NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: HURRICANES v RED WINGS

June 7, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: It's hard to tell. Yeah, we got smoked in St. Louis the first game there. But Vancouver, they had the two-game lead, and the third game was real tight. We caught a good break, as everybody remembers that, and I think we -- well, I know we had a good record during the season. And then we kept saying that in the Playoffs you have to win on the road as well. Now we're faced with it again. I don't think -- maybe the usual stuff, you know, that you -- well, in the cases we had, except for St. Louis, we faced teams that had beaten us in the first -- Vancouver the first two games, then Colorado in Game 2. So sort of the same position we're in now.

COACH BOWMAN: Yeah, we didn't -- I think compared to the other series, we started off -- there was quite a few calls. But, you know, there's a big focus on these guys right now, so there's not much going by; especially early, they are going to really not let anything go. I don't think -- going in, it's been a bit of a surprise. They told us before Game 2, the same as Game 1. Sometimes you think Game 1 they are going to call it a little tighter, but I think players look for consistency. And if it's going to be tightly called and it's going to get their attention, should keep their attention. So are there penalties that weren't called before? There probably is. But some of them were pretty easy to call. Never easy to call, but some of them were pretty flagrant and some of them maybe were not. But we haven't talked to the group. They usually talk to us the day of the game and they tell us things that they are concerned about, either individually or as a team: Faceoffs, line changes. Most of them are pretty common, but we haven't talked for tomorrow's game. But it is going to be -- I understand it's supposed to be the same way for each game that we have had, we go back to Game 1, and then they continue on all -- they said the only time they might deviate would be Game 7, if there was a Game 7. Then they would -- they could change partners like it won't go just automatically back to whoever did Game 5.

COACH BOWMAN: Well, it's hard because we don't know, like I said, even strength play, although, Draper Maltby kill -- they are part of our -- we usually use three groups. They usually either start or go second on the penalty killing. It sometimes hurts Darren McCarty. If there's a lot of penalties, he loses sometime. I think in the first two games he had like ten minutes. But, no, I mean, they have been good Playoff players. Obviously they are not on the powerplay. They draw some pretty tough assignments with the other team's good players. I think it's what a team needs, the work ethic that they have. And, you know, now they are being rewarded during the season. Sometimes you wonder if you are getting enough goals -- you always wonder that -- especially in today's hockey. But I have been used to those kinds of lines with most of the teams that I had. In Montreal we had two great scoring lines, but we had two other lines that were really good in the Playoffs, Risebrough, Jacques Lemaire, 20-plus years ago, Savard, Gainey and Robinson, Rejean Houle, they were always good Playoff players because they are fresh too, they don't play as much during the season and now they are getting an opportunity to play -- a few more minutes, not a lot.

COACH BOWMAN: It's hard to -- I would say of all the players that I had, probably Serge Savard, he was -- I mean, I have seen him play some near-perfect games. He didn't get the attention that some of the other players on our team maybe -- he did most of the time, but he wasn't on the powerplay like Nick was. I don't think Nick is more of a powerplay guy as well. But now players play on powerplays and kill penalties, they do everything. But you know, they just don't make a lot of mistakes, and I think that's the way they play. They look a little conservative at times, but they can jump up and make the important play. He's done it before, but like most good defensemen that can control the game by their own pace and do a lot of little things, that really helps them play like they can.

COACH BOWMAN: It's different. I mean, obviously it's -- I think once the game starts, it not going -- the rink is going to be noisy; it's going to be a real hostile home crowd. We know that. We have seen it from the other series, the other teams that they have played. So I don't -- because they haven't had any Final games before won't have any effect, I don't think -- at least won't have any effect on me. But I don't know. Once the game starts, I don't think you think about where you are. So it's as if, you know -- it's different. And there is definitely a lot of variety in the League now with the buildings, and this team has come along way. So, it's a big challenge for our team for sure.

COACH BOWMAN: We never talk about trying to score goals on a penalty kill. That's the furthest thing -- if anything, maybe the fact that we use -- we have changed a little bit in this Playoff series because of -- obviously, with Steve's injury, he doesn't kill as much as he maybe did before. Trying to keep Brett Hull ready with -- we feel that Pavel Datsyuk and Boyd Devereaux and Hull can be a good line for us. And if he is out killing penalties a lot more than he was -- he was doing it the first three series, but we don't have any plays that we're -- we're trying to prevent goals. The possibility that they are fresh might help. Like we do play -- we try to get six guys involved in the penalty killing, for the most part. Last night we had a little bit less, I think, because we used Fedorov and -- Carolina is a good faceoff team, with the way that they can get faceoffs, so we have used Fedorov and Yzerman together because the faceoffs can be in either -- on the defensive zone they can be in either corner and there has always a little -- the players feel more comfortable if they are drawing back rather than going on their for hand.

COACH BOWMAN: Hard to tell. All of a sudden there might be some games where there aren't as many you know, players will catch on, I am sure. They always do. If it's called very closely or very loosely, they usually catch on. That's what makes penalties -- there might be a tighter standard, but I don't think -- we have had some games like this in the Playoffs. It's not unusual for us. We have had some in St. Louis series, and not as many in Colorado, but Vancouver, we had some games where we had five or six penalties to kill or the other way around, 6 or 7 powerplays to handle. Fortunately we have -- on the penalty killing we have been able to use, as I said -- puts a bit of strain on the defense because we haven't had that many penalties all the time, and the powerplay we were struggling a bit on some choices, but we have been doing this all season long. It goes and it comes, and you know, I don't have an answer. Sometimes you have a selection of guys in the powerplay and maybe it's -- if you just use the same guys over and over again but it would be tougher in this series with so many powerplays to keep using -- we have to have the two units ready.

COACH BOWMAN: Same.

COACH BOWMAN: To predict, I -- it is so hard. I don't think the referee -- the same 4 referees are going to be referee-ing. They are all experienced. I don't think it bothers them. I think they are going to call it like they see it and to -- for me to tell you -- I don't think anybody knows; that's why we're playing. I can't tell what you is going to happen tomorrow night, but if the games played the same way as the first two, I don't think you are going to find less penalties if it's called, I mean, if the players do the same things, as I said before, three quarters of the penalties were pretty obvious to call. There maybe wasn't as much missed in this series because -- everybody is geared up. These are the guys that were top four -- I mean, they had a tough selection, and they are really whipped up themselves, the referees you can see how tense -- not tense, but it's a Stanley Cup Final for -- and I don't know I am not sure about all the referees, I know Koharski has been in there before and I don't know about -- well, certainly McCreary, Walkom -- I think it's his first -- I am not sure about the other one, Devorski, if he has been in there before. Maybe last year, I don't remember that.

COACH BOWMAN: Probably. He's great with his stick. He has got that ability to sort of feel out -- he always has got his stick moving and a lot of pucks hit his stick and like he's -- that's the way he plays. He gets his stick on the ice and that's where a lot of pucks are, and he's not -- he doesn't go running around out of position looking for guys or anything like that. He's a very positional player, I would say that's his main reason.