NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PENGUINS v DEVILS

May 17, 2001

Martin Brodeur

Scott Stevens

MARTIN BRODEUR: Yeah, definitely. I think we played really, really well. We didn't give up much, turned the puck over and it's a lot easier on everybody, on our defense, on myself to be a little bit better.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Maybe a little bit in the third. In the first and second, they still got a few shots here and there. They had a little more time in the zone than they had in the third, but it's nice to be able to come in early in the third and score a big goal. That kind of relieved a lot of the pressure.

MARTIN BRODEUR: The same type of games every time you play. It's just a matter of getting bounces. If they score a couple of goals, it's the same story like Game 2. It was nice to be able to make some key saves late in the first, in the power play, and from there, we took over. We had a lot of chances to bury them, and, you know we kept going, and we stayed in the game for a long time for how well we played.

MARTIN BRODEUR: We didn't give up the blue line. We played really well, didn't dump the puck. I was able to play the puck today, comparatively to other games, a little more successful anyway. We had a great effort defensively. Our little guy was coming through, with the passes the other team made, and a nice effort defensively.

SCOTT STEVENS: There's no question, I thought we did a great job. That's a key, take away their seam passes and long passes, and they had good position out on the ice and they had trouble, like Marty said, staying in their zone. But did a great job of killing penalties at important times in the game, especially in the first period, especially against that team. They tend to play better and feed off each other when they score goals; so it was nice to shut them down on the power play.

SCOTT STEVENS: I thought that's a team when they are down, they start opening up, but we still played well defensively. We had two-on-ones and many chances to score, especially when we got up , like I said, they open it up and try to get back in the game by hoping their goalie keeps it in and they make a couple goals. Everyone did a great job, stuck to the program and did it for 60 minutes.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I don't know. I've played so many games, I don't know which one is easier. It just was a nice effort from everybody, and, you know just a win, a shutout is a shutout. A playoff doesn't really count. I just want to get these wins.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Yeah, but that they can really hurt you. They are so talented so it is important we keep on dominating these games and playing hard. Whenever we letdown, that is when we are going to be in trouble. We are an excellent team and we do the little things, and if we are doing well, they are going to have a hard time playing against us. Whenever we quit doing them, they have so much talent they are going to break us apart, like they did in the six minutes that we didn't play well.

SCOTT STEVENS: I didn't see it on his face. They still worked hard. It took a team effort. We had to work really hard to get this 3-0 victory. It wasn't easy, and I didn't see any frustration in Jagr and those guys, but it's more of a credit to how we played. We did a good job, and I thought they were working hard, they never gave up and kept trying to score, and win, obviously.

SCOTT STEVENS: This year in the playoffs? Yeah, I think so. We did a great job. Everyone was committed to playing well, and the puck came in at the right time and we created lots of offensive chances and did a great job of keeping their scoring chances down to a minimum. And I would say that this is our best game probably in the playoffs.

SCOTT STEVENS: Like I said, I thought we played pretty well the last game at home, also. There were those six minutes, and that's all that team needs to get a few goals. But overall, I felt we played pretty decent at home. We've got to learn from that. Sometimes that happens where you play well enough to win, but you don't, but we didn't want to let that happen tonight. We played a solid game from start to finish.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, you know, you've just got to make sure that you stay sharp. You know, these guys, once again, they don't need too many chances to bury you, and make sure you don't get back -- we don't want them to get back in the game by just allowing a goal because nobody was ready. I think I was ready, and a lot of the guys defensively, we made sure. This team, we are scared of them. They are a good team. They have firepower. It is hard to just -- don't want to fall into this habit of not playing hard. That's what we did in Game 2 for a little bit and they took us apart. So it's important that this doesn't happen to us at all for the rest of these series if we are going to be successful. These guys have a lot of firepower. If we start being undisciplined and not doing little things, you are going to have more offense and the games will be a lot more -- it will be harder for us. I think when we play hard and do the right things, we make it easier on ourselves, and definitely, that's the way you want to go.