NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 28, 2001

Martin Brodeur

Scott Stevens

SCOTT STEVENS: We had a good practice today. We got to get some focus back and get ready to play our type of hockey. We need to. No question, we don't want to fall back two games. We are looking forward to tomorrow's game and getting back to playing our game.

SCOTT STEVENS: Of course. I talked about that yesterday. When the hits are there, you take them, otherwise you play the puck. At times it is more important than the body. You are playing against finesse players. When you have to play a smart game, you can't get running around. Running around is only going to create goals and chances against. When the hits are there, you take them. When the hits are not there you play smart hockey.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, I just said that. I mean when the hits are there, they are there. Whenever they are not there, you have got to play smart and play good positional. That's just as important.

SCOTT STEVENS: They had some hits, but we had to put ourselves in position where we can make hits. I don't think we put the puck in areas or did things to give ourselves to play as physical as we like to play. They put the puck in more often and deeper and they had chances to hit. I thought we turned the puck over a lot at their blue line; never got the puck deep, never got ourselves a chance to play as physical as we like to play.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, first of all, you don't push any panic buttons. It is one hockey game. I mean, we are going to go out and play harder. We are going to have a better game. We didn't play as well as we'd like to play. We have to go out and play a better game. That's the bottom line.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I thought it was over, the Patrick question. (Laughs) You know what, it is definitely-- was a great thing when I was younger. More and more I got away with my career, playing against one of the good goalies in the League, and it stayed like that, but early on it was something special. Now the special thing about it is trying to beat one of the best goalies.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Work ethic. I think the depth that they have in their lineup made us play a different way maybe in Game 1. They came hard and they didn't -- they weren't really fancy making great plays. They just put the puck on the net, got some bounces, and good players had some good shots. It is a just matter for us to adjust to their speed a little bit. Similar to what Toronto did to us early in the series a few series ago, that we had a hard time handling them. And after a while it is like anything we learn how to play them and we will be successful.

SCOTT STEVENS: He has been great. This is a time when we have to get better, we have to learn things. This isn't a time to you know, to get real mad or bench people. This is a time to like I said, we have got to learn from our mistakes and learn what they are doing; have to adjust and we are a good team at adjusting. We are going to make some adjustments and go out there and have a good game plan and follow through with it.

MARTIN BRODEUR: They did pretty good job, they were quick on me the whole night. I was able to get the puck out a lot, probably not direct passes and stuff, but they played a good game. They play really hard and they get to you a lot. It is like anything, when we are going to start playing in a different way, I think the opportunity will be there a lot more.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, I think the good thing is we could have prevented those goals and sometimes it is just positioning, and it takes everyone on the ice and it is a good challenge. We obviously have an idea what to expect now and look forward to the challenge tomorrow.

SCOTT STEVENS: Saturday, I don't think the first period, I don't know myself, I felt didn't feel as good, but I felt better the second and third, so that was a good sign. Today I noticed out in practice, you had to go short and hard. That's something we have to stress because of the altitude, I think. You don't want to -- if you get caught out in a long shift, it can hurt you for the whole game. We have to be smart, take shorter shifts. That's what they do a lot. I am sure they do it for a reason. They have to go short and hard. We have to outchange them, go short and hard and make sure we don't get caught out in any long shifts.

MARTIN BRODEUR: It is important to separate it. I can't do anything about how he is playing or how effective he is. I can just control what I do and sometimes you get caught up on watching the other guy doing real well and you don't feel as good about your game because of it. So you have got to make sure that you put a curtain down and just play your own way and don't worry about how he makes the game look so easy or so hard.

SCOTT STEVENS: I would think it is just to get the best out of the team, get the most out of each line and that's all it is. I mean, this is nothing new. We have made changes. A lot of guys have played with different people, and there is nothing wrong with that. I don't think anyone is taking it personally here. We are here to win and here to get better and learn and win hockey games. There is nothing else to it at this point in time.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I don't know, I think they let us play a lot more, I feel. It's the Playoffs, they don't call slashing calls, you don't see them as much as you do in the regular season. Every shift there is slashing. You don't see it now. Trust me, there is a lot of slashing going on. It's changed a lot, going to the crease, going in front of the net, a lot more liberty is taken. But that's Playoff hockey. Usually you have got to adjust to that. Definitely it is a difference compared to the regular season.

SCOTT STEVENS: Yeah, there is no question, I think there is less things being called but that's -- we always know that's going to happen in the Playoffs. There seems to be more interference and holding up; that is let go. That's up to the players to adjust. When we see that they are doing that to ourselves, we have to do the same thing back, and walk that fine line.