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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNINGMay 17, 2004Keith PrimeauMark RecchiJeremy RoenickTAMPA, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q. Question for Keith. Coming into this season this year, Playoffs you had had nine Playoff goals in your career you have got seven this year. What is been the big difference this year for you in the Playoffs? KEITH PRIMEAU: I am getting lucky. They are falling. (LAUGHTER). Sometimes they have a way to find their way in. Other than that I really can't pinpoint as to why. I don't think I am playing any different. Just finding a way to hit the net. Q. J.R. is shaking his head. Do you think there's more to it than that? JEREMY ROENICK: I can't see how Gretzky kept them off the Canadian team. I am shocked. Utterly shocked. Q. How are you feeling Jeremy? JEREMY ROENICK: I am really shocked that Gretzky kept Primes off (LAUGHTER)-- the Canadian team. That's insanity in my opinion. Q. J.R., do you have any opinions on the announcement being made during the Playoffs and what purpose that served? JEREMY ROENICK: I think it's probably a double-edge sword. You have some guys that are going to be excited and other guys will be disappointed. I mean, Prime says it doesn't matter to him either way, that he wasn't expecting it. But I call BS on that. I think if anybody deserves to be there they have Maltby and Draper and Smith Richards, nothing against those guys, but they can't hold a candle to what Prime has been showing. I think he's crazy. Q. How are you feeling Jerry? JEREMY ROENICK: Gretzky is just crazy (LAUGHTER) for actually leaving both the two guys that are up here with me off the Canadian team. I think the American team gets announced on Thursday so that's good. Q. You were a young player with Detroit when they made it to the Finals in 1995. Anything you have been able to take from Steve Yzerman's leadership and that experience? KEITH PRIMEAU: I have taken a lot from not only Steve but some of the guys that I have played with, some of the captains that I have played with. The thing I take from Steve the most is the transformation of his game. I came in in '90 in Detroit when he was still scoring 50 goals a season and he began to change his on-ice game. I remember him saying at times he was doing nothing different as well. But he was. He was accepting different rolls. He was more and more in defensive situations, he took all the key face-offs, killed all the key penalties, blocked shots. And I mean, I look at Steve's face now and it's just -- the difference between his face now and the difference between his face when he first came in, it shows what kind of warrior Steve is and how important he has been to that franchise. Q. For all three, some people believe, some players believe that a true rivalry is not formed until you meet in the Playoffs. Four games into the series now, has this become a rivalry; how heated is it? MARK RECCHI: I would think it is, definitely. I think there's been some emotions there and especially now it's come down to the best of three. Been four hard fought games and you know, in four different games really, I mean, we have been at our best in two and they have been their best in two. Now it's coming down to the best of three. We will see what happens. It's definitely, there's definitely some emotions there and you know, some rivalry really brewing there definitely. Q. A lot of new faces out there on the ice today as locker room leaders. Anything you impart on the younger guys and does it alter the chemistry? KEITH PRIMEAU: No. I don't think it does. From an organizational standpoint it is important to have those guys around. They obviously would be preferred to be playing right now still for the Calder Cup. When you have the opportunity to bring some young guys, Mackie, Jeff Carter, guys who really need to experience this time of year and understand the importance of it, I think it's special, and no way detracts from the group of guys we have or what we're trying to accomplish and those guys have been really good about just kind of being around and aware of the situation and kind of staying on the periphery but excited about being here. Q. Talk a little bit about the powerplay. It's been really a problem for you guys in this series so far. Penalty kill has been good. At some point you have to get this going. MARK RECCHI: I think we made some headway last game. I think we were a lot better last game than we had been in the previous games. The results obviously weren't there, but I think we did some better things and we have to continue. Yeah, I mean, that's important especially when you get on the road here and you know, you can get powerplay early and you can cash in and it makes a big difference. Q. Hitch was saying yesterday that the length of TV timeouts - and not to mention a number of days between games - probably helps you guys in terms of recovery and you have had some injuries, you can shorten the bench a little bit. Wonder if anybody has got an observation on that, whether that's helping you out at this time. KEITH PRIMEAU: TV timeouts are, depending on where they are in the game, if you get a run of 7, 8, 9 means minutes in the third period without a stoppage, then all of a sudden two back-to-back plays you have timeouts. I think it is good. It's crucial for us, I am sure for them as well. But to get guys -- almost works like a timeout, extra timeouts, and it always plays a big role this time of year, give guys a little bit of a rest on the bench. MARK RECCHI: We play four lines more than they do too so it might benefit them actually I think a little bit more. Q. Jeremy, back in February when you got your injury, Keith went down the same night with a concussion. Everybody talks about your amazing comeback. What about Keith coming back and playing at such a high level, such a physical game after what he went through as well? JEREMY ROENICK: Knowing how he felt, it's very impressive. Keith and I talked pretty much almost every day through the whole ordeal. We both had kind of similar rehabs and similar symptoms that we dealt with everyday. Mine seemed to clear up a little bit quicker. There was a point where I think both of us probably didn't feel that he were going to be able to come back. I think for him to come back after going through something like that, I know especially the way that I felt, and I am sure he felt the same way, that it's almost like a blessing that he got a chance to play and play in this time of year with the team that we have. I know he was excited and I think the responsibility that Hitch puts into Keith really gives him that much more of a driving focus to know that he's responsible for 22 guys, leading 22 guys. It's a tough thing, but I think not too many people are as gung-ho about it as Keith has been. He's brought his level to the game that, to tell you the truth, that I didn't think he could do. Maybe that he didn't think he could do, but he's definitely been the best player in the Playoffs for us and vice versa guys like myself and Rex to follow along is very, very important. Q. Have you surpassed where you thought you'd be right now, Keith? KEITH PRIMEAU: From a health standpoint? Q. Yes. KEITH PRIMEAU: Yeah, J.R., We talked. I honestly thought when I first got the injury I was coming back two days later and I was going to play at home. For it to drag out the way it did, and at no point did I think J.R. would beat me back in the lineup. So he was -- he kind of became my inspiration and motivation for me at the end. I kept telling my wife, there's no way, there is absolutely no way that he's going to beat me back in the line-up. Then when he did, every day him and I are early to the rink, he was at me every day, "How are you feeling?" "How are you feeling?" Almost to the point where he was annoying but he was my biggest cheerleader. So it motivated me. Because I knew his emotions were the emotions of the guys in the locker room. Q. You intimated to this earlier in the week that the layoff for you and the severity of the injury, the time you missed you think there's a tie to that or a correlation between being able to come back and playing, what is now, the best hockey of your career? KEITH PRIMEAU: I felt that -- I kind of put my teammates at a disadvantage at being away for seven weeks. That forced Michael Handzus to play over 20 minutes a night. JEREMY ROENICK: Rex had to carry 20 guys. KEITH PRIMEAU: Rex really stepped it up in the locker room. Had to become a voice, a greater voice than he already was. And that was the most frustrating part for me, I really felt like I was letting my teammates down. So when I got back, I felt it was extremely important and imperative that I get back in shape as quickly as possible and try and get back to where I was, where I felt I was with -- in the locker room with my teammates as far as how they perceived me because I didn't have that feeling. It was an awful feeling, as I said, so the motivation for me is my teammates. Q. What is it that's clicked now? Was it being so close to maybe having your career over? KEITH PRIMEAU: I don't want to overstate it. We just never know how we're going to recover. I was scared. Like I said, I have been bumped on the head since I was five years old, had headaches lots of times every time I was hit. This time it was different. It felt cumulative, all those times I have been hit. It didn't seem it was getting better. I was really concerned. Q. The extra day between the games seems to take all the energy out of the last victory and yet it feels as though you have to start from scratch again. Do you agree with that it is difficult to get right back up in that same level when you have had the extra day off? KEITH PRIMEAU: Everybody talks about momentum in the Playoff series and could we build a momentum of the last game. Can we build the momentum on the Game 4 and could they build the momentum on Game 3. I don't know if you can build on the kind of momentum that you've created in a winning Game 4 with two days off in between. You look at the other series, Western Conference, and I think San Jose can build on momentum of an afternoon game yesterday and going home and play today. They are excited. They are energized. They have a real opportunity to take a hold on the series. We have given this team now back after our win two days to regather themselves and refocus, so the challenge becomes even greater. Q. Keith, we all know that Hitch's style takes some getting used to. Did you make your peace with it right away or did it take an adjustment for you? KEITH PRIMEAU: Two years now we have been with Hitch. It was at least -- at least Christmas last year before I even -- not because I was stubborn about it, or I didn't agree with his system, I understood his accomplishments, and just his approach and his drive-it-down-your-throat-until-you-swallow-it, mentality, was hard. It was just mentally difficult; practices were really long. Video sessions were really long. Trying to digest systems was difficult. But once we started to understand and grasp the concept from there it was an easy transition but I remember last year it was at least Christmas before I was able to kind of get any kind of understanding of where he was coming from and I think we were all about the same time. So you --- JEREMY ROENICK: I am still in a fog. (LAUGHTER). KEITH PRIMEAU: That's our message when we get young players in the lineup or new guys traded. Rex and I, first thing we do when a new guy comes in we say listen, don't listen to the delivery. Listen to what he has to say because what he has to say is usually bang-on. The sooner guys grasp that and understand that, the sooner they acclimate.
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