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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SABRES v HURRICANES

May 22, 2006

Peter Laviolette

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game Two

Q. Second period obviously much better for you guys tonight. Did you guys talk about the other night at all.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: No, we just -- I thought we were playing well in the first. Thought we played well in the second. I thought we were playing well in the third until, you know, the penalties came into play.
Q. Wesley's play in the goal crease didn't seem big at the time it happened and yet it turned out at the end looks likes it was a huge play when he swept the puck out of the crease?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Yeah. I mean, it was close, get back and get that.
Q. How do you explain your team's record when Whitney scores a goal?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I have no idea. I don't know.
Q. Did you do anything to change the power play up a little bit?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We had lots of chances last game. Only power play we didn't really like that much in game No. 1 was the last one, otherwise we moved around, got opportunities and tonight they dropped.
Q. Seemed like you were working more perimeter power play than Game 1?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: It was the same message, but you get video now of Game 1 of things you maybe can do a little bit better. But it was the same message.
Q. What has Whitney brought to you?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Right handed shot. We don't have a lot right-hand shots for the power play. I think he's one of our more creative players in small spaces, offense, Whitney has brought offense his whole career. He's a smart thinker of the game.
Q. Cam obviously didn't see a lot of activity but when he was challenged he was up to the task.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: He played well. Sometimes that's one of the toughest games to stay into, when there's not any action down at your net you have got to stay focused. Sometimes it's easier when you are getting shot after shot after shot, it's easier to stay in tune with the game but he did a real good job of keeping his concentration and focus.
Q. How big was the play Wesley made to pull the puck off the line?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Big.
Q. Angry with that last penalty?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I am angry with a lot of things.
Q. You have to be pretty pleased with the total commitment of the team?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I am extremely pleased with the team.
Q. Transition game?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I am extremely pleased with my team offensively, defensively, transition.
Q. That leaves the officiating.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I have no comments.
Q. Miller got burned by those long slapshots is that a weakness you saw on film?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: One of them hit something, you know, it was far out. I think it was Williams' the last one, I think it caught something and kind of went funny, knuckleball-type shot, but then a redirect. It was a long shot on Staal's shot on the power play but it got tipped and redirected. Any time you got tips and it changes the angle, goalies set up for one thing, then when something happens along the way it's tougher to adjust.
Q. Can you talk about winning today, what it does in terms of confidence, focus, that type of thing?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: It's big because we get in the game. We obviously needed to win tonight. I thought it was a good game for us, but it was important for us just to get involved in the series, being down 0-2 would have been a tough uphill task. Now we're in it.
Again, just like Game 1 was only one game, this is only one game as well and we lost home ice, in two games we lost home ice. We have got to go to Buffalo and go to work.
Q. A couple of players were saying they are different in their building, can you kind of expound on that a little bit?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I am sure they grabbed the emotion and the energy of the fans. I have seen it on TV. It's a loud building and should be a great environment to play a hockey game in. We can draw off that energy as well.
But I think any time you get energy behind you in a building, you can see tonight that fans get behind us, it was pretty loud here and we were able to harness that energy and use it to our advantage.
Q. The goals were on the power play, and the first couple for you guys were boarding, charging, elbowing, I consider those aggressive penalties. Do you tolerate that more than a hook or a trip?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I am not sure that agree with all of them. I think some of them were diving, but I am not sure that I agree. So we tried to play a physical game.
Q. What about Eric Staal's play in the playoffs, 12-game scoring streak now.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: For me it's just a continuation of his regular season. He's been real strong for us in the regular season and it's just a continuation. Thank you.

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