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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANESJune 19, 2006Peter LavioletteRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game Seven Q. Noticing Dougie Weight took the skate this morning. Rule him in or out at this point? COACH LAVIOLETTE: We have got lineup decisions to make. Doug looked good out there this morning. I said he wasn't going to be in Game 6. Was asked about Game 7. We'll make those decisions when the game comes. But he looked good. Q. How has your team reacted emotionally to what is gone on the last couple of games to prepare for Game 7? COACH LAVIOLETTE: Well there hasn't been a lot of time. We flew all day yesterday and got them in here today and had some meetings. Our guys have responded well all year whenever we haven't played a very good game, so it's not about a regular season or a long playoff run. It is about one game and guys feel pretty confident. Q. Do you feel your roster is such -- and maybe this had a little bit to do with the mentality of Cole coming back -- but your roster is such in the way you use your forwards you can afford to have a guy in the lineup that if he can go for a few shifts okay, if not, that's okay too. COACH LAVIOLETTE: I think we have done that a lot this year where we have shortened the bench and plugged people into certain situations. But I would be -- I think you'd be hard pressed to find any team in the National Hockey League that has a so-called third line that plays 12 minutes a game but doesn't want to play 18 or 20 and have more of an impact with the so-called fourth line. So I think there is room. We have done it with seven defensemen to take that chance on a forward wouldn't be out of the question. But, yeah, I think there is room for that. Q. When you talk about the 7th game of a Stanley Cup Final, do you try to sort of -- obviously you don't have to build it up at all, but how important the game is, but do you just concentrate on something else so that people don't in their minds get too -- COACH LAVIOLETTE: Maybe we were there. To be honest, I don't know why we played like we did in Game 6. But not a game we want to remember. Maybe that was part of it. But, yeah, we have talked about that and different things, had meetings this morning, and systems and power plays and penalty kills and what we need to do better. There is know question that you don't want to be paralyzed by the moment. Play hard, enjoy the fact that you are here playing this late in the season, and on June 19, and feel good about that. Q. Just getting back to Doug for a second, I thought he didn't look good out there this morning. He was laboring a bit never shot the puck once and had nothing on his pasts two days ago he said it hurt when it went to the bathroom what has happened in 48 hours? COACH LAVIOLETTE: We don't give a whole lot of information about injuries or lineups, so I am not going to go into it too deeply. I saw Doug out there making all the passes that he usually makes. I did see him shoot the puck, and I am sure he -- it did hurt when he went to the bathroom the other day. Q. Can you confirm that? COACH LAVIOLETTE: I can't confirm it, no (laughs). Q. The fact that you guys have been in a Game 7 already in these Playoffs, and obviously it is different than Game 7 of Stanley Cup Final, but the Game 7 mentality still somewhat fresh in your minds? COACH LAVIOLETTE: I think so. It's experience we can draw on from Buffalo. We lost a tough game in Game 6 in Buffalo, came back here for a Game 7, grabbed the energy from our crowd, and that will be here tonight. Played a good game and moved on and that's an experience that I think is valuable that the players can -- that this group and a lot of guys maybe have played in Game 7s before, but this group as a whole can draw on that experience as well. Q. Last game there were some shots of you being vocal on the bench to your players. As you get to this point, how do you determine whether it's a kick in the backside or a pat on the back to try and get the best out of them one more time for one more game and one more win? COACH LAVIOLETTE: I think you need to do both in that circumstance. I think it was definitely a kick in the backside that we needed because we weren't going very well. There's a real honest group down there that knows when they play well and when they don't. And we did not. If anything, we're mad about it and we're disappointed and upset and mad. Want to do something about that. But I think also it's knowing -- I don't think -- I think it's knowing when to kick and when to pat and when you implement each one of those motivational resources that you have. But I was hot because I don't think we played very well and just trying to get any sort of emotion or energy from the bench at that point to try and get back in the game. I believe, it was 2-0, and if we had scored a goal we have done it so many times where we have marked that time and said if we get the next goal from here, we'll win this hockey game. It never came, and they scored and they went on and we just never found our legs. But tonight is a new night and I guess just different avenues you use. Thank you.
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