NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 30, 2001

Martin Brodeur

Scott Stevens

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, you have to give yourself the opportunity to play physical and I don't think we did that in the first game. We -- I thought we stood around and we weren't very aggressive. We were very passive and that's not our style. We're a team that skates and doesn't give the team a lot of time. And when you do that you have a chance to hit and I think that was the difference in Game Two. We were moving and we were initiating and in return we were able to play a little more physical.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, I mean, you know, that's the way I play. I play a little chippy, and a little be in your face. That's my style. And there's a lot of guys on that team that play the same way. It was an intense game and it felt more like a Stanley Cup final game than the first one, so we've just got to keep those emotions and keep playing the same way and with that intensity.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Yeah, he's the only one I had since I've been playing the NHL. I mean, he's a nice man. I think right now it's more of a, you know, I know him really well and I think it makes it a lot easier for him to communicate with me and definitely with him being French, I think it makes a lot easier to when you have a problem to go to him and talk about it.

You know, he's been great. I learned a lot early in my career from him. Right now it's more of, you know, reminders all the time and looking at what I can do better and what I'm not doing good or whatever. So he's, you know, he's important to me, you know, for me, he's my coach. He's been, you know, a big part of my success.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, there's no question you don't want to go down two games to nothing to that team. It was a huge game for us. It's a big game for us and it was -- we definitely played better and played harder and played with more of an urgency and we definitely needed that game; but, you know, we got to go out and play the same way and keep getting better and, you know, it's only one game and it's tied up right now.

SCOTT STEVENS: I'm not sure why, I mean, a 2-1 lead is not a great lead, but it's better than being behind. Maybe we sat back a bit, but I guess we only had two shots, so we had to kill a couple penalties which didn't help, but overall sometimes you get away with it. Obviously, it would have been nice to score another goal or two, but it didn't happen, but's it's playoff hockey and I don't think we're going to see a lot of high scoring games from here on in, if you go by last night's game.

MARTIN BRODEUR: It's been nice. I think John has been a great addition to us. I think really it came as a shock to a lot of people when they made that move late in the season, but I think he made everybody more at peace, you know, if something were to happen to me in the playoff, so John's got a lot of experience and definitely was a little weird at first when he came up with us. Just the fact that I played so many games against him and, you know, he's always been one of the best goalies in the league. Now you have him as your backup. It makes it a little different, but John has been taking that role really good. He's been helping out with the guys in our hockey club tremendously. This is an opportunity for him to be part of something good.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, our crowd gets better as the playoff goes on, so we've had some big crowds here lately, and they've been exited and they've been behind us. We're going to need more of that. It's going to be fun. I'm sure we'll have a full house and be a real loud crowd tomorrow.

SCOTT STEVENS: We just got to play well at home. We have to make sure we come out and play hard and initiate and play like we've been playing the last three periods; be aggressive and not sit back and, you know, skate and make them work. I mean, they're a good skating hockey club, but we are too. We need to keep playing the same way. You don't want to give that team time and space out there, and we did a much better job in the second game.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I think it's important for everybody to be solid. You can't control sometimes what's going to happen on the ice. Definitely they came out really strong and there were some bumps and they got their big goal on them in their power play from the first five or six minutes in the game. Definitely when they got another one, we kind of, whoa, let's bare down and we killed it really well from that kill we, you know, we picked up the game. We went out and scored a goal right after we killed that penalty. And we scored one on our power play. Definitely it was something that was important to do, you know making sure we stayed focus and not getting into the groove saying here we go again.

SCOTT STEVENS: That would be interesting to see. It was nice to get the scoring last night from the players we did, Corkum and Stevenson and that's part of winning. That's why it's a team game, but, you know, obviously hopefully coming home here we'll get a little more scoring. I don't see -- we have great goal tending on both sides. So I don't see a lot of scoring, but hopefully we'll get a few more changes. there wasn't a lot of shots by both sides last game, but hopefully coming home we'll get a little more offensive chances.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Lot got to be about staying positive and knowing what I'm able to do. I think there's not much to be said on the way I get scored goals or the way I react. I think we're going to look at the tapes and go out find ways the other teams are trying to get to me and try to get to our defense, and from there we're going to try to make an adjustment, if we can. Definitely it's just something about being positive and he gets in my head. He knows how I feel. He knows if I'm down or not. He's the one that's able to bring me back up or make me feel good about myself. You know, for me he's really important and we don't hide what we feel about each other. That's really important.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Definitely. I think the fact that we started together here and he brought me along has got to do a lot to it. You know, he's, like I said, he's got a lot of experience. He played a lot of hockey in different kind of situation, different leagues and, you know, it's like anything. He's got a lot of confidence in me. We enjoy each other.

SCOTT STEVENS: There was no question, you can't get a too high or low in this game. We saw that with the first two games. There's no question, Game Three is a big game and sometimes the biggest game in the series. We got to come out and be ready for that game and come out play the same way, don't take anything for granted at this point. You've got to fight for every inch out there. I expect a hard-fought battle tomorrow night.

SCOTT STEVENS: No, I wish I had the answers. You know, lately we've been playing pretty well at home. We had that, I guess it was Game Two against Pittsburgh where we had six minutes. We didn't play very well. That cost us the game. I think that's still fresh in our mind. We had a big Game Seven against Toronto and came back to close up Pittsburgh. We just got our feed off those games and go out and play the same way.

MARTIN BRODEUR: It was real important. I think special teams are big factor, why you're going to be successful in the playoffs, and definitely what's a big factor yesterday, and the way we killed the penalties in the first period. Even though they got the first goal, I think we killed the right ones. Like I said, before we scored a goal because of a great kill and our specialty on the power play. Even though we didn't score on the power play. It was the end of one and, you know, that really changed everything around for us.