NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 27, 2001

Martin Brodeur

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think it was a tough game for us. Defensively, I think nobody is really happy about what happened, but we have to learn from it. That it is a different team that we are playing, a team that we never played like -- a team like that so far in the Playoffs. Some adjustments that we are going to need to make. Definitely the big talk was about intensity, I think that we got outworked and I think it was a big factor in why we weren't successful yesterday. I think that is what everybody is talking about today.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, we hope that's what is going to happen, definitely. It is hard to go out and play the way we played you know, all the games that we won against Pittsburgh every night, I mean, it is just not going to happen. We just need to -- when we have these nights, at least when you work hard, you know, it gives you a chance like, a little chance to win at least. Yesterday wasn't the case, but we know that we are able to be dominant in a series like this with a team like that, just a matter of going in and I think everybody is back down to earth a little bit. I think everybody was really living a high for the last couple of weeks and I think it is kind of nice to go back down now. It is going to be -- you know, go back to the basic and listen to our coach and play the game that he wants us to play it.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, you know what, it gets hard when everybody tells you how good you are and sometimes it is easy to guard against it when you just stay focused. I think when you get to a time like this, it is pretty big, and even though you think you are getting used to it and you know how to deal with it, it is hard. We paid the price for it. I think we weren't really ready to play the game, but definitely that was a big factor in why we came out like that. It shouldn't happen in a team that's got a lot of experience but it is like anything, we are open to everything too.

MARTIN BRODEUR: A little bit. It was fun definitely getting some work and being able to make an impact early in the game was really nice. I think the outcome wasn't that great, but definitely I felt that we came out of that period the way what we showed up, 1-nothing wasn't that bad, it took them a lucky bounce for us to really start to open up and do things that usually we don't do and from there they took over the game. Series are different. Teams are different. This is a team that loves to shoot the puck and it shows from -- they shot some pucks from the red line and their blue line at times. Against Pittsburgh it was all about puck control, that they have to not really dumping the puck and chasing it. It was controlling it and making the perfect play. I think that's an adjustment that everybody has got to make now. There will be rebounds around me and they have got to make sure that everybody is ready for that.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, every game is different and you try to contribute as much as you can and sometimes it is going to go your way and other times it won't. But this is really nice time of the season and it is important that you can't believe what is going on, you know, in your head for too long. My team is going to need me to be on top of my game in Game 2 and I can't -- by experience even though you have a good game, you got to forget about it because today -- tomorrow is a new day and bad game/good game doesn't matter. You got to turn the page as quick as you can. But definitely it is important that you look at your tapes and you look at what you did and what they tried to do against you, and hopefully improve on the mistakes that you made.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, they are all great players. I think Sakic right now is really confident in knowing that every time he shoots he has got a great chance to score. He is playing with a great deal of confidence and I think that's what I think is a little different than other guys that we played where we were able to get on them. Hopefully we will pull that doubt in his mind before this series is over. If he does what he did yesterday, we are going to have a hard time winning this series.