NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

June 1, 2003

Mike Babcock

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I don't know if it has any effect on the series. This guy obviously doesn't let a whole lot bother him. We had two quality chances right after it. If it would have made a difference to him, he would have shown it right then. They got the goal to get back to even. I don't think that's the issue. I don't see it being a factor. Obviously, without a win for our team last night, we didn't have a series. It was an important win for us.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I saw us on a powerplay this year in our first home game score in our own net on a delayed call. So I've seen some things.

COACH BABCOCK: I think the thing for us, we thought we skated better. We thought we got more involved, and so that's positive for us. But we also understand it was just a period. And what we talked about is, they've actually dominated the second period in the series, so we thought we would try to do a better job in the second period.

COACH BABCOCK: Less is more. Do what you do. Everyone knows the situation. It's a lot of fun, too. I don't know if people realize it. It's what you live for, is an opportunity like that. I thought our guys did a good job. We had two quality score chances by the Rucchin line right away in overtime. We were fortunate to win the faceoff.

COACH BABCOCK: He's a big kid. He's got some pretty good hands. He skates okay. He can play physical, but just the way things worked out, that didn't happen for him. It's great to see him make a contribution. It just goes to show you when you do it right, you score. Instead of flying by the front of the net, he stops in front, the puck comes by and he shoots it in the net. He gets rewarded for doing things right.

COACH BABCOCK: He's a real good player. They're here because they have good players and competitive people. I think he still is their leading scorer in the playoffs, if I'm not mistaken. His role is normally to shut down the other teams' top line. And in the playoffs, people perceive when we play Oates, Sykora and Kariya together, that's our top line. We're playing Rucchin against Madden more than that. I don't know if it was any more physical on Madden last night. I thought our team was more physical, because we skated. If you don't get there, you can't be physical.

COACH BABCOCK: It's the easiest 50-50 puck in the game. It tells your team you're prepared. Why would you chase it versus have it? Why would you play defense if you can play offense? It seems common sense to me.

COACH BABCOCK: No, it's interesting how everyone has a perception. If you have been watching our team, we have been doing the same thing since Christmas. On the road Kariya played with Rucchin; at home he played with Oates. We didn't skate in the first two games, so you don't generate any offense. When you start to skate, how you get on top of the other team's defense, you play more territorial in their zone. You become a quicker team, you have a better chance. The game was more even last night as opposed to the other two games. I had a friend who e-mailed me this morning that I ought to let them hang out and get them to jump on offense. We never did any of that, we just played.

COACH BABCOCK: I think there is two times in your career: an individual time and a team time. The individual time is when you're real young and you're trying to find your niche in the league, and the team time is when you accomplish things and all you want to do is to win. I have been impressed how proud and professional he is. Anything I've asked him to do, he's done. He's an elite player.

COACH BABCOCK: That was a faceoff we won. Everyone talks about these teams, all they do is play defense. That's so far from the truth it's not even funny. We try to have our people in the rush all the time. We never had them in the rush once in two games in New Jersey, we didn't have any flow or speed in our game. We didn't have any attack. We try to attack with four people in the rush all the time.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, we wanted to come out and play like we always played. I don't want to make any excuses for anything. We did have a vacation there for quite a chunk of time. We came back and didn't skate. You play New Jersey two times, you don't know who they are. It happens all the time in the Finals where you get there and suddenly a team plays good and you don't play good and you build them into something they're not. Let's worry about us and do what we do. We think we're going to be a lot better tomorrow because we think we were a long way from managing the puck the way we're capable of doing.

COACH BABCOCK: I think all great competitors, anytime something goes wrong, they try to make a statement. No different than our goaltender tried to on an off day, he tried to rally the troops. That's what competitors do. Sometimes we all need to be reminded, and sometimes big-time mistakes do that for us.

COACH BABCOCK: I don't know. We had a good record all year long. We won a lot of one-goal games. We normally don't give up too much. We've given up way more than we expected to in this series. I thought we tied the things down after the game got tied 2-2. But whether that's fortunate, and then you build confidence, but, it's like anything. We're not here because of some lucky break, and they're not here because of some lucky break. You learn how to play in these tight situations, and do what you do.

COACH BABCOCK: That's why you're in it, is because there is ups and downs. There is nothing boring about being in this game. Bryan Murray tells me don't ever think things are going good because as soon as you do, they're not. That's how this business is. You get hammered and now you've got to have some resiliency about you to realize that we've got to regroup here, get ourselves on track and be who we are. That's the only chance we have to be successful. There has been a lot of highs. And from our franchise's point of view, it's been unbelievable. But when you get to the Stanley Cup Finals and all the people that have been writing real nice things about you suddenly start burying you, you realize the only people that matter are in the dressing room, and they're the people with you win or whatever, not just win or win.

COACH BABCOCK: I don't know that. I'm not trying to take anything from Brodeur and what he's done, but his team did a -- we had 32 shots in two games and almost no scoring chances, and so his team played great. The one thing about the goaltender is, they're momentum guys. When Rucchin walked in home-free in one of the games, he made a big-time save on the guy. He was probably just freezing to death back there. That's what these guys do. So I don't know if it's one guy or it's about the team. Scott Stevens is the figurehead there, but they play real well as a team and that's why they're having success. It's all about the team over there. It is not about individual players.

COACH BABCOCK: He's a plus player since he's been here. He got beat in the first game by Rob Niedermayer. Since that point we asked him if he could turn and put his stick down. He's done that. I hear that risk/reward, it's not like that at all . It's about making decisions and doing things at the at the right time. The other thing about it is you don't get anywhere in life in the parking lot if you've got one foot on the gas and one on the brake. We want to keep our foot on the long skinny one.

COACH BABCOCK: No, nothing. It is very simple at this time of year. Your plan is simple. And as much as you make little adjustments, you do what you do, because that's what you know how to do. When the pressure is on, you do what you know anyways. There is lots of good lines and good fun stuff in the room, and you get prepared and you go after it. We know we've got on opportunity, and we're trying to get this thing back to a best of 3.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I mean, the way I look at things like that is, they are opportunities. The guy walked in with a note yesterday, and I just filed them. I tell the guys every day you shouldn't read the paper. There is no point. They all read it every single day. I read it myself when things are going good. I haven't read it at all since we have been as ugly as we have been. And today I thought about turning it on, but I'm not going to. The point is, it's about us. It's about what we do in the room and how we prepare. We want to be proud of how hard we prepare and play and what we do. The first time we had a chance of doing that was yesterday. Now we have another opportunity, and that's just one game. We're totally aware of that.

COACH BABCOCK: I don't buy that. Sammy Pahlsson wasn't a very good faceoff guy and he found out he wasn't going to get to play if he didn't win faceoff. The reality is, you get more ice time if you win the draw. Jason Krog gets himself ice time all over in the games because he wins draws. It's pretty straightforward when you figure that out, it's just penalty toughness.

COACH BABCOCK: Oh, no, we'll be better than that. The game is going to be at a whole other level tomorrow. We have to be better. We have to continue to be better. I'm not concerned whether we're going to be better or not. But the big thing here is, you've got to keep the prize and manage the puck and continue to do things in the environment that's very emotional and stay under control. That's what we have to do.

COACH BABCOCK: We needed to win. I can say anything you want. If we lost the game last night, this press conference has a whole different idea. Our guys could take some feedback today technically, because our minds are working again. When you're rattled, it's pretty tough to give them a whole bunch of feedback. I believe that you earn your breaks. I believe if you play hard, you get a chance to be successful. I think the best team is going to win the Stanley Cup. I believe that. I believe it's fair to, so now it's out there and we have to go do our part.

COACH BABCOCK: Poise. Leadership is in many different ways. Some people are vocal, some people aren't. Carney is the glue and when he's poised, he settles everyone else down. He's been a big-time leader that way for us all year long. When he plays with poise, it helps us a lot. I thought that was a big difference in last night's game.

COACH BABCOCK: What I said to you is, just everyone's telling me every day what's going on. It's pretty straightforward to figure it out. It was interesting: we walk out after Game 2, I see two of my scouts beating each other up over a cup of coffee, you get to the airport, they're frustrated with the security people. Do you think they're really frustrated with the security people? Let's keep things in perspective here. The reality is everybody is the same in life. You always want to feel good about yourselves and what you're doing. It's way easier to read the newspapers when everything's going good because you get to find out how great you are. You can beat yourself up in this business and evaluate yourself all by yourself. You don't need to read the paper to get that done. I know when we're not playing good and I know that it's a direct reflection of myself and the team. You've got to respond. I don't know what else to say.