NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 26, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: It's hard to go into the next game thinking that it's going to be the same as the last game or even the one before that. I think we just want to make sure that we play with as much energy and try to take as much attack to them as we can. That's, I think, probably the strategy of both teams, but maybe with us the fact that we can play four lines. I think it's really a necessity now, especially with some of the guys that are injured, plus the defense, they didn't use -- Skoula only played 7 minutes yesterday. So they have been playing -- they went with four defensemen. If you're going to put any attack on them, it would be an advantage. If you don't attack, guys could play nearly -- they're playing 30 minutes now. But, you know, if you put attack, you're going to get some power plays, you're going to get some pressure. You know, I thought we ended up the game yesterday at least we were down -- it's true we were down two goals, but we still had three minutes left. There was a crucial call at the puck, you know, and that puck wasn't really covered up, it sprung loose. Still the score was only 2-1, and on the next faceoff is when they went down and scored the winning goal. So I think put pressure on them as much as we can. That's what we got to do. As long as you have your defensemen not trapped, go from there.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't think they're playing with their minds as much as we have to make sure that we put -- if you see the puck, it's a lot easier for all the goalies and then you're not vulnerable to deflections. And I think that's what we -- we've probably had a lot of shots from the side. We want to get a few more. Maybe we've passed up some shots. You don't want to pass up shots. That's the thing you want to -- sometimes when you play, you get in your mind that you got to be a perfect shot. I don't think in these kind of playoffs that the perfect shot is always the one that's going to go in. I think it's going to be a bouncer, an odd play that might result -- or a jam from the back of the net. It could be a lot of factors, but I don't think our guys are shaking their heads right now. They just know they have to maybe take a few more shots from the point. We had a couple of real good chances that didn't go, Freddy Olausson, we looked at the replay. He had a terrific shot from the middle of the rink. But it was something like they had the first game. Joe Sakic had a couple of shots that just missed the net, and then yesterday's one that caught the corner to get the puck at the net.

COACH BOWMAN: We just roll our lines. We think our lines are balanced enough that we don't -- you know, and I think this year we're playing better than we have in other series against them. We won one other series, but I don't think we played as well. And we seem to have a little more balance on our lines now that we can -- you know, the matchups, the defense matchups are have occurred. But I think when you're down to these kinds of games, rather than play the same players over and over again -- we were more or less trying to look at our lines. And in the third period there wasn't as many power plays. I think we had one and they had two, and that's what I think our four lines playing, you know -- if you took the shorthanded minutes away and the power play minutes, then four lines were probably -- you know, they played about ten minutes. Even some of our younger guys played more. Devereaux and Datsyuk, I thought, were really a threat. You look at the sheet; they only played ten or eleven minutes. That was because everybody can't play on the penalties, and everybody can't play on the power play. So they may have to play a few more minutes tomorrow. I don't know if you're going to get a situation where you're going to have 20 minutes of specialty teams. That's quite a bit. I don't think Colorado has played a game this year in the playoffs that they have had that many, that 20 minutes of specialty.

COACH BOWMAN: I said before, we do have some people on each line that have scored before. So it's not like as if we've got some lines that will never score. We did get the one game where Darren got a hat trick in the one period. And actually that won the game for us. But I don't know if we worry about having the scoring on just certain lines. We have some people that have stepped up, and we got others that are probably being checked a little more. That happens.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't know if there is big adjustments as much as taking shots. I think that's one area where you eventually have to take a shot. And sometimes when you're trying to make the perfect play, it doesn't always work. So I would say a couple of times on -- a couple times we had faceoffs, got it right back clean and passed up a shot. I think when you have a faceoff in the offensive zone and you don't end up with a -- it doesn't have to be much of a big scoring chance, but if you don't end up with a play at the net, I think then it's on the minus side. You're not going to get every faceoff, and when you get one it should result in at least them making a great defensive play to stop something.

COACH BOWMAN: Well, you know, he hasn't played since May 7th, which was nearly two and a half weeks, three weeks. But he's kept himself in good shape, and I don't think the layoff really had much of an effect. I thought he was fine.

COACH BOWMAN: People predicted it. It's hard to predict. The games have all been close. We know that. Yesterday was the first two-goal lead I think there was in the four games plus the overtime. So it shows that there is a lot of -- well, it's close. We know that. You know, we had a real top regular season, and they played most of the regular season well. They played all of the regular season without Forsberg, and a good part of the of the regular season without Hejduk, two of the big offensive players. So that's closed the gap as far as the talent level. They played a more defensive style of game during the season, because they weren't going to score as many goals. But they had a good defensive season, and they were not far off the mark for points.

COACH BOWMAN: You got to put the puck in the net, too, but I think we showed that we weren't just going to sit back. And I like the way that we generated some scoring chances. That's what I look at in a series like this, two teams that were pretty good defensively most of the season, that you just got to come back home, and you got to crank up your game again. You know, home ice hasn't been a big factor, and you can play well on the road. We know that. But sometimes it is. It may be a call here, it may be a crowd getting behind the team at a certain point. You can't count on it. If it happens, it happens. I don't think we're just saying, hey, we're back home now, it's going to be a lot better for us. That's not the mindset. As I said, we have been trying to preach the fact that both teams have a lot of offense. But if one team has a little more offense than the other, it's going to be a lot of pressure on the other club to defend. And I think we both have a lot of players that are not easy to defend, so it's just good balance. And I'm looking for us to try to generate as much attack as we can. We have to work on our attack. And I don't know, they could change things up on their defense. You never know. They might decide to go with more defensemen. But even if they do, the guys haven't played that much. So we have to work on that part of the game, force them into -- force them into some mistakes. That's what you have to do.

COACH BOWMAN: Not based on where the games are. The margin of error gets reduced when you withdraw the first four games. They have been all tight games, and we haven't had the lead except for Game 1 in the third period. But that's not a big deal. I mean, you know, people say you got to get into the lead. But, you know, sometimes you play better when you don't have the lead, and you don't play as well when you have it. You sit back a little bit. So I'm not looking for us tomorrow night to look for a quick lead and then just try to shut them off. I mean, we've been a pretty good team with the lead, but there is always ways teams can get back at you. And I just think that we have to make sure that we don't come into the game with any kind of nervous energy as much as really come in with -- we're a pretty well-rested team. The Vancouver series was a grind because of the travel, but that's a month ago. So we're not tired. I don't think that's an issue. And we've got a few guys injured. I'm sure they have the same thing.