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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNINGMay 13, 2004Robert EscheKeith PrimeauMark RecchiPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Three Q. Keith, that second period, you going all over the place, whacking guys and creating chances, that's what we expected to see in the first period, can you explain what happened? KEITH PRIMEAU: I thought we did some good things in the first period. But we weren't as tenacious on the puck in the same ways that we were in Game 2. We didn't get pucks in as well as we did in Game 2 and they came right back at us. On transition, and we talked about that, down in Tampa, that you cannot turn pucks over on that hockey club because their biggest asset is the transition game. Q. You guys seem a little bit tentative on offense, but these guys are so well known for blocking shots, do you find that your offensive pace is slowing down? KEITH PRIMEAU: I thought when you're on the road you can take all the time you want finding the right seam, and working pucks around, we were a lot more patient on the road because we didn't have 20,000 people screaming at us to shoot the puck. No matter how much you try and focus and concentrate on trying to find the right seam and move the pucks around, there are five or six goaltenders, when you hear people hollering, "shoot," guys get anxious and want to shoot the puck. Q. You get that goal to make it 2-1 and they come right back and score; did you feel the air get sucked out of the building? MARK RECCHI: Yeah, it's a tough goal. Especially right after you score a big one, like Keith did to start the period. I don't even know where he came from. But, yeah, it's definitely one of those situations where you want to get life from a goal, and they turn around and respond with a big goal and you are in a two-goal deficit again, it makes it tough. But, you know we still battled the rest of the period. Obviously, them getting up hurt us. Q. What was your take on the first goal, how did you see it? ROBERT ESCHE: Actually, there was no disguise. It was just a bad goal by me. It's something I'm not happy with, but I thought I did a good job of battling back and trying to stay in it as long as I could. But, you know, when you give up a goal like that early in a hockey game, it kind of takes the wind out of everybody's sails. It's just something that I have to be prepared for the next game. Q. Could you comment on Khabibulin's play; how did you think he did tonight? KEITH PRIMEAU: We knew he was going to regroup and he was going to be focused. All of the good goaltenders do, and he was no different tonight. He squared to a lot of shots and swallowed up a lot of rebounds. Their d did a good job of clearing second and third whacks for us. Again, we have to get back to being more competitive and battling to create more chances. Q. You've been so good for so long this spring, this is the first bump in the road for you; what kind of things will you lean on to shake this one? MARK RECCHI: I don't know, I don't think it's a matter of shaking it. You're repaired at this point in the season, I think I'm mentally and physically strong as I've ever been. I'm not worried about today's -- it's an awful loss, I can't say that I'm happy about that, but on the same hand, I've prepared all year for this, physically and mentally I feel great. I still have a lot of confidence, I still feel 110 percent physically, and that's the way I'm looking at the next game. Q. Given the first game the way it played out and the second and third period tonight, do you guys feel like you have outplayed this team, despite what the series says? KEITH PRIMEAU: It's been competitive. It's been three competitive games. We didn't indicate the score in the second game, but we played hard and created a lot of chances, as have they. We knew going in this was going to be a long series and we continue to prepare for a long series. Q. On the power play, are they doing some things differently than some of the other opponents that you've had in the playoffs? MARK RECCHI: Well, they do things differently, but the bottom line; our power play, we are not working there, when we do, we get chances, we create opportunities and create good shots. But when we don't work hard enough and we don't want to work those four guys, as you've seen in certain power plays, they get the puck down the ice. They do a good job of pressing from their forwards, their top guys, but, you know, I think the key is that we have to be a lot more determined on the power play, and we have to be retrieving loose pucks, making the right plays. If we can get back to that, you know, it's really a simple thing of just getting back and being real determined. Q. The advantages and disadvantages of being at home in a series like this, are they not apparent until after the first goal is scored? MARK RECCHI: That really doesn't bother us too much, the first goal, any first goal. We're usually a pretty resilient team. We don't change the way we play too often. You know, it's just something where we had a decent first period but it wasn't what we were looking for. You know, we came out, we had a really, really good second period and give ourselves an opportunity. And Robert, in the second period made some great saves to keep us in the game and give us that opportunity in the third. We thought we were going in the right direction when Keith scored. We had a pretty good feeling on the bench after the first goal from Keith.
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