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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANES

June 5, 2006

Peter Laviolette

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game One

Q. What are your expectations of the Oilers from a physical standpoint? Are they as physical or more physical than other teams you've played?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: They look like they have been banged around pretty well. We got banged around in the Montreal series and they had a big, tough defence I think in Montreal. Komisarek plays a tough game, so it's not something that we're not used to. It appears that they were skating well and were finishing their hits and getting in on the forecheck. I don't think it's going to catch us off-guard. But they are a physical team.
Q. You guys have had great success going to the net and getting traffic in front of goalies but now you're facing a defenseman like Pronger, does had a change your game plan in the offensive zone at all?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Honestly I'm not sure because we have not played them. I think there's been a challenge for us every series, to be honest with you to try and -- we've faced some good defences and some good goaltending and I think this is just more of the same.
You know, the first round with Montreal, getting through their defence, and getting through Kobasew, was playing extremely well at the time and the second round with New Jersey, and they are a defensive-minded team and they kind of collapse in towards their goaltender, and then you have Marty Brodeur behind them.
The last round, Buffalo put up a wall and we had to try to find a way through it, and so we have had these challenges all along. That will obviously be the challenge this round as well.
Q. What do you think about the goalie match-up just in this series? You couldn't really ask for a more stark contrast as far as Cam Ward versus Dwyane Roloson.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know, there are so many questions about -- what about this, what about that and that's ultimately why you play the games, and Roloson has obviously played well to this point. Our goaltending has played well to this point I think, also. Cam Ward has been outstanding.
So, you know, it should be -- the goaltending is a great match-up. Our forwards versus their defence is a great match-up, our power play versus their penalty kill is a great match-up. That's why we play the games.
Q. Do you think you do more coaching or is coaching more crucial in the early stages of a series like this, where you don't know each other very well, as opposed to later when maybe the series has its own life?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think there's always -- at the beginning of each series there's always been a lot of preparation time. What's been good for us is there's always three or four days between series. Some series, go back to Edmonton, they left Game 7, and two nights later they are starting and that's not a lot of preparation time when you're trying to focus on the job at hand.
We have had a lot of time to prepare, and for us, we always do spend a little bit more time breaking down Edmonton, what they do, their system. It's not our focus, but we do get into how they kill penalties, how they set up on the power play, how they forecheck in the neutral zone, certain faceoffs, and we do our best to prepare for them. Once we get going into the series, it's more about what can we do better against them and it reverts back to us because we've always thought about us and not about the opponent.
Q. A lot of your guys have talked about the team bonding exercise you did early and the chemistry you've tried to foster throughout, can you talk about your philosophy about that and maybe where you learned some of this or where you developed your thoughts about that?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: You know, honestly it's probably a minor thing. I started coaching in the minors and the East Coast Hockey League. I feel like your teams are so close in the minors, not as many walls and players, not even player to player, but player to staff, player to management, player to ownership, spouses, children. It's nothing that really is different for me. I think a lot of it has to do with your upbringing, my mom and dad and their influence on me and my family life and just what I believe in really.
But ultimately, it's about the players. If the players decide they want cliques all over the locker room, all of the team building in the world won't help -- well, it may help a little bit but you're probably still going to have a segregated locker room. We have a unique set of guys in there, where they truly enjoy being with each other, and it's a great team atmosphere. We've got wives that are super and we've got children that hang around and everybody gets to know, and dads that are in the locker room today as we speak. It's a truly unique environment.
Q. You talked briefly about the matchup, their penalty killing against your power play, what have you done well that's allowed you to click at the rate you're clicking at and can you continue to do that against what you see on their penalty kill?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I hope so. But again I have to play the games and find out and try to make adjustments along the way. I think our strength has been our depth of skill. You can send out two units and one unit is Stillman, Brind'Amour and Williams, who are top point guys in the NHL all year long and now in the playoffs, as well. You can send out another unit of Whitney, Weight and Recchi. Those are two pretty good units.
We use a forward on defensive side of it on the point, and Eric Staal and Cullen, who are two pretty gifted people and we have two great defensemen out there as well. I just think we are deep with skill and the power play is so important, we talked about it and how it can win you hockey games.
The challenge here is the same as Buffalo, trying to get the shots through. It seems like Pronger is always in front of the net and always in front of the goalie, doesn't go too far from that. We have a challenge to try to get pucks through the net.
Q. I hope you haven't answered this already, I just got here, can you talk about what Mark Recchi has brought to this club in terms of experience and leadership, especially to some of your younger players.
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, I think he's come in and he's played a lot of playoff games. He's had a terrific career in the National Hockey League, and he's come in here and he's blended into a locker room that we have already talked about as being a great locker room. I think one of the things that Jim Rutherford did an excellent job of is making sure we had good character people we traded for at the deadline, like Recchi and Weight, that would come in and not go their own way.
Let's be honest here, Doug Weight and Mark Recchi have won us hockey games. And it's not all about them because it's not about one person in the room, but they have had key contributions and key goals through the course of the first three rounds that have led to the success that we're here. They have come in and done exactly what we have asked them to do, which is to add to the depth of this team, add to Eric Staal, to Justin Williams, Cory Stillman, Ray Whitney, Kevyn Adams and they have done that, they have done that really well.
Q. What about all of the adrenaline, the emotion, the build-up of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, all of the players' experience, how do you control it and how do you use it in Game 1 tonight?
COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Well, it's in our building, it should be a great environment. If you haven't been here in this building, it's a terrific place to watch a game. There's a great environment outside before the game coming into it. I think all day long for players, coaches, staff, fans, media, there's this build-up to the game itself. I think sometimes that that's the hardest part of it, honestly, the anxious moments that go, well, normally from 7:00 in the morning, but today from 3:30 in the morning to the drop of the puck.
You know, what I found a lot is that once the puck drops, it's all about hockey, it's all about those players on the ice. I have often said, it's my belief, anyway, the team that executes the best and plays the hardest wins the game.
You know, once the puck drops, it's just about hockey again.

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