NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DEVILS v SENATORS

May 9, 2003

Martin Brodeur

Scott Niedermayer

Scott Stevens

MARTIN BRODEUR: Definitely. I think he has been playing great. He had a great season also, and the last few years he has been doing well in the Playoffs. Now I think he was able to advance to the Conference Finals, so he's doing well, but we are in the same boat. We're just one series away to go to the Finals, so it doesn't matter how we matched before. It is now; we're going to play now.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I don't know. I haven't really looked at his game too much really -- I know he's able to stop the puck and that's a good thing. He's a big goalie and he competes really hard and I think that's why he's having a lot of success.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, nothing is going to be easy. I guess we have played pretty well in the Playoffs and we have lost two games so far in two rounds and that's something that's important and we can built off that and we're playing pretty good hockey right now. And that's very important this time of year. I like that we're playing good but they are playing good also.

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I would agree with Scotty. Either team to get this far has to be doing some things right and has some confidence in what they are doing on the ice. I am sure Ottawa has the same feeling in their dressing room. We feel confident that we're playing good hockey and have the opportunity to win any game that we start. That's the way we're looking at this. Doesn't matter; underdog, favorite, whatever, those are all things to write about. We just really get focused on the first game here and get out and play our hardest.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I don't know. Definitely we have been in both situations, but definitely being an underdog when you start on the road, I think it just takes a lot of the pressure off us a little bit, but we still want to go out and compete really hard. We know what we have to do ourselves and we can't worry about what Ottawa is going to bring. I think we will adjust ourselves with the series going on. Who knows? I mean sometimes you react well to be the underdog and sometimes you don't react as well. Depends how the series goes.

SCOTT STEVENS: I think that's what we have been talking about; it's nothing new. It's totally different than the first two rounds. We know it's going to get harder each round. This is going to be a good test for us. Obviously there's going to be matchups and after that we have other people that are capable and have to play well and do a good job and win those battles against -- if you want to call it the second third and fourth line, but their first and second line are pretty comparable. We'll see what happens. This is the most depth we have seen so far in the Playoffs, and we are aware of that. We're going to have to play our best.

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I would just say that you are going to have to get other people doing strong defensive jobs out there. Scotty and Rafalski have done a great job; Mads and his lineup. Now it's going to be up to a lot of other guys to play strong defense. It was in the other series but with the way they spread their offense around and their lines it is going to be up to everybody to do the same type of job out there.

SCOTT STEVENS: He gives the club confidence. We know every night he's going to be there. This year he has been so consistent; when you go into a game and you know that you have a guy back there stopping the puck and is going to make the big save and with the low-scoring games we have played this year, it definitely brings confidence to our team and I think that's the biggest thing. Where as if you get a goalie that's up and down and is inconsistent then it puts a little doubt in the players. So it's helped give the players confidence playing in front of him.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Oh, I don't know. I think you know, if you look around there's not much to do around here, just I don't know going back home I think it will just make -- break this little two days layover a little easier for everybody and keep us busy a little bit. I think we have been sitting around for a long time anyway, so definitely it's nice to be on the run a little bit even though it's going to be charged up with some tough games. At least we're going to do something in these two days, we will be moving around a little bit.

MARTIN BRODEUR: They are fast and they are not really physical, but I think they are able to get under your skin a little bit just because they like to cycle the puck and take you wide and I think it makes it hard to contain them a little bit because they are so patient. They have a few guys that are making great plays and really patient about the puck. I don't think we played them that bad this year. I think they just took advantage of some of our mistakes we made during the regular season. They added some players. We added some players and we have come along way both teams, and I am sure it will be a different story in the Playoffs. A lot more important, more details. I think the details will make us successful if we do them right against the Senators. It's probably what we did wrong during the regular season.