NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 28, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: Well, we've got some players that played, I think -- I was looking the other day. I'm not sure, it might have been '95, the year Yzerman scored in overtime against the Blues. There is quite a few guys still. I'm sure there is other guys with other teams with other situations. We have a lot of experienced players and have played a long time. They would have gone through that. Well, you know, I think as the series goes on, you know, even when it's 2-2, it's -- you try. You've got to play the last game. It doesn't always work this way. If you win, you finish it. And if you you're out, you're out.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't think it will change a lot of the strategy. We haven't even done the lineup. It depends on how everybody is tomorrow.

COACH BOWMAN: You know, just about the series itself. I think basically when I started in the league, the first playoff was 34 years ago. It might have been a lot better when there is no video replay. You never know what happens. I really think the officials have done a good job in this series. There has been some glitches, like there will be, but I was just saying how you can spend a lot of time looking at the replays and everything else. But when I first started in the league, we didn't have any of that stuff. I'm not sure if it wasn't better because you didn't know if a play was close. The guys on the ice don't get a chance to see like we do. They've got to make an instant decision. I was mainly asking him, you know, what -- did they see anything we didn't see. He's an honest guy, and so is Mike Murphy. They're ex-coaches. I find with those two you can talk hockey talk. They're not trying to cover up or they're not, you know, trying to -- they don't try to make you feel good. Everybody's got a different spin on it. I don't think it's right to -- like I said, you asked me a question last night and I answered it. You can go back and stop machines and all that kind of stuff. I think the series has been dead even. We may get the break the next game. It's funny how things go through your mind when they got too many men on the ice with 7 minutes to go. I have been in the league more than 30 years. I must have got some good breaks along the way, because that's the way I look at it. You're going to get some bad and good breaks and bounces. We got some bounces in the Vancouver series. We maybe didn't get some bounces last night. But tomorrow night's another game. That's the way to approach it. You can't wait for a bounce or break. Each time, we have had a bit of an edge, because -- each team's got 13 goals in the series, and, you know, when you play five games, somebody's going to be up one. If it's not during the season where it could be 2-2-1. We just talked about the game itself, and I asked him, you know, about the penalty on Dominik. I don't know if he really saw it. Did he fall? I said I really think the rule is when a goalie tries to embellish a call, tries to get a call in other words, he's not touched and he throws everything away, I said, did he really fall that much? They hadn't seen that. They can't watch all those plays. They were just watching the last period. You know, just small talk actually to say that, you know, who's refereeing tomorrow night, stuff like that. I think we got [Kerry] Frazier and [Stephen] Walkom tomorrow night. You're in the top nine guys right now. It's more or less coaching.

COACH BOWMAN: I have a lot of confidence in the team, you know, when a game is right over, and you lose in overtime, it hits you pretty hard right away. But then you got to go on to the next game. And fortunately, you know, we've had some good play in this series. We're trying to focus on the things we did well. Some of the things we haven't done as well as we wanted to. I don't think there is any -- there is a lot of experience in our team. If there was any, I don't think there is any. I don't sit with them and talk all the time they talk, but, no, I don't think there is any -- a team like ours and you can go through all the stats and pick on this guy and that guy, but I don't go for that. I don't think the team -- I haven't seen it.

COACH BOWMAN: Chemistry is there with the team, you always have chemistry. You know, you're looking at -- you got to play a game. Obviously we've got to play a better game than the game last night. We're thinking about going tomorrow night and playing. You know, that's the way we have to do it. We're not concerned about -- I mean, we were going to have to play tomorrow night's game one way or the other.