	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SABRES v HURRICANES

May 29, 2006

Peter Laviolette

BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Practice Day

Q. Peter, Lindy Ruff says the pressure is all on your hockey team.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: He keeps talking about my hockey team, what we're doing. We are here to play hockey. We know it's going to be a good game and, I don't know, when you get this far down the road I don't think you can use that as an excuse anymore. They will be ready to play hard.
Q. Cam Ward is going to get the start in Game 6?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I didn't say that. Are you asking?
Q. Yes.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We don't give information on lineups and injuries.
Q. On that goaltending note, a lot of coaches wouldn't do what you've done, you have got to give credit for that. Is it because you know what you can get from both those guys and they perform? You have pushed the buttons with both those guys?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think it's just been the way we have been all year as far as using different people at different times, stepping up. Cam has played well for parts of the year and Marty has played well. They have both played well for parts of the playoffs. It's getting the right guy at the right time.
Q. Is it their make-up that you can get away with that, they can roll with the punches?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We never came out and said -- I think when you're New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur is your guy and that's it. We weren't made up like that from the start. I think it's easier to move between the two of them.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I thought that they played hard. They had a lot of wins during the course of the season. I don't think it should surprise anybody that they are playing well. I don't think it was as one sided as Lindy led people to believe last night, but certainly OLN didn't have the scoring chances the way he did.
But hey, it was a good hockey game and I'm sure a tomorrow will be a lot more of the same.
Q. You don't feel you escaped with the win?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, the scoring chances were 24 to 15 for us, so I don't know how you escape when you're playing with that many scoring chances. We've got some big saves from the goaltender, they have got some big saves. I think it's a great series. It's great hockey. Last night it was more the same; it was up and down. If you were just a fan of the game then you saw a great game.
Q. Obviously every game is important, you have to win every game, is there some urgency trying to finish it up on the road rather than --
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You always want to finish it as soon as you can. Nobody wants to go to a Game 7. We have come out with the same mentality as in Game 4; we were desperate. Game 7s anything can happen. We've got two cracks at it. The first crack we have got to take care of it tomorrow night. Their back is against the wall. They don't have the luxury of not being successful. They are going to be ready to play hockey. If we are going to be successful, we have to match that.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I just think that we're a good hockey team. Home has been a great place for us. Good teams win both at home and on the road. It's a little bit more difficult because you don't get your fans and the environment, but I think for the most part we have been good at home and on the road.
Q. Going back to the goalie situation, is there a strategy now that if you're finding the team is a little bit flat it or it needs that kind of jump, that switching the goalies --
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't know if there is a strategy to it more than just what goes on through the course the game, and how the game is paying out at that point. Last night we were down 3-1, we made a move and it ended up being the right movie. But I think that last night -- there are a lot of things you do and they don't work out. This worked out.
Q. It was indicative of Gerber's play?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think we just needed a change. The goal that he got pulled on was not his fault. There was a breakaway, we had a breakdown, they put it away.
Q. With all that's been said back and forth, you guys have stayed the course with the phrase, "whatever it takes."
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't think we are saying too much. I think we are here to play hockey and win games. Like I said, they are doing the same thing. I don't think talk has a whole lot to do with it, to be honest with you. I think it's what you do on the ice.
Q. Do you understand what Ruff is trying to do with the young team, saying they are not a desperate time and switching it on the other foot?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think the game is going to be played tomorrow night when the puck drops.
Q. Is part of trying to avoid a Game 7 is the other team in the West is sort of clicking their heels?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You never know how that's going to work. You never know what rest does for a team. Really we haven't thought about it. I'm sure the Sabres haven't thought too much about it. We both have our hands full try to get to that point. I think really the best philosophy and the best approach for both teams is just worry about one game, just Game 6, that's the only thing that's on the plate.
Q. Can you talk about Commodore (inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I thought he played pretty good in the Finals last year.
Q. I'm not putting him down.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: He hasn't been around for 12 years. A young defenseman who was coming up through. He has gotten opportunities and made the most of them in Calgary. Played really well for us all year, and now in the playoffs as well.

Q. Do you feel like there's any momentum in this series and you've captured it?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know, it's amazing what a day off can do, either way, winning or losing. Just going back to that Montreal Game 2 where we just lost our second game at home, double overtime, and that day off was, I think, real important just to get over the emotional highs or lows, whatever come, and be ready to play a hockey game.
So I think, I guess this is my opinion, when you get this far down the road in the playoffs that when you have that day off and that spread between games, that the emotional part of it, it doesn't come into play as much. They'll be fighting for their lives, that probably gives them a leg up.
Q. (Inaudible)?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know, like I said before, I thought Marty had looked really good. I gave a lot of thought to Game 5 against New Jersey and decided not to, and I think a lot of times when you make the decisions, it's not so much even that one game down the road, where is Game 6 being played, where is Game 7 being played, where is the series score at, how do they look, what's your gut feeling, then you go from there and make decisions. They've worked so far. But there's a lot of decisions that you make as a coach and they don't work out.
Q. What does it say about the character of the guys with you sitting on the bench, (inaudible)?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what, whoever has come off the bench has responded, even Marty when he came off has played extremely well and now Cam coming off two times has played extremely well.
Again, it's not a me trying to make a statement sort of thing. I'm not here to embarrass anybody. We are here to win a Stanley cup. As I said all along, it's going to take everybody. On any given night it's going to take a different person to step up and allowing somebody else to step up and the goalies have done that. You know, try to talk to them, keep letting them know that we are going to need them down the road, they have to got to continue to work hard, so far it's worked out.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I mean for me it's again, they were just decisions either based on the way the game was going or, you know, in case of Game 4 just a gut feeling on Marty.
Q. Cam did not play the last time (inaudible)?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know what I thought, yeah, then again in the same conversation continue to work hard because you don't what's going to happen. That's the truth of the matter, nobody knows what's going to happen.
What I really liked about the last 30 games, and Greg Stefan did a great job, on all the drills in practice and after practice his effort, his second effort and third effort, and Martin Gerber was a good guy to follow in that category because Marty, you know, as a shooting drill is going on in practice, Marty will stop the first stop, then he'll look for the second rebound, the third rebound, fourth rebound, mean while the drill is coming on and the next guy in line is ready to score but he doesn't care that guy. He finishes what he started. And Cam really started to focus in on that and, you know, work on his game. In practice you can see that. You can see that he was really working hard in practice to stay sharp and, you know, like I said, you just don't know what's going to happen.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We never considered it. We felt very comfortable with our goaltending, with the way that Cam had played during the season, with the way that Martin had played during the season, and Martin had really come on strong during the year, set a franchise record for wins. Goaltending wasn't something that we talked about. The only thing that we talked about was adding depth up front.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: That was exactly his game plan before the season started to go with what we had. It left room to pick up a piece or two that we might need if we thought we were in a position to do as the season moved on. He told me that before the season. At the time I had really liked the players that he picked up originally, You know, the Ray Whitneys, the Stillmans, the Tverdovskys, the Matt Cullens.
Q. How valuable (inaudible)?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, a lot of the guys have been here all year. Again, it would be hard to single out one person as to the reason why we've had success because there's lot of players young and old, veterans and rookies that have contributed at all points through the season. I guess the only difference in two of the names, Recchi and Weight, they have come on, they have moved away from their families, they bring their leadership and their experience and their skill and they are a welcome addition to this team.
Again it was a situation where they didn't have to come in and carry the load, they just had to contribute and last night was a perfect example. Weight doing what he does behind the net, to Mark Recchi who found some space in front of the net, then it was in the back of the net. That's what we need from those guys.
Q. (Inaudible)?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: His demeanor I mean Tom Roe had worked with him in Louisville last year and the word was that his demeanor was very calm. He didn't get rattled very often and he came up and he's been like that all year, regardless of the situation or the circumstances, it's been the same.
Q. So you knew --
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We just based it on Tom and just watching him through the course the year, it doesn't surprise me that he's remained the same throughout the playoffs.
Q. What did you think about Lindy Ruff's comments --
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, he seems so mad at our team. I thought his team played well. He made it sound like we didn't even show up. OLN had the chances late in the third at 20-12 for us. So I don't know what -- I'm not here to argue with Lindy. I think he's doing a great job, his team is doing a great job. They are playing really hard.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't have a whole lot of experience but the experiences that I've had, they come from the minor leagues as well. I started in the East Coast League. We went with one guy because that guy deserved it, he played well and option B really wasn't that good.
Then in Providence Johnny Graham was the guy who got in the playoffs and ran with it and won a championship in Providence. The Islanders was Chris Osgood and then -- I don't think it's that clear cut in a lot of situations. Anaheim wasn't that clear cut. Obviously New Jersey is clear cut; they go with one guy and that's the end of it. Buffalo has that option that they could use Biron, who has had a good year for them but they have stayed with Miller. They have that option.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, energy and they create offense it hasn't happened for them yet but it can and it will, and I still think they are going to get a timely goal for us. I really enjoy using their line when we're -- when you think like the extra sessions last night and you can put them out against anybody. You can put them out against the other team's top line and not really have anything to worry about. When we have a lead, you work them into the rotation and give them a little bit more ice time, maybe more than the other lines because they do a good job of chewing up the clock. They just work so hard. They get pucks deep. It makes it hard to get out of your own end. And it makes it hard to penetrate them.
So they are very reliable, they are responsible, they give us energy.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I didn't think Williams was diving. I looked it he was trying to skate away, he got his feet clipped out and fell down.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think that we've killed more than we've been on the power play. I'm not sure about that but I think we've -- they are getting their calls.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Jim is a big fan of that. I'm not so sure. I think that based under the new rules I think there can be both. I know that Jim has talked to me about that several times. He's fan of that. He would like to see that, where if there is a hook and somebody dives, that the hook gets washed away.

End of FastScripts...

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297