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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLAMES v LIGHTNING

May 31, 2004

John Tortorella

CALGARY, ALBERTA: Game Four

Q. I don't normally ask questions that I know I am not going to get answer to but I will ask: Fedotenko didn't skate, Dingman still out there skating now. Give us any indication of their status for tonight's game.
COACH TORTORELLA: Game time.
Q. I always seem to be asking these questions, but can you talk about the importance of the goaltending battle in this series and do you have to win it to win the series?
COACH TORTORELLA: Well, I mean, again, goaltending is the most important thing in playoff hockey. We won't be here if it wasn't for our goaltender playing in the fourth round. They wouldn't be here if it wasn't for their goaltender. So it's a very important part of it.
There are other things that come into play as far as winning and losing, but the goaltending in the regular season and playoffs it's the most important piece of the puzzle. I will answer it that way.
Q. Are you happy with it?
COACH TORTORELLA: We're playing in the Finals.
Q. In this series?
COACH TORTORELLA: That isn't the reason why we are down 2-1.
Q. What do you have to do to get more shots on Kiprusoff and get some more bodies in front of him?
COACH TORTORELLA: Shoot the puck.
Q. You see the first two periods, what were they doing to limit the number of shots that you had?
COACH TORTORELLA: They only had two.
Q. You finished with 9.
COACH TORTORELLA: I don't know. Again, the thing that we have to get better on is puck possession. We have to have more puck possession in creating our chances but I still think we have given up opportunities to shoot the puck. So it's a mindset of keeping it simple and putting the puck to the net. If we have opportunities to shoot, we need to, but we also have to have the puck more, not just have the puck in the end zone, but also create scoring chances, we can get the puck on the net.
Q. Game 2 against Philly, physical, feisty affair; they win 6-2. Maybe people start to think the series is going their way. Game 2 here, you lose, do you feel like you have to kind of have the same kind of response you had in that last series in this game tonight?
COACH TORTORELLA: Well, I think whenever you lose a game, you need to have a response. I think the physical play by both teams is just part of it. I don't think that's the most important thing in our mind. Like I said yesterday, I think we have done a pretty good job of getting the puck in the end zone but I don't think we have done good enough job as far as being strong on the puck offensive underneath the hash marks. I think that's something we need to improve at.
Q. I know it's not always easy to talk about the intangibles, but you have been able to rebound four times after the last five losses. Do you have the same positive feeling a couple of hours prior to -- same challenge tonight?
COACH TORTORELLA: I had a great feeling after yesterday's meeting. We'll rebound. We'll rebound.
Q. At this point in the season, both of the teams, the Flames and yourself, you don't lose usually two or three straight. You look at tonight. You want to win. You want to rebound because if the opportunity winning three straight after that looks very bleak, would you say?
COACH TORTORELLA: I am not even looking there. We have Game 4 to play here. We go about the way we work it in Tampa, we're not concerned about five, six or 7. We have a pretty important Game 4. What happens after that, we'll go about it when it comes. If we're not concentrating on what we have to do in our pre-game skate this morning, in our pre-game meeting this morning, in our pre-game meeting tonight, in our start of the game tonight, then we'll lose the detail of the game that we need to have. So we we're not good enough to get too far ahead.

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