NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 24, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: We are meeting tonight. He practiced pretty well the last two days. I don't think he feels anything. We'll have to make a decision obviously tonight then if he's playing tomorrow.

COACH BOWMAN: To our team?

COACH BOWMAN: We had an extra day. Both teams have had an extra day. It's a little bit more different for the visiting team. That's why we didn't come out after the game on Monday. Nothing wrong with staying here, but it's another night. It's an afternoon game, an early afternoon game, but you don't know that effect on the team. You kind of get another day to unwind, and you got to wind up pretty early tomorrow. Tomorrow is kind of how we approach the game day, skate and everything. We've played afternoon games.

COACH BOWMAN: No, I think the teams have to -- I mean, you might get away with it against some teams, to play the same as you did during the regular season. But I think it's proven that there are teams and players that get into the playoffs and they get to the next level, so to speak. I don't know what it is, but probably the fact that they're more intense. There are players like that. I know there is, and always has been. There is a lot of pressure on the top guys in the playoffs because they're well scrutinized. And there have been some great players who started slowly in the Stanley Cup days and the teams didn't win and they were early regarded as not being playoff players. I don't know if that's a fair knock. It actually happened with Chicago in the '50s and '60s. Hull and Mikata were great players but couldn't carry their teams. They finally won a Cup in '61, but didn't have big playoff years. They may have just worn out; I don't know.

COACH BOWMAN: Well, he missed all of last year, so that's probably -- he got hurt. I don't even think he tried to play. It was just impossible. He had a broken bone in his foot. He couldn't skate. I think he knew this going in. He knew going into the Olympic Games that it was going to be a struggle with the rest of the season. He said when the games get going, it's worse when he's not playing as much. That's why he skated a little bit today. But I don't think in the playoffs, missing -- the top guys, they play so much. Practices aren't as crucial. I think it's more rest than anything. He does stuff off ice and, you know, keeps himself in good condition. He's not going to get out of shape. So that's one thing. Maybe he can't play with his linemates, but he's played with most of the different guys we've used him with. It's not a big handicap, but he's not used to this. And he's been assured that he can play as long as the pain doesn't run him down. It seems the more he plays -- I don't know about ice time, but playing every day helps him . Now it's every third day.

COACH BOWMAN: He's a very quiet guy, you know. I don't think he bothers the players too much. I think his leadership comes from the way he plays. He plays hard, you know. He's not a big physical player, and he takes his bumps and bruises like most guys. But I would say that's probably the leadership he has, more than strategically trying to sit down with players. He's very good with the younger players, though. He does spend a lot of -- I guess when he started it was the same thing. But he's very considerate of the young guys. He more or less tries to join that group than the veterans on the team. He's got some close friends, but the younger guys, he tries -- that's what he does a good job with more than anybody.

COACH BOWMAN: I think we approach it similarly to what they might. You know, one-goal deficits don't seem to be as big a handicap for teams in the playoffs. You're just that one power play error, that one bounce away from tying the game and getting into overtime, where the game is going to be decided one way or the other. But I don't think our -- I always figure with a one-goal lead, I approach it both ways: whether you have it or you don't have it, it's not very secure, and I don't know if you can press up as much later in the game. I can see it, but if we were tying the game up with a few minutes remaining -- but, you know, I think everyone is different. The last game, we thought we were playing pretty well in the second period, and we still couldn't tie it up. We weren't discouraged. Some nights you are discouraged because you're not playing very well and you're kind of lucky to be only a goal down. I don't think the other night we felt very discouraged.

COACH BOWMAN: Number one thing? It's hard to tell because you want to get them -- you need some attack from your defense. And, actually, that's what won the game the other night. Because when I looked at the replay, it was close to being an icing. They had fired it down, I think one of their deep put it down and Dominik got it and moved it up quick. The tough part about 4-on-4 is -- I think the most dangerous part is the defensemen jumping up and helping out, and that's got to be -- we caught them with two forwards. I think it was the pass to Steve and then the pass where they were so quick. There was two defensemen back. I think Shanahan was on the blue line and Fredrik Olausson got the puck around center. When there is less men on the ice, the most dangerous guys are the pointmen. That didn't make it an outnumbered situation, but we tell our defensemen to -- because Nicklas plays a lot, he probably doesn't play as offensive as some in the league might. We have been using him quite a bit. I think that's probably the reason he's playing like he does. He jumps -- he's going to jump up at times in the game, but you have to be careful with Colorado jumping up. Because -- we like a good four-checking game. If you pinch inside the neutral zone and get trapped -- they had a quick turnaround in Game 2. I think we got the pass. We were in no trouble. We had the puck just over our blue line and we tried an offensive play. Forsberg, a lot of guys would have taken it back. He took it the other way. There wasn't as much of a threat as a defenseman, but quick counters are tough to defend.

COACH BOWMAN: I was disappointed when I heard about the Olympics last year. I did the reverse. I said, at my age, having to go to the Olympics, that's a real pressure-cooker, especially for Canada. All the pressure was put on them. This I kind of compare to the Olympics year in '98 where we had -- I really look forward to the break this year, and we went -- actually, we had, I think, 13 days -- we had 10 good days -- no, we had 9 days we didn't have any activity. That was the rule. We had a training camp in Florida. So, I was down in Florida for 13 days. The first 9 days no hockey, because we played our first game back in Tampa, and we played in Sunrise the next night, I think if I had gone to the Olympics I would be pretty worn out. And the way the schedule was this year, there wasn't any other breaks. Maybe we had two or three days at one time, but we were playing -- there was a compressed schedule, and I think that's probably -- I don't know the situation with Patrick and his condition, but everybody's saying that he had no rest. I know this year is sort of like '98 Olympics year. I looked forward to the break and the season went quickly. But I just changed my routine a little bit, and we have a good staff of people that do a lot of work for us. I find it so much different now than when I first started. When I first started in the '60s, the first team that had two coaches I think was Philadelphia. The coach for them hired a second coach. We brought in a guy that had coached in Montreal because we had a lot of young players. He was responsible for their defense. Now, we have got a video guy who does our video. Dave Lewis and Barry do the specialty teams and preparation for practice and we've worked together for 9 years. I don't know how it works. I'm sure Toronto -- it's the stress of the games, and travel is not that difficult now. Everybody flies on their own schedule. But you just have to be able to -- we got a shutdown for two weeks. I really enjoyed it.

COACH BOWMAN: You can't get everything. I don't worry about it as much as I used to, because there is different ways to do it. Now it seems now the teams match up the defensemen a lot more than the forwards. There is only two of them. You know, as long as you get the puck and faceoff in the right spot or you get the puck in deep, it's pretty hard to keep away players from other players. I've always felt that way. If the other team wants to play a certain player against one of ours, they can do it. You know, they can change as the play goes on. Now, there is time-outs, long time-outs, which allows you to play players in a certain way and then the time-out comes and you can come back with them. It's more a defense matchup now. You try to match experienced defensemen as much as you can. I think our other guys have done a better job, maybe better than we've expected. I think Mathieu Dandenault and Steve Duchesne have done a better job than we expected. They seem to be a good match for each other. So I don't think the forward matchups -- you do it there at the whistle. You can put them on, but the other team can change right away and if you get into a lot of changing back and forth and being the visiting team, you lose a lot of momentum, you lose your four check to start with. The other team gets the puck and they're sailing out of their own end without a four check. Against Colorado, the way they can bring the puck pretty quickly, like in Game 2, we did not do a good job in the neutral zone. You better get them stopped somewhere before centerline. They're not a big shooting team. They carry the puck in, and you better have some people back to protect.

COACH BOWMAN: I think it's a coincidence. The bench was more difficult for both teams in overtime. I've always found in overtime the players are more attentive. They're more alert. They seem to be able to change. They don't stay on as long either. It's the fourth period or fifth, whatever you're in. I think it's the coincidence on the home ice advantage. I don't think any of the goals have been scored as a result of because you were playing in that building at that time. I don't think so. I think it's strictly the way it happened. You know, in overtime, as I said yesterday, concern yourself with faceoffs, you concern yourself with 4-on-4. It changes the game a little bit and that maybe changed -- I was concerned when we each got the offsetting penalties because of the fact that they have had defensemen that have really been able to jump up. It ends up we have our defenseman who doesn't jump up as much, but probably the experience of Olausson, he was going to at least get a shot on the net.