NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: CAPITALS v RED WINGS

June 13, 1998

Scotty Bowman

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Yeah, well every game by goal, obviously you have got to get some breaks, it is like an overtime goal kind of, no time hardly left. They were pressing pretty good, but it was a big time goal by a big time player.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: No, we have confidence, but, you know, we are focused obviously. Everybody knows this date. It was on -- everybody's open mind before the game a year ago when we had the tragedy and we talked about it before the game that, you know, that was no -- if you know year ago, obviously. But, try to go out tonight and have a little bit of, you know, on the ice. This pales to importance to what those two warriors that are still recovering have to face and Slava Fetisov as well who was also there. So, I think it a recilence the team has. Obviously we have had -- this was a very tough hockey game. We had to use everybody. They had a couple of new guys in there and it shows that, you know, this time of the year fresh guys can really do a good job.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Tonight was pretty close. I thought we -- we actually had a terrific first period. We are on the road and you are really trying to not have them take over the game and get back into the series in the first period and you know, by -- in the second period, it didn't look as good, but when you -- haven't looked at the tape but obviously, you know, they come on -- most of their good chances came, you know, on the 6 minutes that we had shorthand in the second period and then the big play of course was the save on the 2 on 1 from Bondra.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Yeah, he has filled in so much on different lines and, you know, last year as I said before we had Tomas Sundstrom with all his experience playing with Steve Yzerman and Darren McCarty and Tomas has really produced, 7 goals in the Playoffs, important goals, it was a great start tonight. He doesn't get as much ice time as some of the others because he is not on the penalty killing team, and sometimes we get into a defensive posture like we did at the end and we double up some guys and he has had a terrific Playoff for, I consider him like a rookie because he didn't play that much last year.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: It was a long time ago. Yeah, we -- it was in St. Louis you are talking about, I think, and we played more just a straight out defensive game. We didn't have much attack. We couldn't match offense against Montreal at that time. But, the Capitals are a much better team than we had in St. Louis that time. The score kind of flattered us. We had goaltending every game, Glen Hull. I think he won the Conn Smythe trophy on a losing team that lost 4 straight.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: No, we don't pay -- we know obviously there are some guys that are going to score more than others, but he has been an effective player because he gets guys off their game and I think he is doing a lot of things. I don't know how much production they are really looking for, but he has scored timely goals. I think they feel pretty confident, any line he is on is not going to -- whoever they play against isn't -- the other line is not going to be able to get much. He has always been a top notch defensive player that scored timely goals, and he hasn't lost that, I don't think. I mean, there is a lot of big-time players in the series that are not scoring goals that are really hard to come by with some of them.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Well, yeah, I think if you compare the way he played in the third period in the overtime the other night, the line has been effective. Kozlov wasn't 100% tonight. We maybe couldn't use the line as much. But he is a key player obviously on our penalty killing, but, you know, he showed us his speed and he made a great play because you know, he had to beat the one defender and get it up where he wanted to. I think he sensed the play coming all Doug Brown chipped it by the defenseman and he had a terrific Final last year. He had a great Playoff and he is having another good one this year.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: No, not really. I felt very strongly this year about coming back because of the fact that we didn't win last year and also the fact that there was no time to leave the team after what we went through. I think the players feel the same way. It is nice to win. It is nice to win all those Cups, but it puts you in reality when that happened, and I don't count my chickens before they are hatched and I don't think there is a big significance. I have said it all along about tying a record, really, you know, say it once again. I have been in the League so long compared to some of the other coaches.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: No, we all talked about. I am not sure if we played him as much tonight the way the lines were rolling maybe on the penalty killing probably show up in the time. But I sensed that we would have to go with some of our other guys a little more tonight, but Yzerman plays you see when the game was on the line, he just about made about three big plays to nearly get the lead goal and that is when I -- and then when you have the lead like we had, with little over 4 minutes or 5 minutes to go, that is when his value really comes into play. He moves from center to left wing and he does it -- no, problem for him. And, you know, he is perfect example for all the other players on our team. That he is going to come up with a big play.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Yeah, it was a big start for us obviously. We talked so much about the start of the first period and, bang, 35 seconds you score the first goal, and you know, when you are on the road like this, you know if you get that first one, they have got a bit of a way to come back; they got a whole game to come back. But I think the whole team got the lift. I don't think it was particular play. Tomas is in front of the net a lot, and we just -- normally we start with the same tonight, we started with Draper, McCarty and Maltby and we made a quick change after 25 seconds and it just that he was -- I shouldn't say he was in the right spot because he is there all the time. But, I really don't know how he got it in. I just saw the puck bouncing the rebound came to him, and he has had that touch even we noticed it when he wasn't playing much around the net, he has got a lot of moves around the net. I haven't really figured out what he did.

SCOTTY BOWMAN: Well, we have an extra day to get ready for the next game. No, I think we have got to get focused again. Probably we are going back to the hotel now, as a team, and we are -- we have got a lot of experience on the team and I am sure everybody knows that when you look at a series and you analyze it and you win three games by one goal, you'd like to think that you are a goal better than the other team. But when you start Game 4, those games are out the window. I mean, Game 3 was 9 goals it looked like tonight it was going to be just about impossible to score any goals after we -- I mean, it was 1-nothing; both teams had some chances, powerplays and everything else. So I think we just have to, now he, we won't do a lot tomorrow. Month day get ready and you know, try to keep them occupied as much as they can. But, they have been in this position before and they should be able to know that I think I even seen some of them quoted as saying you know it is not a two or three game series so we keep reminding them of that.