NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 23, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: Not really last night. I mean, we felt pretty good at the end of the second, but we were down a goal. Obviously, we got a big break to tie it up, but we had other chances that we didn't capitalize on. No, I think it's been -- when you're only up a goal, I've always said a one-goal lead is so tough because something can happen, a fluke, or you're only one bounce away, if you're winning or losing. There hasn't been a wide disparity in all the games. We be didn't have the lead, because we tied up the second game three times, but we never had the lead at all.

COACH BOWMAN: The overtime, it used to be that teams would go for it, but I don't think there is a format for it. I guess you're concerned mostly about unnecessary faceoffs in your own end, like you're going to get some icings where you're in difficulty. You have to get it down the ice, but a pass up the middle and the guy reflects it to the middle and he doesn't get it. I've seen some overtime games decided on a faceoff. There isn't much you can do on a faceoff. The puck is dropped if the other team gets it back. Your only hope is you get some legs in front of the net. I always try to stress faceoffs are okay, but make sure they're deserved. Don't make a sloppy play to create a faceoff play. I would say, you know, in overtime you don't get the time-outs from the TV. It's different now than it used to be because the time-outs last as long as two minutes. They're 90 seconds. By the time they get back to play, you get four of them a period, and in the overtime you don't get that, so, obviously, your guy -- I guess you try to put fresh guys on at some crucial time. Last night was our longest one. The other ones were real quick. Vancouver was 9 or 10 minutes. The other one the other night was only 2-1/2 minutes, so I don't think there is any special thing about sitting back or you're one shot away, you can't do that. Then 4-on-4, it opened up a little bit last night. I was concerned because they have guys that are like Sakic, Forsberg, although they had -- I think Sakic went off, because it was 44 seconds after the offsetting penalties to McCarty and Foote and Sakic went off, but Drury and Forsberg are just a good tandem as well. In 4-on-4, I try to put guys that I feel I would put out if it's a penalty kill situation, especially in overtime. We had put out Yzerman and Hull. We were going to follow it up with Fedorov, Shanahan, but Yzerman was actually on longer -- well, he was on 44 seconds. That's when we scored. Then I try to put out guys that I would use to kill a penalty, and depending on the situation, Draper to Maltby, it's a little different. They're probably not as apt to score as readily as other guys, but maybe in overtime they might be a little fresher because they might not have as many minutes played, stuff like that. 4-on-4 opens it up. You got to know when it's 4-on-4. It puts a lot of pressure, especially with Colorado. They're defensemen move up pretty good. Blake could be a dangerous guy or De Vries -- actually De Vries is moving up as much as any of them. He was in alone in the third there, and Dominik made a good play to force him wide.

COACH BOWMAN: It's not easy, and he's been conscientious for us. Last night he played over 12 minutes, but we knew that they would play either Sakic or Drury's line against him. We knew that was coming, but we had Shanahan, and we had Steve. Steve's a good -- I mean, he played right wing, but he can also play like a center, and he was talking to them. He kind of liked the idea of playing with them last night, and it gave us a chance to use Sergei in a different role with Holmstrom and Robitaille. We knew we had to get something going in that regard. I thought Jason did a real good job. He's up against top centermen. He's been a good faceoff player for us. The surprising part, he hasn't shown it yet, but he's got a good shot. He would be able to score on a lot of goalies if he gets a shot. He had a good shot on the third period last night and Pat made a good save.

COACH BOWMAN: The guys that didn't play down the stretch or had some kind of nagging injury -- Nicklas Lidstrom was probably the one we were most concerned about. He played the last couple of months. It was a nagging pain he never could get over because he was in the Olympics and All-Star games. The doctors told him try four or five days off and it might help him. The other guy we were concerned about was Pavel Datsyuk, who hadn't played more than 50 games in Russia. Brett Hull didn't want any time off and he played in the Olympics, and Chelios is the same thing. I think the main thing is we did give some practices off to the Olympics guys. What did we have? Nine or ten guys at the Olympics. That was kind of overrated because they were in one place for the whole time. Some teams got knocked off earlier, and it was the Canadian and US players that played the most. I think it proved those guys came back from all the teams and played well after the Olympics. They weren't tired.

COACH BOWMAN: We'll answer that on Saturday. We don't know if he will be ready. He'll practice today. We haven't made any decision.

COACH BOWMAN: I'm sure there has been in other years. Montreal -- we've played good teams, Philadelphia in the '76 or '77, one of those years, they had a lot of guys. But, I mean, you know, there is -- they get the attention, but there are a lot of other players, too, that are performing up to their or past their capabilities. I don't think the players think about themselves as Hall of Famers. That's for when they finish playing. They'll enjoy it after they are not playing anymore. I think what it does is it gives them a lot of stature, but it also gives a chance to the guys that are in the Hall of Fame to enjoy going to a few functions, because that's what they miss the most when they stop playing. The players will tell you the thing they miss the most is the life of being a player and being with the guys for a long time in the season.

COACH BOWMAN: We didn't know if he could come back this year and he did. That's one thing. The playoffs are far from over. He didn't get in a couple games early. He didn't play much during the season. It's a big reach to not play for two or three years, and fortunately, healthwise, he's got over those injuries. That's the most important part. And I think now it's just a matter of if he's part of our depth. We got some guys banged up like they do. There might come a time when we could get him back in. I have confidence in him. He's worked hard on his rehab. He had a tough start in the playoffs, but the whole team did. That's when we made our change. I think it was more or less tough to thrust a guy into the playoffs. Forsberg is doing a great job, but he missed a year, and he's young, and Uwe missed three seasons, but he's done a good job. If we had to put him in, I would feel confident he could do a good job.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't know if they talk about it as a group, but I know the guys involved, especially Robitaille and Hasek, those two in particular, they have had great careers. I see an urgency in their demeanor. Often they know this is an opportunity and they had it before. Especially, Robitaille -- well, they both went to the finals in different years. But I don't think there is -- it comes from the team. But I don't think that the other players are feeling -- I mean, everyone is thinking about the team. They don't think about certain players that have to win for them. But it is a built in -- it's always there, and I'm sure that they will try to reach down when those things are getting close or you're getting close to either winning or losing. It's got to be a factor. How much it is, I don't know.

COACH BOWMAN: Draper's line didn't play a lot during the year. They seemed to be a good playoff line because of their energy. That's been a big plus for them. And we really haven't done much with Datsyuk, Devereaux and Hull. They played together. They have been the line that plays the most together. We switched two centermen with Fedorov playing a little bit. I think a lot of it has to do with Stevie. He played a lot last night, it was probably near 20 minutes. He played a lot in the third. He seems to feel better as the game goes on. I don't know what he ended up playing all together, but it was probably more on the team, on the forwards, but we moved him to right wing. So that -- we lost a lot of right wingers. It's been a constant -- not a concern, but we Verbeek, Brown, and LaPointe. Three guys went off the roster last year. Sure we signed Brett Hull, but it's always been a bit of something, looking for right wingers. That's why Draper started to play right wing this year. We've switched centermen. And now, without Igor, if Pavel and Datsyuk and Williams, if they can keep up the plays -- we got 25 minutes out of them last night, and they're going against -- especially when they're going against Drury or Sakic, I mean, you've got two -- Drury, you know, has been dynamite in these crucial situations all through his career. And Sakic is always there, and he's going to play a lot. That's something we have to keep watching is how much they can play against them. But so far they have been able to do a good job. How much they can play from now on depends on -- we have to change lines if Igor comes back. We would have to make a decision who he would play with. One good thing is our players have played with different players together. There are certain combinations that work and others we try to stay away from.

COACH BOWMAN: I'll bring it up. I say this is something we have to do this, and I mention it -- I went to Steve last night, because he felt pretty comfortable playing with Sergei. Sergei does a lot of skating. I just said, I didn't think that he might play as much. I said, you know, you're going to get out there with Williams and it depends on how he does. If Jason can hold up, the minutes will probably be there, and you know, he thought -- he was looking forward with playing with Williams. He still had Shanahan with him. I said you're going to be out against good players. That's his strong suit right now. He has come through with some offensive plays. We're kind of leaning on him defensively especially with situations with faceoffs and penalty killings and stuff like that. He doesn't feel comfortable playing the point and the power play. That's kind of hurt us a bit because he's been a good power play pointman in the last three years. He just doesn't have that acceleration that might be necessary. I talked to him about it and told him what we had in mind, and I'm sure, even if he didn't like it, he probably doesn't respond negatively. He's got confidence that if we think it's a good idea, we'll try it.