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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLAMES v LIGHTNING

May 31, 2004

John Tortorella

CALGARY, ALBERTA: Game Four

Q. How is Lecavalier? Do you think there should be supplementary discipline on Nieminen and do you feel Calgary's play crosses the line from rough and tough into vicious?
COACH TORTORELLA: I think you saw the play. I don't need to say anything about it.
Q. How do you sense when one of your players might be fatigued mentally or physically, and how does that affect how you coach during the course of a game?
COACH TORTORELLA: If he's tired I won't put him on the ice.
Q. What went into your thinking tonight with moving the certain guys in and when did you find out about Kubina between that and making that move as well?
COACH TORTORELLA: Putting what -- you mean CB and Clymes?
Q. Yes.
COACH TORTORELLA: We had some injuries, Feds was out, Kuby was out, and those are the players we have as far as depth, so we need to put some people in.
Q. When did you find out about Kubina, before the game?
COACH TORTORELLA: It's not important. He didn't play.
Q. You asked for more from your skilled players. Some of them performed admirably, but one goal is usually not enough. Is it anything you see that's taking your skilled players out of the game besides the physical play, strategy-wise?
COACH TORTORELLA: No, no, and I am not going to get into as far as what -- Jimmy, I will put it this way: We found a way to get it done, skilled players, new guys coming in, and that's the most important thing as you go into a series, is just trying to find a way. Ugly as hell but we found a way.
Q. I know you guys are huge on breaking down tape. What did you see from the last game that you wanted to change for this game? Anything specific?
COACH TORTORELLA: As far as our play is concerned? Yeah, again, like I talked about yesterday, I think our offensive people, well not just our offensive people. Our team needs to be stronger on the puck as far as the battles. At times tonight I thought we did a very good job of that. Other times they won the battles. That's how the series goes. These are two teams fighting for one thing and the other team is in the way, and that's playoff hockey, the battles that go on here, so I guess to put it in simple terms, we want to win a higher percentage of battles than they do, and we feel we have a better chance to make a play if we have that puck more.
Q. With the way Nikolai Khabibulin seemed to really -- you talk about a goalie lifting a team up on its back and carrying him, he seemed to do that tonight.
COACH TORTORELLA: I thought Nik was outstanding tonight. To win any -- to continue to compete and stay within it here in the series, your goaltender has to be the best player. I thought Kiprusoff made some big saves, too. I thought it was Nik's best game of this round here.
Q. Kiprusoff is so good does that make it even bigger --
COACH TORTORELLA: Nik doesn't care about Kiprusoff. All he cares about is making this team win.
Q. How much was this victory tonight the other guy -- the role players on your team?
COACH TORTORELLA: Well, yeah, I think I thought C.B. came in and added something to us. I think Clymer added, when you -- you end up with a couple of injuries and the other team has done it, too. Calgary has done it all through the Playoffs. You suck it up and you bond a little bit. You band together and just try to get it done. I thought it was real ugly at times by both teams, we score one, they don't score any. So we win. So, that's the way it goes.
Q. The extra day off, how important is that with the couple of the injuries you had and with Vinny's status? Do we know anything on Vinny at this point?
COACH TORTORELLA: No, we don't. I haven't talked to him. But he will be fine, I am sure. As far as the day off -- that's the schedule. Again, I don't think too deeply on it as far as the injuries and rest. Both teams go through the same type of schedule. So to me, that's what the schedule came out, two days in between and we'll go, we will get our rest tomorrow and we will start again and get ready for Game 5.

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