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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SENATORS v SABRESMay 10, 2007Ray EmeryMike FisherBUFFALO, NEW YORK: Game One Q. Mike, did that game go about as well as you would have hoped coming in here? MIKE FISHER: Yeah. I think so. I mean we came in, we got that early lead and had a good first period. We're not too bad. Pretty good 1st period. They battled back hard, and then we kind of settled down in the 3rd and had a really good 3rd period. We - that's what we came to do and got the job done tonight. Q. Mike, just talk about the first minute or two, Sabres came on strong from there, but you kind of handled that and then were able to go back obviously well from that point. MIKE FISHER: We were expecting that coming in here, the fans are pumped up and they're a good skating team and they forechecked pretty hard, harder than what we've been used to the first couple of teams. So we did a pretty good job of moving the puck out and used our own speed, and, you know, we thought we drove the net, used our own speed and created some chances that way. Q. Mike, you know the stats are going to come out before the next game, you know the team's record after they won the first game in a playoff series, they never one won the next team. Do you think this team is due to change that? MIKE FISHER: I hope so. We're going to do all we can do. We've got a good game plan against these guys. We've got to carry over. I don't think we were really happy, probably both teams weren't, the first couple periods. We knew we could play better and - but facing obviously a good team and we took it to the 3rd and got - we - it's going to be a tough second game for sure. We're going to try to do the same thing and come out strong and be physical and use our speed and forget about what's happened in the past that we're reminded about all the time. Q. Mike, how big do you think special teams are going to be for the rest of the series? MIKE FISHER: It's huge. I mean power play got a couple, two goals, I think and that was the difference and our PK did a great job against their power play, didn't give them too much and we pressured them and, you know, I thought their PK other than a couple goals, they pressed us pretty hard, and a couple of them we didn't get too many chances, but when we did, we buried and obviously that was the difference tonight. That's going to be huge the rest of the series. RAY EMERY Q. Do you feel like you were challenged much, or was it a relatively easy game? What did you think? RAY EMERY: It wasn't easy, you know, tie game going into the 3rd period. I thought we out-chanced them, but, like I said, tie game going into the 3rd. You know, it's a big period for us. We were happy to be in that spot, give ourselves a situation to win the game on the road, but, you know, it's never easy playing a team like that. Q. Your positioning tonight seemed to be excellent. Seemed like - were you studying films and things of that nature? It seemed like you were prepared for the next shot or where they were coming from, where Buffalo was coming from with their shots? RAY EMERY: Well, I didn't watch that much tape. You know, we played this team a number of times and really know their tendencies, and that's one of the things that I really focused on was my positioning and just trying to be in the right spot all the time. Q. Seemed like your defense and forwards blocked a lot of shots. How important was that for you? You were in good position anyway, but a lot of shots never even got through. RAY EMERY: We played a really good defense game I think. Part of that is getting shooting lanes and taking away those shots before they get there. The forwards and defense were doing a great job and, you know, Volchenkov is the main guy out there. Sometimes he makes more saves than I do just putting his body in front of the puck and sacrificing for the team. That just shows how bad those guys want to win the game. Q. Ray, can you talk a little bit about how the Senators played in the 3rd period and how the team has improved in protecting leads in the 3rd period and in the last year? RAY EMERY: Yeah. I think it's mainly a confidence thing and a result of us sticking to a game plan and, you know, not pressing too hard to get that goal right away, not cheating, just sticking to kind of, you know, what we're told to do, what the game plan is, and eventually with the skill we have and the team we have, we come out on top more often than not just staying calm and having that confidence. Q. I think it was about eight seconds into the game when they started chanting your name. Obviously you're not the most popular guy in town. What do you make of that? Do you get a kick out of it? What's your reaction to that? RAY EMERY: I get a kick out of it. You know, like I said before, I think it just adds to that atmosphere, especially for myself. You know, if they're chanting your name, it's pretty easy to stay motivated and stay focused in there. Q. Ray, I just walked in. What did you think of the crowd tonight? You've probably been asked that already. What did you think of the crowd tonight? RAY EMERY: Going crazy. I think we took them out of it somewhat the 1st period we had and then getting down early, but, you know, still they were going crazy, kept showing people in the parking lot going crazy and stuff. It's great a great atmosphere to play in. It makes it really feel like playoff time. Q. Ray, you guys are up 2-0. They come back it's 2-2. Crowd is going wild. What are you saying to yourself at that point? Obviously you don't want to get rattled because the lead is gone, but what are you saying to yourself? RAY EMERY: You're saying the same thing to yourself pretty much all game, just I have a certain keys that I go through as far as like I said before, positioning and, you know, looking through traffic, whatever it may be, but, you know, I'm not a guy that panics that much. I don't think about the situation too much, whether we're up five goals or down a couple goals, you know, you just kind of try to stay consistent and be there. End of FastScripts |
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