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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SABRES v HURRICANES

May 31, 2006

Lindy Ruff

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Practice Day

Q. Going into Game 7, how vital is it to have guys like Chris Drury, who has been there seven times, probably share his experience with some of the younger kids?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think as much experience you can find in our lineup is valuable. In Chris's case, he has been in a lot of important games in the playoffs and the Game 7, and you gain experience from playing in those situations. He had some good experiences. He can lend that to a lot of our younger players that haven't been there before.
Q. How did you know that Carolina had champagne in the dressing room last night?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I am not going to talk about that.
Q. You talked about it this morning.
COACH LINDY RUFF: I am not going to divulge my sources.
Q. Can you at least talk about, you said you felt they are arrogant.
COACH LINDY RUFF: Just in the game a couple of players were laughing after going by our bench in the 4-0 game. I know we played poorly in that game so maybe we deserved that.
Q. Then Laviolette said today there should be a gag order on you.
COACH LINDY RUFF: On me?
Q. Pretty much.
COACH LINDY RUFF: For?
Q. Just speaking your mind.
(LAUGHTER). We're trying to figure it out, too. He was being told of your comments this morning and before it came out, he said, "I don't care. There should be a gag order."
COACH LINDY RUFF: You know what, it is about the game; it's not about Peter and I. I think you have gone down the wrong trail. They are going to use whatever they can use, I am going to use whatever I can use, but there's going to be 20 players on the ice for each team, they are going to decide the game.
It's made for some good writing in all cases, you know, players in the heat of the battle have showed their emotions different ways. As a coach you try to use some emotions from the other team. They are going to try to impose their emotions on us.
So you know, everything is fair game in this situation.
Q. What did you say about the champagne, so we don't misquote you? They had it on ice?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Yeah, supposedly had it on ice in the room. Unless my source is no good. Then I apologize if it isn't.
Q. Let us look around the idea, would you have champagne if you won this game, you haven't won a Cup yet?
COACH LINDY RUFF: No, but winning the Eastern Conference is a pretty big deal. I remember winning the Eastern Conference in Toronto. We didn't have champagne, but we shook the hell out of the Diet Cokes, I will tell you.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. You look at the way the last two games --
COACH LINDY RUFF: Why would you want a gag order? It's supposed to be fun, isn't it?
Q. When you look at the way the last two games ended, both power play goals in overtime, does that sort of leave teams a little uneasy as to what they can do and can't do in overtime?
COACH LINDY RUFF: It does. I think that's some of the emotion you saw. You can kill off the other penalties and nothing is mentioned about them. Or you can score on them and you are upset but when you lose in a power play situation, usually you are going to go over every inch of it, you are going to criticize 15 seconds before the shift, 15 seconds after the shift and usually as a coach you want to hang that player out to dry if it's a bad penalty.
But there's a lot of mistakes in the game and there are a lot of calls in the game that really can go -- I mean, I went through the game, they had an offsides called against them that wasn't even close to offsides. You look at it, if those situations get called against you, you are upset too at the same time.
Q. You have played a long time and you know the importance of psychological things and you got under Hitch's skin in the first round. Is there a place for that in Game 7?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I just said this and I am going to say it again, that it is going to be decided by the will of the 20 guys on the ice. I said this morning also that I really think, you know, somebody said penalty, I said special teams will probably have a big part in deciding this game because both teams have got momentum, have won games. Previous two games have been won on special teams. Both teams defend hard, that's why you saw 1-0 game with terrific goaltending.
I will say it again, I use as much as I can to motivate and I am sure he does the same.
Q. Does getting under their skin, because it's working, I don't know if you are aware of it, but --
COACH LINDY RUFF: I don't -- I will say this again, I haven't read one article.
Q. But they reacted.
COACH LINDY RUFF: I can tell, but it's going to be decided on the ice.
Q. How is Teppo today?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Teppo is worse than he was yesterday. He isn't a consideration to play, not right now.
Q. Probably Jillson --
COACH LINDY RUFF: That means that Jillson in all likelihood will play. We have got one other option in Nathan Paetsch. Not a lot of experience.
Q. Go back to the will of this team. Of all the teams that you coached, getting to the Finals, how is this a special team?
COACH LINDY RUFF: It's special because seven months ago we went into camp with some lofty goals, goals that probably a lot of people who would have thought were unrealistic and one was to finish first in our division, and one was to go out and win a Stanley Cup. We really thought it was possible and you might say that every coach is going to say that at the start of training camp, but I think you saw the way we treated our lineup, the players that we had there previously. We believed in the players we had. We made some changes that we thought made our team better, and we said no excuses. One thing from start to finish was no excuse. Not to use any excuses; injuries, travel, four games in six nights, tough schedules. You lose, you lose; you win -- if you lose we have got to be better.
Q. You are not surprised this went seven games?
COACH LINDY RUFF: No, not at all. We said from the beginning that this was going to be a tough, tough series and they are a very resilient team, a lot like us. They have got a lot of tools to win games. They have got two goaltenders that have really played a big part of them winning hockey games. We have used one, they have used two and they have used them effectively.
But I don't think anybody should be surprised. Five games out of six have been one-goal games.
Q. You also said last night (inaudible) stand behind the bench of this team. Compare it to that team that -- (inaudible)?
COACH LINDY RUFF: That team was more, we had a checking line. We tried to get a lead and hunker down and play defense.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: That's why I said you have got to hunker down and play defense. You have a checking line. You believe that will come if you had the one-goal lead (inaudible). That philosophy was probably going to be good enough to win there, here; it's no checking lines, no changing on the fly, not worrying about matchups, try to make every line accountable to play the system, and if you trust the system, everybody can play in it. You don't have to worry about who is on the ice against you. You have to be aware of the other team's better lines and players have to buy into that. They have to buy in on sort of that equal opportunity, everybody is going to get the equal opportunity and they have.
I think a lot of the credit just falls on their shoulders for the leadership in that room from Drury, Grier, Briere, you can go to Dumont, McKee, all those guys.
Q. In a way it's just the most satisfying season you have ever coached?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Well, there's a comfort that nobody wants all the attention. Nobody wants all the recognition. It's been just a tremendous team-first attitude that if one power play doesn't get it done, they are really convinced that the next unit can and we have been a two-unit team that, you know, I think if you look at special teams where we finished in the regular season, we have relied on a lot of personnel to be part of that. It hasn't been just one or two players.
Q. You were talking about the point here is to have fun. With so much at stake tomorrow will you have fun?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I said this morning I will be nervous, I am not going to kid you, but I don't know if one-goal games after one-goal games is a lot of fun.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. We're not that fond of them. Especially when they go overtime.
COACH LINDY RUFF: It's been a demanding series. When you look at the games how we won how we got a lead then lost the lead, then got back in the game, but when you can win on the road, you can win in overtime the number of times, it's fun. You got -- you got to really embrace that five, ten minutes after a game where, you know, feel good about winning.
Q. It's tougher to be behind the bench than to be on the ice, I guess, because you experienced Game 7 in the past, played so many games, Lindy, so it's not the same thing, I guess?
COACH LINDY RUFF: No, it's not the same. I think it's -- as a player you get to play. As a coach, you know, getting into overtime you have got pom-poms out sometimes just hoping that you get big saves or somebody is going to make a big play for you. Somewhere in there you are trying to have fun with them. I think the fun is, you know, just relish how hard your team works.
Q. You seemed really relaxed, is that fair to say?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Yeah, there is nothing -- I said I used the quote the other day, "nothing to be afraid of." I even said earlier in the playoffs, you know, it's probably in the hands of the hockey gods now. Might be a bounce, might be just execution on a couple of real good plays in the game. You can look at Justin Williams missing an empty net last night on a cross-ice pass. Was that our break? Was that destiny for us for that game? Why did it just sort of hop on him? I can't explain that one, but it was a wide open net that, you know, he must have went home and put his head in the pillow and couldn't sleep for a couple of hours because he's thinking, how the heck did I miss that one?
You are either going to get some of those, you know. Jochen Hecht the same thing, the opportunity he had in Game 5 here.
Q. In the overtime?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Yeah. You know, you feel for a player, you see the look in his face like, I may never get another chance to score such a big goal. That's why I am convinced we're going to play well. Everything else will take care of itself.
Q. You mentioned five one-goal games out of six. Have you ever been in a series that has been this close heading into a Game 7?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Well, the previous series was just as close. It didn't go seven games, but every game was basically a carbon copy, where not a lot of two-goal leads, not a lot of space to breathe. This has gone, you know, seven games, but it was the same. It was overtime games. It was games that were won late. You know, it was games that the lead changed or they tied you up late and you got to win it in overtime. The previous series trained us for this one because now we have pushed it to two more games.
Q. How do you approach a Game 7?
COACH LINDY RUFF: We're not going to approach it any differently. I think the way we have played the previous two games is the way we have to approach Game 7 and same intensity, same desperation.
Q. Experience of being in a Game 7, does that help -- (inaudible)?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think the important part is we have to stay loose. We have been a team without a lot of fear and we want to stay aggressive. I don't want to overcook this one. This one is going to be a short meeting and played the way that we know how to play and let's get after it.
Q. With all the emotion that has been spent in the last couple of games by, you know, your team and winning in overtime, is there any fear of this team being emotionally drained going into Game 7? It hasn't shown it, but is that in any way a concern?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I don't have any fear. I think you always have concerns. Somebody mentioned sleep. There will be some players that probably will have a tough time sleeping. I am not going to have a tough time sleeping. I really have no worries. I said I am confident that we're ready to go and we're ready to play and we're going to generate the amount of chances that we need to win a game. If execution is good, we're going to be right where we want to be.
Q. The fact that the Philadelphia and Ottawa series, (inaudible) does it give you more reason to be calm?
COACH LINDY RUFF: There's a trend of helping. I like the trend.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. After game --
COACH LINDY RUFF: We have got a little bit of a record in Game 7 series than them. A little bit.
Q. (Inaudible) Were you associated with any?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Few. I don't even know if I have been in any. I have been in a Game 5 where it was a best of 5. Game 7 --
Q. '83?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Against the Bruins. Yeah, Brad Parks scored, damn it.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. I was going to ask you what you remember if that still haunts you at all -- (inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think I do remember those. I still remember Tony McKegney having an unbelievable chance to win it, a lot of like what happened to us in Game 5, you have a great opportunity to win it, you don't win it, all of a sudden one goes in the other way and it's like, how the hell did we miss that chance of winning. A lot of emotion goes into that.
Q. What do you say about Jason Pominville? And Doug Weight was quoted as saying, "I don't even know his first name," in one of the papers this morning.
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think that's, you know, a little unfortunate -- all I hear is a lot of excuses. I really am. I am looking at a team that's scurrying around looking for excuses, and we're not looking at any excuses. We're going to play our game.
That game had nothing to do with the ice and it had nothing to do with -- I can tell you, it had a lot to do with Jason Pominville, how hard he worked in the game and the last two games. Just watch his shifts and you will see how hard the kid worked and paid the price in a lot of different areas.
And if you didn't, if they didn't show the film of him scoring the shorthanded game winner against Ottawa, they probably should have showed that because that's a pretty strong move to the net.
Q. Whether it's Weight talking about Pominville or Laviolette talking about officiating, does that fire you guys up?
COACH LINDY RUFF: That and champagne on ice I heard, too. A lot of things like that fire you up, too. Pretty arrogant bunch that, you know, they want to blame it on ice, they want to blame it on officiating. I said after the game in Carolina it was a tough call but I also said that J. P. shouldn't have put a stick on him. I by no means think that that penalty has been called all year long.
Did he hit him from behind? Damn right he hit him from behind. Pominville has absolutely zero reputation except for working hard and trying to score goals.
Q. Did you sense after the 4-0 here in Game 4 that -- (inaudible), maybe start thinking about the next --
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think we sensed that as a team. Some of the arrogance on the ice, some of their comments, and I think that it showed up in Game 5, where really I thought we -- they were a little perplexed by the way they played and I thought our tenacity in the game just showed them that we're a lot better team than you think we are.
Q. I was going to ask you about Game 5 before. Being in your room after that loss, that was the most upbeat team, your team, I have seen in quite some time after a heartbreaking loss like that. Did a light bulb kind of go off then? Did the guys know it then based on whatever you did and is this Game 7 now just kind of a continuation of that?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Well, somebody used the word tentative, that we were tentative in Game 4. And I approach that as, that hasn't been our game all year. We went out and we went after it and we had the opportunities to put that game away. They knew they were lucky to win the game. They acted as if they deserved to win the game. And I just told the team there's not one thing to get down about after playing a game like that. You can be upset about there being your opportunity to put them away, but there isn't one thing to get down about when you put the effort in that we put in, and you had as many players play as well as they did in that game.
We lost, give them credit. We had our chance on the power play to get it done, we didn't. They got their opportunity and they buried us with it. I think it was a little bit of dÈj? vu for them, but for me, it's why it is so much different now that -- overall the ice is no good in this building, the air is no good, the water is no good, the ref is no good, Sabres are no good. A lot of things weren't very, very good. Press room food was no good.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. Pizza was good. It has always been that way.
(LAUGHTER)
COACH LINDY RUFF: Didn't like the stew yesterday.
Q. Have you added to your coaching strategy an attempt to put things on them? Peter Laviolette said, "He keeps talking about us. He keeps talking about me. He keeps talking about our team." He's referring to you. Do you think you have gotten --
COACH LINDY RUFF: I'd like to know when I talked about him though, you know, I think there's a lot of things coming up that I haven't talked about Peter. I haven't said a word about Peter. Something is getting to him.
Q. Do you think he's mad about that?
(LAUGHTER)
COACH LINDY RUFF: That's okay, somebody asked me -- I was asked yesterday if I minded him standing at the bench -- I am just okay with it because I am okay with anything he does. We're ready for Gerber or Ward tomorrow. I am okay with it. This isn't about Peter.
Q. What is your message to the fans who will be on the edge of their seats tomorrow night?
COACH LINDY RUFF: You are probably going to have to be a little nervous. You know you are staring at the game that we wanted to get to. You got to wait all day long for it. I am looking forward to it. To be truthful, I will be a little nervous too, but I am excited at the same time, you know. What more can you ask for?
Q. With all the gamesmanship, yourself, Peter, what have you --
COACH LINDY RUFF: Peter is getting inside my head now.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: A lot of room there, too.
(LAUGHTER)
Q. Is there any worry that officiating could decide this series tomorrow night, whether it be all the stuff, the diving, what have you?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think special teams could decide the game. If you want to call that officiating, I think special teams could decide the game. And I will just leave it at that.
You may like the call or may not, but I think special teams could decide the game tomorrow night.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think from game in, game out that consistency has been there. That's the reason he's been in the lineup night in and night out. He hasn't scored but he's done a lot of good things away from the puck. He had some good opportunities, we have used his size on the power play a little bit last night. His determination a few times to go wide, take a hit, hang on to pucks, you know, he made the great play in Carolina to Drury for the breakaway.
He's paying the price night in, night out. It's the time of year where you need that. I think he has got on the wave and he's just running with it.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think there's a case in point and you have seen it throughout the year, that and I mentioned already the Toronto game after we lost, we came back with -- we took I think it was Novotny out of the lineup and we put Adam Mair in, until Adam got hurt. I really thought that the energy that he gives you is a big lift from night to night.
Adam is just a care free, run through the wall, run through what is next to the wall or what gets in the way; going-to-the-wall type of guy that, you know, sometimes you got to pull the reins back but you never have to tell him to go harder, and that's a pretty good quality in an energy guy on your team and he has got pretty good skills to go with it.
Q. Is Numminen back to square one?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I don't know what square one is, but I think obviously we had a setback last night and I myself asked him just to stay on the bench and, probably could have went inside or got further treatment, but I thought it was important that he hung in there with the defense crew. I don't think that's a great feeling, not being in, but I just thought it was important that he could help maybe a couple of guys out, even if it was one or two things during the game.
Q. Did he agree with you? Did he want to go out there and sit with the guys?
COACH LINDY RUFF: I think you have to ask him. Deep down I think he would be. But I also think there are mixed feelings there, too, that you feel like you have let the team down and I looked at it that he gave it his best shot and it was worth it. It was an inspiration for him to give it a shot that gave us a boost at the same time.
Q. (Inaudible).
COACH LINDY RUFF: There's nothing -- I don't think there's anything I have said that -- I am just using all of what they have said from, you know, the excuses about poor refereeing, the comments about the ice, the comment about the champagne. That's supposed to be true. I won't say it if it wasn't true, and you use that. I use that as a tool to say, guys, they are coming here to celebrate in our building, are you kidding me? No chance.
Q. Did talk to your team about that?
COACH LINDY RUFF: No, I think the team had the message already. They had word of it already.
Q. What did you mean when you said earlier that they have some arrogance on the ice?
COACH LINDY RUFF: Laughing. Just laughing, I think in the 4-0 game. I think you can sense it in our players that, you know, it felt like it was going to be over, that we were done that it was another injury, we lost another player, and there's a fine line. They had a right to laugh. It was a pretty good game going, but I think that, you know, our guys are the type of guys that take it personally and wanted to prove that we're not done yet. We're not done. Maybe this game might be over but we're not done.

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