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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CANADIENS v FLYERS

May 24, 2010

Daniel Briere

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Five

Canadiens Â– 2
Flyers - 4

Q. Richie talked about there was some debate on the ice whether to touch the trophy or not. But he said, oh, what the heck. What side were you on?
DANNY BRIERE: I told him, I said, last year they touched it, the team that won. I said you can't go against the grain. That is my personal feeling. It's been working, keep it the same way.

Q. When you got here, you came here to get to a Cup Final, and you went through a lot of injuries and so forth. But to battle through what you battled through, how good does this feel for you?
DANNY BRIERE: It's a great feeling. There is no doubt about it. Right from the git-go, that's the reason why I wanted to come here. That's where I believed I had the best chance to get to the Stanley Cup Final. But at the same time, there is still a feeling of unfinished business.
It's very exciting to finally participate in my first Final, but there is still that last step left that I want more than anything.

Q. We asked you about this before the Series, so might as well after the Series: As special as this has to be hockey-wise for you. Is there that little bit that is a little extra special because of who you just beat and what happened to you along the way?
DANNY BRIERE: Yeah, there is no doubt that being French-Canadians, I think all the French-Canadians on this team, we had a little extra motivation playing against the Canadiens. It's nothing personal against them, but we all grew up watching them, and there's always a little extra.
It was my second time having a chance to play against them in the Playoffs. It's something that I've always wanted to at least experience once in my career, and now I got to do it twice and won both Series. It's an extra special feeling.

Q. Peter came in in December and kind of changed the mentality of this club and changed the system. Talk a little bit about what Laviolette means to this club and what his system has done for you?
DANNY BRIERE: Well, his system is a lot more upbeat, more aggressive. John Stevens is a great coach as well, and everybody has different personalities, but for some reason we started responding to Peter's system.
I think his intensity also behind the bench has been driving us. It's unfortunate what happened to John early in the season. We weren't playing good hockey, but we were able to turn it around.
It's pretty amazing when you look back that we were a shootout away from going home, and we're still standing here. We're still going. Lots of character in the room, and I'm very proud of my teammates.

Q. Just three years ago, Flyers and Chicago had top two picks in the draft, two of the worst teams. What's it say about the turn around in such a relatively quick time, and then to face each other in the Finals?
DANNY BRIERE: Yeah, I think both organizations did a tremendous job rebuilding from that point on. You look at it today, I think early in the season before the season started, a lot of people were predicting Chicago and the Flyers in the Finals. It changed along the way because of our play. But at the end of the day, we're the last two teams standing.
Got to give a lot of credit to both managements for what they did those last three years building those teams.

Q. The Hawks present a different look than what you have seen for the last five games against Montreal. This is a team that scores a lot of goals. How do you stop that?
DANNY BRIERE: Yeah, it's going to be very different. But that's what it is in the Playoffs. You face different teams. It's the team that is able to adapt the quickest, I guess, that has the most chance for success. I'm sure we're a different team than what they faced as well.
But our first round when we played New Jersey, they also had two very skilled -- their top two lines. We showed that we can perform against very offensive team as well. So both teams are on a roll. I guess both teams are feeling really good about themselves right now. I hope we'll be the last team standing at the end of the next round.

Q. Do you feel that special teams was a deciding factor, and if not, what do you think was?
DANNY BRIERE: In tonight or in the Series in general?

Q. The whole Series?
DANNY BRIERE: The whole Series, I think we had a couple power-play goals in the whole Series in the first two games. After that, special teams I mean, both penalty kill units played extremely well for us. Adding Ian in the fourth game also helped.
I don't think especially games 3 to 5 special teams weren't as much a factor as they were in the first two games. It was mostly the five-on-five play, and the play of Michael Leighton was a big difference as well.

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