the little things and I don't think it matters who is in there. You just have to continue putting pressure on the net and that is it. So I don't think it really is a concern about who is in the net at that time.