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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNING

May 8, 2004

John Tortorella

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Game One

Q. Talk about Dave Andreychuk, he just seems to contribute at the right time, both sides, offensively, defensively. Tonight seemed like another perfect example.
JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, he fought it a bit in the faceoffs at times, but he does all the little things. He scores a huge goal for us, he does some things that I bet half the people here didn't even realize what he did in that game as far as those small little things that gets the puck out of the end zone, that let's us play in the neutral zone instead of in our end zone, so he continues.
You know, this is a Hall of Famer we are talking about, a Hall of Famer, because of goal scoring turned into a checker now. So I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he's doing for this club in really transforming his game to help this team continue to try to compete.
Q. Did he fight that in any way? Did he question it in any way when you came to him?
JOHN TORTORELLA: No. Dave and I talked about what we were looking for that summer before we signed him. Scorers, they don't want to -- they want to keep scoring. And David, you know, you've got to remember, I call him a checking center, and he scores 20 plus for us here the past three years. So he's still putting the puck in the net. But he does so many of the little things for this club on the ice, and the reason why he was brought in here was to take care of some stuff off the ice in the locker room.
That was the key to that transition, trying to get him in here, was to try to help out with such a young locker room and bring some leadership there.
Q. You mentioned little things; talk a little bit about the third goal?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, Eric Perrin with a little bit of effort has a good stick and gets us on our way in the transition. You know, that's two goals scored by our fourth line here in the playoffs. It was important. I mean, Eric, every time we put him on the ice, he's pretty responsible defensively, and that's what allows you to keep putting him back out there.
I'm concerned with some of the size of Philly, their centers, but we started out in camp and started since he's been back up here, our people, Billy Barber and Patter, saw it in the American League, how hard he fought in the areas, and that's what's given him this opportunity.
This is something that he has fought for and has done very well.
Q. You mentioned Dave was brought in to take care of a few things in the locker room, as well as being a checking center; could you be civic about what it is and how he's done it?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Leadership. That's as specific as I'm going to get. It's leadership. It's a locker room that -- leadership is a very dangerous word. It's very easy to say. It's very easy to talk about, but that's something that is the most important thing for a young organization, a young core, that we have here; three years ago, we needed to get that straightened out.
So that is the key thing, and that's leadership.
Q. Did you notice any effect from the long layoff, maybe early in the game at all?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I thought a bit in the first period, a little bit in the second at times, too. But that's to be expected.
But I thought our guys handled themselves very well and getting themselves settled. I thought both teams grinded. It was a battle around both nets, and both teams played very well around their nets.
So to have eight days, playing at home, that first one at home, it's a tough one for the home team. I think our guys found a way to get through some of the rust, if you want to call it that, and get their game together. I thought we played very well through the second half of that game as a team.

End of FastScripts...

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