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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLAMES v LIGHTNING

May 26, 2004

John Tortorella

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. In 1994 Vancouver beat the Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Rangers went onto win the Stanley Cup. Tell me what you have told your team about the particular situation that Game 1 is just one game in a series.
JOHN TORTORELLA: I haven't had a chance to talk to my team yet. I need to talk to you guys first. So we haven't met yet. We're going to take care of you guys, then we're going to get together as a group. See how much respect we give you guys.
Q. We appreciate it.
JOHN TORTORELLA: I know you do.
Q. What do you know about the Dan Boyle situation from last night and how are you dealing with it today?
JOHN TORTORELLA: What happened?
Q. In terms of his house.
JOHN TORTORELLA: We talked to Danny last night after the game. It's fine. That's just a bunch of wood burning. There's no one hurt. There's nothing serious that happened. His insurance will take care of it. Whatever the insurance doesn't take care of, I am sure he has enough money to spend and take care of it himself. That shouldn't be in any type of his mindset as far as what we're preparing to do today for tomorrow.
Q. This is such a unique opportunity for your team to be in the Stanley Cup Final, and a lot of young guys. Do you feel this is the biggest challenge losing that first game you guys have faced so far?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Oh, sure. We're on the bigger stage and, you know, the way I look at it, last night, I think the two teams that are playing, that played last night, deserve to be here, one from the west, one from the east. I think they have followed similar paths in doing what they are doing to get where they are going into last night's game.
To me, Calgary played the way they played to get there. We didn't. So it was pretty simple last night as far as we're concerned and how we're going to approach our meetings today. They did. We didn't. Today's recognition day. I think we're a day late in our recognition as far as how good that Calgary team is. So having said that, I guess to answer your question, I have seen our team respond pretty well to some things here as we have gone through, and we have a tremendous amount of confidence after our workday today and gear up for tomorrow that we will respond.
Q. Evaluate Martin St. Louis's place last night and the way he's played the last few games. Seems like he's getting lot of chances.
JOHN TORTORELLA: Marty played well. I think he found some ice last night. I look at that first chance that Stiller gives to him, I think that's a pretty important moment of the game where maybe we answer right away 1-1, and are again within a game. And even going back to the last question, it's all a mindset and I think if he maybe capitalizes there, maybe things were a little bit different or gives us a chance. As the game went on obviously, I used Marty quite a bit. He's one of our best players. I thought he did some really good things. I think it's a matter of time before he starts scoring consistently again, which is a very important thing for our team.
Q. Obviously you were in a must-win situation Saturday night against Philadelphia and you responded. What can you take out of that game to carry over to tomorrow's game?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I don't like that "must win." What happens if something doesn't happen the right way for us tomorrow, and what do I come back with my team with? We are not going to go to Calgary because we didn't win that must-win game. I am not trying to be sarcastic, but I don't believe in the must win. I think when you start your season, I think every game is a game that you want to win, and the "must" word, I think that's a difficult word. I just don't look at it that way. We know the challenge ahead of us here with Calgary jumping on us for one game. Calgary is looking to take two out of here as any good team would. So "must," I am not sure. We are a team that I think approaches every game that we want to win that game. That's the way we're approaching tomorrow night's game.
Q. How surprised were you to see them trap as early and as often as they did last night?
JOHN TORTORELLA: We watched some tape, I mean, we -- again, I don't think there's too many secrets on either team as far as what goes on. Before the series started, we looked at a little bit of their trap in certain situations. I thought they -- one of the strong points of their team is when they are going to go and when they are not going to go. I think they look at those situations and I think they had some good reads last night when it was a good time to go. Obviously they are a very good club when they decide to go. So it's not a surprise to us. I just don't think we played well. Again, it's a simple thing. They did the things that they have done to get where they are as the best team in the Western Conference. I don't think we did. Some of that was due to their play, some of it was due to our play. I thought we were a bit nonchalant in playing one of the most aggressive teams and the best team in the Western Conference. The Detroits are gone, the Jerseys are gone, Toronto is gone. All those teams -- Colorado, the teams that are usually here are gone. These teams are here and they got here for a reason and how they approached it and how they play. They did, we didn't. We need to switch that tomorrow night.
Q. Did you do anything differently in term of how you break out against that?
JOHN TORTORELLA: No. No, I don't think we did a great job in handling some of that, but I think we have an understanding of what we have to do. Today for us, the most important day for us is right now in recognizing that this is mindset. It's not about X's and O's. It's not about major adjustments. The major adjustment we have to make is realize who we are playing, respect who we are playing and change our mindset because our mindset was not right for Game 1.
Q. I am not going to ask you what players will be playing with what players, because you are obviously not going to tell us. How does a coach at this stage of the season decides whether he has faith in everything that he has worked before and he just goes status quo, or do you need to push some buttons and make some changes? When you go into Game 2 you just say, "clean slate. We will start over." Or maybe you say, maybe we need a change?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I think in the third period that's when we really started to change some things around just to get a spark and try to find something. I think coaches it's not a blueprint back there. You try to throw things against the wall and see what sticks sometimes as far as what will help you gain some of your offense. But we're going to start the game as we started.
I watched a tape and I saw some good things at certain times just not consistently enough. Again, you got to be real careful in these situations where you don't want to knee jerk and throw everything out the window as far as what your team's mindset, who you are and how you got here. I think the most important fact is, again, in a roundabout way, I am answering all the questions this way, is to do the things we do. I don't think we did that last night and I don't think we did it with the tenaciousness that we need to do against this club. Nothing physical is going to change if you don't change your mindset. So that's what has to change for us here today.
Q. Could you address what it is about this team that when they are faced with adversity, being down 0-1 in these Playoffs, what is it about this team that brings out the resolve that brings them back in a series?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I think they have gone through a number of different things in the past two or three years as far as developing our foundation and our team. And understanding that it's not concentrating on what just happened, it's now respond. I think that's a key thing in this League; in the regular season I think that's important and it is the utmost importance in Playoffs. We have two weeks to play and you can't get all convoluted and worrying about what just happened to you. You have got to figure out a response. I think with some of the leadership within the club that's here, that has been here now for a few years and some of our young core players maturing, they understand that. It's not being down in a ditch when you lose and it's not being ten feet tall when you win. It's keeping it at that even keel and find out a way how you are going to approach the next day and what we're going to be doing the next game.
Q. Despite a couple of lucky bounces that led to goals, Nik looked a little uncomfortable last night. Would you agree with that and what do you expect from his response as well?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I think Nik -- last time I saw Nikolai Khabibulin in this Playoff maybe fight it a bit. I'd liked his response. That was in the Philly series there. I think here's a man that has gone through some scrutiny, has gone through some situations where he has to answer and I think he's been terrific. So I don't even worry about that. I think he will be there. He will be our best player, and he will lead us in, I guess, our response in Game 2.

End of FastScripts...

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