NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 17, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: His knee, he got his knee fixed. He came back last year, but he wasn't 100 percent. But he still played and he had all summer to work on it, and I guess it's been the best it's been for probably ten years. He's played without a ligament for a long time, and now he's got his knee all fixed.

COACH BOWMAN: His record speaks for itself. I came from a team he had a lot of success with. I think we were, I guess, real fortunate to be in a position to get him. I think he had it all arranged he was going somewhere. It could have been many many places, I'm sure, but he gives the team -- I think when you have a style that he has, he's a terrific player. There is different ways to do it. Being a goalie it's not that easy now. He shoots pretty hard in practice. He likes to practice. He knows his game and he knows what he can do. He's a confident guy, which he should be for the -- for the way he's playing, and I would say he's -- it's not an easy spot to come in. We have had good goaltending in the past, but it's very difficult when you get up against experienced goalies in the league. It is a tough matchup until those goalies become veterans and the younger ones will eventually have to get experience and when they come that way, they get even better. Goalies seem to get better as they get older. People think they're not going to be able to play. They seem to get better. That seems to be the formula for these type of goalies. It's tough for a young goalie to get into the playoffs, especially if you have a terrific season.

COACH BOWMAN: I can't really comment on theirs. I think you just hope that you can stay healthy, is a big factor, because a lot of players get injured, and some teams can overcome it. Sometimes you have to, I guess, keep going. You see that in Toronto. But I think our biggest concern is how we're going to play. The longer you play in the playoffs, you're playing stronger teams. I don't think there is much room for error. You may get away with it a little bit in the early rounds, but I don't think you can get away with it when you get to the Conference Finals. That you can play your game, that's probably what I would look at the most.

COACH BOWMAN: It's hard to tell if the games are even, that's one thing, if one team has a dominant edge. On the other hand, they can stay in the series because of goaltending. That can become a big factor. But I think there is some other sidebars to the series that probably are just as important. But goaltending, it's very difficult right now to look at a series and say it's just going to be whatever these guys stop. You don't know really what the rest of the team is going to do. I think both teams' goalies can carry them. They have carried their teams before, so also have a reasonably good chance in the same situations, they can do it again. It depends on the -- you know we have had some tough series, but Dominik played well in the key games and I'm sure Colorado and San Jose was a tough series and they found their way to win the 7th game at home again. And that gives the team a lot of confidence. Both teams have a lot of confidence in their goalies. They don't really -- it's not the same, because you don't know how the teams are going to play.

COACH BOWMAN: I think there is a rivalry when you play a team more often than not. We found that with St. Louis. It's a pretty good rivalry because we played them so much in the playoffs. Usually when you play a team for the first time in a while, depending on what kind of series it is, it ends up being something that's fresh in people's minds. We played this team last year. I don't think it's the same rivalry as some of the other rivalries in the league, but it's created because you played some other series against them and also the fact that both teams have won Cups because of it, so that's probably the biggest reason there is a rivalry.

COACH BOWMAN: Well, I don't think at this time the motivation factor is not there for anybody, but it's a big challenge for a lot of great players to play against each other, and certainly all the awards aren't judged by the playoffs, but I think they have a big effect on individual awards. I know our team doesn't really worry about the individual awards as much. Good teams don't do that. We look at the players that are on both teams, and there is a lot of players that are game-breaking type of players that can perform at a level you need to, to win a series. That's probably what we're going to look at, who can survive and do it.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't know if it's an average as much as when we first heard about it. I have had a lot of one-week -- you know, you win Saturday and you have a couple days to, you know, unwind. And the first couple of days are a little more difficult because you don't know who you're going to play. We've known since Wednesday after the final game with San Jose. That's when you see the intensity pick up. I think we took the first three or four days to rest up. We have had some injuries, and it's helped in that regard. I think it balances out with the momentum of the teams that played a little bit longer. I don't think it's a -- if you play Wednesday and then Saturday, it's not that much -- I was surprised with Toronto, but they had the momentum of winning Game 7, seemed to carry into -- because Carolina didn't have a big layoff. It seemed like it was ideal. You finish Monday and you play Thursday, but Toronto only had a day that -- or a day to get ready, so I don't think it's an edge as much as people think, and I don't think it's a detriment to us. We've used it to heal some injuries. We have had some injuries that the extra day or two certainly makes them healthier.

COACH BOWMAN: What do you mean by depth?

COACH BOWMAN: Well, they have a team a lot like us. They have a real solid checking line and penalty line with Yelle and Messier and Keith, and I think the ice time is always a factor, and I think we both play our top guys quite a bit, so I don't think it's as balanced as some teams might be at this time, but you use your best players as much as you can. You have to do that, and for them to play at their level -- but I think it's -- you know, we're looking to play four lines and we're looking to play against four lines. After that, I don't know what will happen with replacements or lineup changes. We have -- both teams have guys that haven't played much.

COACH BOWMAN: Day-to-day, pretty well.

COACH BOWMAN: I heard talk about it. They were pretty excited yesterday when the organization signed a player that -- you don't want to put a lot of pressure on the player, but he was voted top player in Sweden. I don't think people knew much about him, but we found out early on in their rookie camp how good he might be, so I don't think that the players are saying -- looking around -- I'm sure some of the younger guys aren't looking around as this is the last chance. There are a lot of players of different age. I think it's important on the team. It's really tough to do it if you don't have young players that can pitch it at the right time. You have to have the experience. You have to feel comfortable with experience players. I think it's different if you have to lean on them all the time, but this year we have had the emergence of some younger players that have played more minutes, especially the second. Jiri Fischer has played a lot more this year, especially in the last couple months and Mathieu Dandenault is on his third of on defense and Boyd Devereaux has played. They're probably close to their peak seasons because of their experience, but, you know, there was a movement of some veteran players before who replaced them. Some with some experience, but it's mainly, if he was about to retire, his ice time has been taken up by a guy like Fischer or Dandenault.