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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNING

May 11, 2004

John Tortorella

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Practice Day

FRANK BROWN: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this conference call. Thanks very much to Coach Tortorella for taking the time to answer your questions. Thanks to Bill Wicket and Jay Preble at the Lightning organization for setting this up.
Q. Just wonder if you could talk a bit about how you address Nik after a game like last night. People are wondering how good he can be, do you say anything to him after a game like last night, have you said anything to him, will you say anything before Thursday night, and just where that fits into your preparation for Game 3?
COACH TORTORELLA: I won't say a word. No, he knows he's going to go the next game Thursday and I don't have to say a word.
Q. Curious about, was there any moment during the past two years maybe how they handled practice or a game where you kind of knew that the light had come on, or has that been an evolutionary thing with the guys and from your view? What's been the most important element in that development?
COACH TORTORELLA: Definitely, it's a process, it's not one particular thing. It's understanding some of the things you have to do on the road with preparation, the simplicity of the game, and then having a little success with it.
So I could never point at one thing. It's just a matter of going for a process and succeeding at it.
Q. What was the moment important element in that development?
COACH TORTORELLA: I think the most important part is just believing that you can do it. Again, one of the paths that we've crossed and I think a hurdle that we have gone over is that we believe that we can win on the road, and once you start believing you can do it, you start learning how to do it. And so that -- it's not -- you just can't look at one thing. You just go through, and to me, it's a mind set of finding ways to do it and succeeding at it, and our guys believe they can do it on a regular basis.
Q. Guys yesterday were saying that they were actually looking forward to getting on the road, hunkering down without the distractions. In that context, how important has been the development of the locker room? You guys have always said how important a tight locker room is, does that come into play on the road, does that help in the development of a good road team?
COACH TORTORELLA: Oh, sure. Whether you're winning at home or on the road, you're not going to win either place if your locker room isn't straightened out.
I think our locker room has come such a long way in the past two or three years. It really was a locker room void of really sound leadership. I talked about this the other day, leadership is an easy word to say and an easy word to coin someone having it. But it's a very dangerous thing, because it's probably the most important thing that you need to have before you step on the ice. And that has been developed in our room, not just with David and Tim, but our young guys have begun to understand that or beginning to take stepping forward in doing it themselves.
Q. If you don't say anything to Khabibulin, what do you say to the rest of the guys, because an embarrassment like that last night could surely plant some doubt in somebody's mind, wouldn't it?
COACH TORTORELLA: Not at all. Not at all. Our team understands what Nik is. Nik understands our team. We understand the situation we're in. We've been in it before.
These guys are pro athletes. Sometimes you need to show them the respect as far as believing in them. So, there's no question that they understand the situation we are in.
Q. Would you talk about the defensive group, notwithstanding last night, but a bunch of guys that have pretty much come from other markets or places where maybe they didn't succeed and maybe expectations were pretty low, and outside of Darryl, of course, who arrived late in the game, but it's a pretty close-knit group and a bunch of guys that seem to really challenge each other and have sort of obviously developed into a very solid group; could you talk about that evolution a little bit?
COACH TORTORELLA: Well, I think it's a group of men that, there's not a lot of big names there. I think it's still a pretty young core that has been developed within the organization here. Sarich and Pratt we got in the deal. Cullimore has been here through the dog days of this organization and has stayed with it. I think they have realized the only way they, and we, can succeed, is to do it together, and that's the whole teaching process we've gone through. It's not individual defense. It's a team defense. I think they have really bought into that.
You know, through all of last night, we weren't that good last night, but for the past couple of years, it's been a pretty good team defensively, also. And they do it as a group. They know that's the only way we can succeed is by doing it as a group.
Q. Are you surprised that it's been able to go that way, because some teams, every year at trade deadline, you hear teams want the big stud on defense, and in some ways you got that with Darryl, but it really is a bunch of guys who the ice time is not all that disparate among your Top-5, are you surprised maybe that it's come together the way it has?
COACH TORTORELLA: No. I'm not surprised. I think a couple of the biggest things that happened with this organization, there was talk at a point in time that we may move Kubina this year; we may move Sarich out of here. I think some of the best deals are the deals you don't maybe. Kubina was absolutely -- he was put in some tough spots out here at such a young age, and at that position, goaltending is the most important position. Playing defense in the National Hockey League is the most difficult, and you just never know when they are going to mature.
Now I think Kubina and a Sarich are beginning to mature, and they are still young men in this game. You need to have a little patience at that position and allow it to develop. This is an organization that's never really had the huge payroll and we have to develop within.
You know, Nolan Pratt is a great example. We put him out in the pasture at end of this year. No one wanted him. We talked to Jay about trying to bring him back just for a depth guy because we are not going to be able to spend the big money for top D. Pratt has come in here, and with Cullimore's injury, has stepped in and done a terrific job for us. It's a matter of developing and allowing them to develop and not knee-jerk.
Q. Last night they seemed to have a more concerted effort to try to get pucks on the net from the blue line, whether it was looking for tips in front, is that something that has to be adjusted for you guys to put more pressure to not let them set up at that point?
COACH TORTORELLA: I don't think it was a big change by Philly. Philly has always been a very good team in throwing pucks to the net. I think last night, they just got successful with some tips, some screens, and it all kind of -- the whole game changed within the first 12 minutes when we went down 3-0.
But you have to give them credit. They got the job done around Nik. We didn't block some shots that we have been blocking through the playoffs. I don't think it's a huge adjustment, but we have to be aware. We went over this in our meetings when the series started; that they have some people that are going to through pucks in the net. They have people that are going to bring the puck to the net from the corners.
That's why they are one of the final four teams of this league. They are a very good club offensively, and they will try to score goals in many different ways. We just have to play better and we have to play harder.
Q. The position of Kapanen in there, does that change their look at all from the line or not really?
COACH TORTORELLA: You know, it changes the look. I think Sami Kapanen has done some good things for them up front. It takes away some of their speed up front but it puts a little speed back on their blue line.
I thought for a number of times last night, we ended up with some opportunities with Kapanen and Timander on the ice. We'll look at that situation if he's back there and see if we can exploit that. But Sami has played very well for them, and Brashear (ph) though he has not played much, and up front, also.
We lose the game 6-2 and a lot of people say, well, they took out this guy and Sami is back there; that made a difference that. Didn't make a difference. They simply outplayed us and kicked our ass more or less, let's be honest about it.
Q. With what happened in the last ten minutes last night, was that necessary to send a message, because some people might suggest that that kind of stuff is not very becoming to the game.
COACH TORTORELLA: To be honest with you, I'm not really too concerned with what people think is becoming to the game. This is a series. When you play a seven-game series, and the score is the way it is, I think you need to get involved. I don't think we played hard enough throughout that game.
To worry about some of the observations as far as how the game should be played, we are not too concerned about it. We wanted to play hard, we wanted to finish our checks, we wanted to try to stay within our game, but that stuff is part of playoff hockey. To me it's no big deal. I don't think it really got out of hand. Maybe even more of it would have been better for our club.
So we're going to prepare for Game 3, go about our business, and how people feel about what happened in the last ten minutes is really not a concern of mine.
Q. Concerning what you responded on the last ten minutes, I'm just wondering, was defending a teammate on that, did the league call you in any sense about that incident?
COACH TORTORELLA: No, I haven't received any call on that.
FRANK BROWN: Thank you very, very much for participating today. Thank you again to Coach Tortorella for making his time available and we'll see you soon.

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