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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANESJune 14, 2006Craig MacTavishRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game Five Q. Just wondering if you would like to see Hemsky shoot more. COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: (Laughs). Q. Wondering what was going through your mind? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: You were right obviously, one chance and in the back of the net tonight. Q. A penalty in overtime, in the old game you never would see it in a million years, tonight you got to kill a penalty, what goes on your mind in that? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Well, there was a certain amount of regret, I don't know, he dumped it by Stevie and, you know, somehow the stick ends up right in between Mark's legs. And, you know, when you put a veteran in that position, Recchi is going to get the call, and you know, he schooled us on the -- and got the call, but when the shorthander went in, I told Stevie after the game it was a brilliant play on his part. But no, overall, just a general comment about the game, I thought it was a terrific hockey game by both teams. It was, I don't know what it looked like up there, but it was break-neck pace back and forth, and lots of energy, lots of action, lots of chances in both ends. Wildly entertaining game and that's a good frame to put around that one for the NHL. Heckuva hockey game. Q. When you are down 3-1 it doesn't seem very realistic to come back from that. When you are down 3-2 it seems more realistic, is that the way you see it? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Yeah. We knew this was going to be a tough game. They were obviously hungry, but at the same time, you know that approaching this game at home, with all the scenarios that are active after the game and your family and friends are in town, at times you can put some pressure on yourself and, you know, we got off to the good start. Then it was just, I don't know about all the penalties tonight. I could go on at length about that. Obviously the way the series is going right now the amount of penalties, the number of penalties is going to favor the team that's got a special team advantage and that's Carolina. So we felt really strong and comfortable all night in our five-on-five game. Just the penalties, I think enabled them to get the lead certainly in the first period. They capitalized well, they got a good power play and a good penalty kill unit. Q. Back in your playing days you always used to approach overtime with the idea you just go out and win as fast as you can. Do you still play that way with the Oilers? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Not quite as aggressively. You want to make sure that you are not -- it's all managing good decisions in overtime in that -- when to jump up on the play, when to be more conservative, do you have full possession, can you join the rush, do we need a high guy, and it's just a product of managing your game and we talked about that going into overtime. We felt pretty comfortable in the position we were in going into overtime and we just wanted to manage those decisions well and I thought we did that. We took it to them early. I think we got, Pec's hit the post two or three minutes before we scored. We had a number of chances as they did, had a couple of shifts in our zone. Q. Walk us through what you saw on the game-winning goal and your reaction on the bench. COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Well, you know, you get a sense of that you are giving yourself an opportunity to get back in the series. We all sensed that and we're -- going into overtime, I thought we had a real strong third period and going into overtime, you know, one goal, one bad break puts you out, and we really had a sense that we were starting to turn the tide and the momentum in the game and in the series and we needed the goal. I think that is why, you know, that's why you saw the reaction that you did from the bench because we know that, with that goal, this puts us right back into it. We have still got a lot of work to do, but there's nobody that wanted to go -- nobody wanted to see that trophy tonight, that's for sure. Q. Do you think this is the end of the lucky silver dollar in Raleigh? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Did they put it back in? I don't know. Ryan dug it out and they put it back in. It's like a dog burying a bone. We'll try and find it, I don't know. We'll see, maybe we'll plant a loony tomorrow or on Saturday. Q. Your team is now 4-0 in Game 5s, each one coming on the road and each one in a more hostile environment. What is it about those pressure situations and pressure games that has brought out the best of your team in the playoffs? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Well, it seems like it's always -- well, the Game 5 is always a monumental game in the course of a series. Normally you are 2-2 going in and we have been in two instances 2-2 and give ourselves an opportunity. We have got a comfort level on the road and we have all year long. We have been a good road team. This time of year when you are in the opposition's building, it's never an easy task, but we have confidence in our ability to win on the road and we're going to have to do that again. Q. Can you comment on Raffi Torres. Certainly made an impact against San Jose and again tonight. COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: I think I finally found a way to motivate Raffi. I won't tell you what it is, but I think we have finally found the proper tactic. He played -- he played terrifically well right from the outset tonight. I mean, for a young players like Raffi that, a lot of times their confidence level wavers on a good or bad break and right from the first shift they have a terrific first shift, we get on the board the first shift, and I really think that that in itself helped his confidence and he was just a handful all night. He had some big hits and he's a guy that has changed the course of a couple of series and quite conceivably could change the course of this series as well. He did it in Detroit in Game 2. He had a terrific physical shift and gave us some good jump. He did it in Game 2 in San Jose when he got a terrific hit on Michalek, who was a handful for us and scored the big goal in Anaheim to win that, if I am not mistaken. We're not anywhere close to here without him and it was good to see him play that type of hockey. He played terrific. Q. Talk about Pisani scoring 16 seconds into the game and winning it here for you, just the impact he had had, I guess, here and then on your playoff run? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Well, he's getting healthy again, healthier. Everybody is playing with bruises and banged up body parts this time of year. But Fernando, he had a similar opportunity in a huge game in Game 6 at home against Detroit and came in on the left side, put it in the back of the net, went 5 hole on that one in Legace, but made no mistake tonight, just ripped it in the back of the net. He's played incredibly well through these playoffs. You know, that's really what's been absent through the first four games of this series is that timely scoring, like he's at a level now where you expect it from Fernando, but prior to the last round or two, you know, it's unexpected sources and we haven't been finding those unexpected sources offensively. And when your power play is not that proficient, it's a tough combination to overcome. And tonight we get a power play goal, we get some goals from some, I am not going to say unlikely sources, but from varied sources and I mean, that's the reason we won the hockey game. Q. You talked about having to elevate your game a couple of games ago. Do you think the team has gotten to that level tonight? COACH CRAIG MACTAVISH: Yeah, I think we got -- we had to play our best game. I thought, you know, when you combine the way that we played and the pressure they were under, I think that says it all. We played a pretty solid game tonight. Certainly five-on-five we played very solidly, had four lines that were all contributors at both ends of the ice and when you combine a good performance on our part, with a lot of pressure on their part, you get the result that we had.
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