NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: CAPITALS v RED WINGS

June 9, 1998

Ron Wilson

RON WILSON: I actually thought the first ten minutes we played quite well and maybe we had a couple of shifts where our No. 1 and No. 2 lines got out played by their number 3 and 4 lines. It was really a couple of shifts in the game that made a difference. We got a little casual, a little slack case cycle with the puck and they jumped on those mistakes and they made us pay 2 to nothing. And, took a little while from that point, you know, I think you are down 2 to nothing in the first game it is a little overwhelming. It is our first for a lot of people the first crack at the Finals. But, then, I think we hung in there long enough and started to really believe that they are a team just like us, don't make mistakes and you have got to captialize when they do. Chris Osgood made three or four pretty good saves, and we missed a couple of opportunities around the net. We come out of the game and I think in the end, we lost 2 to 1. They out shot us by quite a large margin but I didn't feel and I don't think our players feel like they have been dominated by any stretch of the imagination. Both teams undoubtedly suffered a little bit from playing -- from having a lay off, and I know we can play better. Detroit something probably play better too. But, I know for sure that we can play better and we will take a lot out of this game on the positive side.

RON WILSON: We made a trade at the trade deadline for Jeff Brown to help our powerplay and to add some more offense. And, this is the first time that Jeff has felt capable of playing, so, we through him in there. I thought as the game went on and you know we spotted him in here and there. I thought he played pretty well. When you consider he hasn't played in two months. We are mixing our lines up a little bit and just a matter of going with people who are hot, double shifting guys who are having a particularly good game, like Richard Zednick, after when we got through 30 minutes then I thought Peter Bondra really got into the game and was generating a lot of things with his speed.

RON WILSON: I thought he was fine. The two goals he had -- he didn't have a chance on. He kept us in the game and he gave us a chance -- I wouldn't say to win, but he kept us close enough so that we could pull the goal at the end of the game and we had call of chances then as well. So he got the job done that we asked of him.

RON WILSON: Yeah he is fine.

RON WILSON: Well, I think we played with a little more urgency. Our defensemen held the blue line a little bit more. We had nothing to lose. If you get beat 6 to nothing as opposed to 2 to 1 it really doesn't matter so we got a little more aggressive and things started to happen for us. But, I mean, the Nicklas line was really generating a lot of opportunities. I was really -- we need more people to play with after Dale Hunter as well. Not that he was generating a lot of chances but he drew some penalties. He was going to the net hard and he came to play every single shift and we need that from everybody if we are going to beat Detroit. You can't have five or six guys having an off night against a team like Detroit.

RON WILSON: Well, I think we were tight. I think we showed the effects after layoff like we did in the first game against Buffalo. We seem to play much better when we find ourselves in a rhythm every other night. That is what I am looking forward to coming back on Thursday. Now we know we are a little unsure. I mean, we read the papers we are supposed to get blasted out of here five or six to nothing. That didn't happen and we felt we put ourselves in a position in Game 1 to win. We didn't. Back to the drawing Board and come out with the same effort that we had over the last 30 minutes and we will be okay.

RON WILSON: Yeah Dale Hunter has waited 18 years for this moment to get to play in the Finals. We didn't have any particular assignments tonight. But, I think Hunter can get under anybody's skin and in particular I think he irritated Steve tonight Andrew a couple of penalties. But Dale is not going to let this opportunity pass by. At 38 years old I don't think he expects to play the next four years in the Finals either. So, he is making the most of his opportunity. All I had to do was turn around and hey I am coaching on the bench and who is over my right shoulder but Dale Hunter's dad. So, if I did not put Dale in, I might have had a beer thrown on me if he wasn't on the ice.

RON WILSON: I think one they are good penalty killers and two we just seemed out of sink. We didn't really do much much work over the last couple of days on the powerplay and that is something for us to work on the next practice that we have together. We have got to do better we have got to be we have got to persevere more. We have got the ability but that doesn't get you anywhere. We seem to work a lot harder 5 on 5 than we company tonight on the powerplay. You can't take anything for granted.