NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DEVILS v SENATORS

May 15, 2003

Martin Brodeur

Sergei Brylin

Scott Stevens

SCOTT STEVENS: I think we stayed focused and said there's nothing we can do about it now and just keep playing. You can't dwell on things. You just go out there and focus and get the job done and kill it. We just said let's move on and forget about it. There's nothing you can do about it now. Fortunately everything worked out and we won the game.

SERGEI BRYLIN: It's still early and we have Saturday, the goal was to come home with home an advantage by winning Ottawa one game. That's what we want to do the next game. Today we played well and are happy with the win but it's only two games to one.

SERGEI BRYLIN: It feels great. I had chances, and they didn't go in for me. I was just trying to stay positive and I knew that it was going to come. It was nice to get one.

SERGEI BRYLIN: I thought he kind of tripped me a little bit. He didn't pull anything so I just got up and went in front of him and Brian shot the puck perfectly.

SCOTT STEVENS: We took away the middle of the ice which is the most dangerous part. We did a good job of moving the puck out of our own zone. They were dumping and chasing a lot. We tried to get shots from the outside and let Marty see them. I think we did a better job tonight than the first two games in helping Marty out but he still had to make some big saves for us.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, I thought it was going to be a 2-0 game but it didn't turn out that way. Yeah, it's nice to score first, there's no question. We came out pretty hard and had a good first. We got that goal and we didn't sit back -- we sat back a bit in the third but that's all right. I thought we kept going and forechecked well and created a lot of good opportunities.

SCOTT STEVENS: I think you want to play physical when you can and without losing your position, giving up odd-man rushes. That's our goal: Keep them on the outside and finish them on the board when you can. I think we have done a better job tonight of slowing them down through the neutral zone and taking advantage when we can.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I guess so but I thought the puck was so soft in the corner that it was going to have to hit the glass and come down. That's a bad feeling -- I don't know if you saw my reaction. I was behind it and looking at it, I couldn't believe it didn't go in. Sometimes you need breaks like that to get yourself warm and wake up a little bit. These are kind of bad bounces.

MARTIN BRODEUR: I got both of them. I thought we played good and didn't need to make too many. They came in at in the third a little bit. Probably on Bonk, the glove save that I made, Hossa came in, tried to make a shot and we blocked it, went to Bonk, kind of shot pretty hard, and he hit my glove more than anything. It was a pretty big save, I guess.

MARTIN BRODEUR: That's part of hockey, it's about committing yourself and definitely it was a great play from him to come down and help out defensively like that.

SCOTT STEVENS: Well, against that club, yeah, very surprised. I thought Lalime played pretty well, too, made some big saves. We had opportunities to go up 2-0, 3-0 but he made some huge saves and then we closed the door and played well defensively going into the third. We're surprised at this stage, the quality of team we are playing, that there is not a lot more scoring, but it's nice to keep him off the board.

MARTIN BRODEUR: We are used to tight games so it doesn't matter if it's 1-0 or 2-1 or whatever. It's important that you stay focused. I didn't get much work in the first two periods but knowing the Senators and how well they play offensively, with their speed, they got some confidence early. They took some long shots off me and got some momentum off them. It was important to say focused, as a team, also. But we did a great job killing penalties all night. Did a great job playing in our own zone and recovering from rebounds that I was giving up. It was awesome.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, it's important. I think we've got to show them that, you know, we are going to be able to play with them. Definitely it's hard. They are a skilled team and we can't be too excited about what we just accomplished today. It's just a game. You win it 2-0 or 1-0, you just go up one game so it doesn't matter. Definitely, these guys will go back and try to find ways to try to get to us in ways that may be changing lines or doing different things so we are going to have to adjust to their game a little bit in Game 4. But we are happy, we'll enjoy this one and we'll go back and see if we can get better.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, it's kind of hard. I think this team has been through a lot of adversity the last few years and they always come through and play well. We definitely are happy about the situation that we are in, our big thing was splitting in Ottawa and we are supposed to win our two games here. Their job is to win one game in this building so they have another crack at it like we had.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I never really lived it but I saw it on TV with Buffalo and Philly one year, I think that puck went on the outside of net and went in, they counted it as a goal, and with Smehlik, he was part of that game. It's definitely amazing that it happens, it's amazing it didn't affect the outcome of the game. If it had been different I think people would be a lot more upset than they are right now.

MARTIN BRODEUR: No. They were in the game. They played pretty solid. They gave us a few chances. Lalime played awesome again. They had chances on the power play. We played them well. It's a tough series. We expect it to be a long series. We are up 2-1. I don't think they came all this way to say, let's forget about this. They are going to try hard to get to us and we expect these guys to bounce back as hard as they can.