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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLYERS v LIGHTNINGMay 18, 2004Robert EscheKeith PrimeauMark RecchiJeremy RoenickTAMPA, FLORIDA: Game Five Q. For all this team has gone through this year how resilient you guys have been, how confident are you that you can rally now and the extend the series? KEITH PRIMEAU: We will be confident. Obviously we would have preferred to be going home up 3 -2, but we're not -- we just have to prepare and focus for Game 6. We have to win one game. That's what we will focus for the next two days. Q. Keith, your special teams were among the very best in the League and right now that's a critical difference in this series. Can you explain why? KEITH PRIMEAU: No, I can't. But yeah, it has been -- it's cost us. It cost us tonight. We gave up to many shorthanded goals. We didn't connect on the powerplay. And that was the difference. Q. You had an extra day and there was a lot of discussion about that. Is there any activity going -- tinkering addressing both sides the -- KEITH PRIMEAU: If we spent any time in meeting the last couple of days that's where we have been. Special teams weren't real good at home in Game 4 either. So we worked on it and give them credit they capitalized when they had the opportunity and we didn't. Q. How much of a drain has it been on the forwards on this team with all the injuries and such when the defense had added responsibilities? KEITH PRIMEAU: That's part of our system though. We have to be responsible defensively. As I said, it's part of how we play, so it hasn't -- it's more when you are chasing the game, when you fall behind that's more draining than anything, and you need to find a way to start with a lead. Q. The faceoffs there were some big key faceoffs throughout the game. It almost seemed as if they knew you guys or scouted you on video. What went on there? KEITH PRIMEAU: The third one went off my shin pad right back out into the slot. I have no idea how they got two assists on that. I am pretty sure I should have been the one that got the assist. But they are doing a nice job with cheating in the faceoff circle. Andreychuk doesn't come down he's winding for me to come down on every draw. He's allowed to just come through. That's part of home ice advantage. Sometimes I get away with it at home too. We just have to do a better job in the faceoff circle zone. Q. A 3-nothing deficit would seem fairly insurmountable. Talk about the push you guys had to get the two goals there? KEITH PRIMEAU: We started to really turn it up in the second period there. We generated a lot of chances then -- (inaudible) we were coming and they seemed to regroup for a bit too. It settled back in. We were coming hard and I thought we were going to tie it up. Just fell a little short. Q. Mark, what has to be done to get the powerplay going? You guys are 1 for your last 36. That's the difference right now? MARK RECCHI: Yeah, it was a huge difference tonight. Obviously they scored two goals and we have opportunities and we don't do the job. And we really have to look at this hard and we had a 4-on-3 opportunity in the first period and we didn't even get a shot. So those are opportunities that you got to take advantage of and you got to make the other team feel like they can't take penalties and right now we are not doing that. Obviously it hasn't hurt us until tonight. Tonight was the first time that special teams was the difference. Q. J. R., When you are going into a third period like that and you're throwing shot after shot on Khabibulin what goes on in your mind when it's not going in? JEREMY ROENICK: You have to stick with the game plan, I think. We put a helluva push in the third period had a lot of shots, a lot of quality chances. Niki played exceptionally strong. But we stress that we can't get frustrated throughout the course of the game. Especially in the third period when you are down a goal it's very important that we stick to shooting the puck and we outplayed them dramatically in the third period. We just couldn't find it. We have got to go back on Thursday and have a big game in our building and then make it a one-game series. Q. Obviously Game 5 is pivotal, now you are facing having to win two consecutive things. How do you regroup and bring it back here? MARK RECCHI: We're going to worry about Game 6 first. We're going to go home and try and do our job at home. And then Game 7 is up in the air if we can bring it back here. You never know when you get to a Game 7. We have to go home and we have to at least give ourselves that opportunity. We definitely didn't make it any easier on ourselves, but we will get focused for Thursday. We will be ready and we will try and bring this thing back. Q. Hitch was talking a couple of minutes ago about this being a special group regardless of what happens, considering everything you have been through this year. Do you think that this is the time for you guys to pull together and bank on that and show that you can do that? KEITH PRIMEAU: We stress all the time how resilient our group is. We will dig deep again. We will rally together and find a way and that's what makes our team special is that we are going to push until there's no more pushing. So we will be ready for Game 6. Q. With that in mind, Robert, when you see Khabibulin pull off a third period like that, do you kind of wait for the opportunity to do the same thing on Thursday night; do you relish that chance? ROBERT ESCHE: I don't put too much onus on stuff like that. I just try to stop the puck at all costs. And whatever happens every game is different. I don't believe in streaks, cold or hot, and Nik is going to have a completely different game in Philadelphia, he's going to have to be really good and so am I. That's what goaltenders have to do. Q. Is there a sense through five games that you guys are clearly the superior team 5-on-5 and does that make it more frustrating? JEREMY ROENICK: Well, I don't know that there's frustration in our locker room. I think we definitely feel as a team that we have owned a better part of the series. They have played extremely well. I am not taking anything away from them. They have had some big games by some big people as we have. But we don't get frustrated. We know we are up against a great hockey club but we realize we are a great hockey club too. Esche has played fantastic. Rex has played great. Obviously Primes has been the best player in the Playoffs. I think on all teams, but it seems to be teeter to the teeter right now. Now Thursday is our turn to come out and get a huge push and a big win and then let the best team win in Game 7. That's what we're planning on. But Thursday is a big game for us. Q. Keith, does the quicker turnaround from Game 5 to Game 6 help you guys at all? KEITH PRIMEAU: I think it's huge. I am tired of the two days off in between and this allows us to regroup quick. We get home and start preparation tomorrow and we get to go right back at it Thursday. I am excited about that. Same thing for Game 7, quick turnaround. That's the way it has to be.
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