NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RANGERS v FLYERS

May 23, 1997

Colin Campbell

Q. Colin, you did so much right in this game. You did a lot of things that you said you wanted to do. How bitter are you losing it?

COLIN CAMPBELL: Well, it is a -- it was a bitter way to lose and a bitter pill to swallow, but it is a tough tournament against big teams and a lot of other things. You should write notes that someone might be viewing in the summer from the League, but what's an injury? Broken arm or a cut over the eye. I mean, 4 minutes, Wayne Gretzky played the rest of the game. He played, but how did he play with one arm, he couldn't shoot. He couldn't take his shots. And I am not -- they are playing hard. They should play hard. They are going to end up -- if they win is what it is all about. You got to do it anyway you can if within the rules or how it ends up and they are playing the right way. But, that is tough when you have to play like we have been maybe 4 on 3 if Wayne wasn't hurt or 5 on 3 but give them credit. They kept coming.

COLIN CAMPBELL: No, there has been worse, been worse. We are not out yet. We will get Karpovtsev back and I don't know if we will get anybody else back. I don't know how Wayne is right now. At least we get one more defenseman back. Every game has been close. There is no reason why we can't go in there and win. I know everyone says that, but they especially killed us tonight.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Well, it is an unfortunate play. I guess -- I said you got to call 4 on Gretzky. Because it doesn't draw up, Sundstrom's arm didn't draw blood either, but it was broken so what is an injury? That is something that should be rectified. I guess it is difficult because players can fake it or go down and you can't fake a cut. So, obviously, that age old question.

COLIN CAMPBELL: No, I don't. I have to get back. I haven't been in the room yet. He couldn't take faceoffs. He was playing with one arm.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Brian was much better the first two periods. The third period he had a lot of difficulty, but as you saw, his skating is still there. He just couldn't shoot. You know, one thing about the Playoffs, it brings out -- it shows you a lot - what a lot of people are made of and Brian Leetch is a real trooper. I think they are freezing between the second and third again, so he doesn't say a word, but -- I think did he score the goal?

COLIN CAMPBELL: He scored the goal, yeah, he was dangerous the last 7 minutes of the game. It is a tough way to lose like that. I think we could have went in and gotten another intermission. It is difficult to take it that way. But as I said, it was close and it can go either way and I believe we should talk to them. They were worried as hell. The fourth game to win is always the toughest.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Yeah.

COLIN CAMPBELL: When you are down like this at certain times and all the penalty kills, you need a goalie to make big saves and he made big saves again tonight when we needed it. And for anyone to criticize him it is tough to go through a whole tournament of games like this against the teams he has and to play flawless, and I wouldn't want anybody else in the net in this League other than Mike Richter if I had my choice.

COLIN CAMPBELL: No. It is difficult to throw the other people in during the game. You almost have to in overtime. If you go in overtime, the line we weren't using, but it is tough to throw a kid like Dube in. He tried, but in the junior ranks to throw him into a series like this and the guys who were left playing, played as hard as they could and fought back every time, and our defense, there is always little hurts and little pains. Doug Lidster had a root canal this morning and played a hard game. But as I said, veterans like they are, there is more than just, you know, the old -- the scoring is the paycheck during the season. When you get to this time of year, it is the best time to play and they are proving it. And, as I said, it will be a breath of fresh air to get Karpovtsev back on Sunday and what kind of shape he is in, I don't know, but it will be good to get another body a healthy body. It is probably the first time in the tournament that we have gotten one player back.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Well, it is always worse when you wake up the next morning after an overtime loss like this -- this time in the series. That is the worse feeling when you open your eyes up in the morning for about 3, 4 seconds, you know, that is something awful. Call it an overtime or 6 seconds left like this, 3-1, you know, 3-1 is not insurmountable as I said particularly the way this series has gone. And, we have played well. I think they are starting to bend and we saw some good things tonight and I think that we had numerous chances to score. Our problem is we just couldn't score tonight.

COLIN CAMPBELL: He has played well. Hextall would not be in the League for -- how long is he now, 12, 13, 14 years? If he couldn't play goal. He is capable of playing well. I guess his only problem in the last couple of years has been consistency, but he has played great at times and he has struggled at other times. So -- but we just didn't bury when we had chances. We didn't shoot. Several times we dragged the puck around the net, but we had lots of opportunities and it didn't happen. So, it is we just have to regroup and get back at it Sunday. Thanks very much.