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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNING

May 10, 2004

John Tortorella

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Game Two

Q. Was that pretty much a team collapse, team breakdown tonight?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Not a collapse, no. It's a team loss.
Q. What do you take from this game into Game 3?
JOHN TORTORELLA: I'll look at the tape. We'll figure out some things, good and bad, and again, with playoffs, you don't do too much dissecting. We just get ready for Game 3.
Q. They always say that a series doesn't begin until a home team loses a game. Does this change the mindset a little bit about what's going on to the approach of the series now?
JOHN TORTORELLA: It doesn't change our mindset, no. It's a 1-1 series. We've been in this situation before. We didn't expect to be winning four straight. We knew it was going to be a long series and we are going to prepare.
Again, our next game is Game 3. We'll prepare for that one.
Q. Are you worried about Khabibulin's confidence after a game like that?
JOHN TORTORELLA: No, no. He's strong enough mentally to handle something like that, so he'll be fine.
Q. Can you just go into why you pulled him at the time you did and the reasons why?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Well, I think it's pretty obvious why I pulled him. There's no sense of scarring him up anymore. He's played a lot of hockey for us so it gives us a chance to get John Grahame in there and get him some action. You never know what happens in a series. By no means was it taking him out for his play. It was one of those nights for our whole team, and the good news is it only puts one little check mark in that loss column in a series.
One or two things, we'll move by it, and go to Game 3.
Q. How much does the even keel approach that you have just preached to this team the last two or three years come into play in a situation like this and make it easier to shrug off a game like this?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, that's very important in a series. I think we have -- it's our first loss in a month, our last loss was a month ago. Sometimes a good loss, a good spanking is good for you. I think our guys understand that. We'll definitely not get too low; we'll learn from it, spend a little time about it, but more importantly, we're going to get ready for Game 3. We're looking forward to getting to Philly.
Q. You twice mentioned learning. What does a team learn from a spanking like this?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Oh, gosh, I don't know how to answer that question. I mean, it's a matter of putting it back, putting it away, and getting ready for your next game. There's not enough time in a playoff series, albeit we do have two days between these games, to worry about that.
Our team will rebound, our team will get back to it's game and see if we can make some big plays.
Q. Do you have any concerns about the way these two games have started? On Saturday, the Flyers didn't finish some of the chances they have had and tonight they did.
JOHN TORTORELLA: No. I think in the first game, everybody said how they pounded us, where the shots were 9-5. I thought we played very well. We spent too much time in our end zone but I thought we played very well defensively.
As far as the starts, I had a question today about second periods and all this. That's not going to affect us. We are going to simply go, get away from the rink tomorrow, they will have a day off tomorrow. We'll practice on Wednesday and go to work. And just get ready for Game 3.
Q. The third period was about as ugly as it gets. Did you think the Brashear hit on Taylor was a cheap shot?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Again, we're going to take our medicine. I'm not going to get into what was called, what wasn't called. That's part of playoff hockey, what happens in a series within playoffs, and we'll take our medicine. And again, we're just looking towards Game 3.
Q. A question concerning Brashear's penalty, were you the one noticing the referees that Brashear was still on the bench at that time?
JOHN TORTORELLA: No, they knew. They knew. They just didn't get him to the box. Again, I'm not going to spend too much time on the refs. It's not about the refs. It's not about -- too many other things than players. Again, we're going to get ready for Game 3.
Q. And concerning the fact that the Flyers won every game in their building, how important is it for you now, you guys to go and win one game down there?
JOHN TORTORELLA: Well, we're looking to win Game 3, and that's all we're looking for. We weren't involved in any of their wins or losses in the playoffs. Our team wasn't there. It was some other team. We are not concerned about their record. We are just concerned about going there and trying to play the best we can in Game 3 and see where we go from there.
Q. Have you physically and mentally been at home too long and ready to get on the road?
JOHN TORTORELLA: No, I don't think that has anything to do with it. I think it was a night where some pucks went in and it changes a few things, but I thought we did some good things offensively, also. It's something that we're going to continue trying to improve on. I thought Bobby Esche played very well.
We are not going to beat our brains in here as far as overconcern and overanalyze. I think in situations like this, there will be some learning from it, but then we move on. It's just too short a time to dwell on things. Just like when you dwell on the good things, you can't spend too much time dwelling on the good things, because you have another game the next time night. So that's how we are going to approach this, even with a loss.

End of FastScripts...

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