NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

May 27, 2003

Pat Burns

COACH BURNS: Tonight?

COACH BURNS: He's played pretty well all year long. I don't think he turned on a button or pushed a switch that made him score goals. He just has the opportunities and when he has the opportunities, he puts them away. I thought he came on in the second half of the season. He's been pretty well like that the rest of the way.

COACH BURNS: I think it was a good pick up for us. We needed someone in the corners like that that would go in on the forecheck with Patty and Gomez and he's done that, and he's an intimidating player, too. He's just completing now by getting some big goals for us. Now he's getting them and he's starting to like it.

COACH BURNS: Anybody who scores is a bonus for sure.

COACH BURNS: That would be a good question for him, not for me.

COACH BURNS: In all fairness to them, you could say they had a little bit of rust on the blades. As the game got on, they got a little better. I think we started backing off a little bit, maybe due to tiredness, but we have to be better as the game goes on. They're going to get better as the series goes on.

COACH BURNS: I'll be able to tell you whether we got to him or not when the series was over. He made some big saves. I think the score could have been a little more after the first half of this game than it really was. We lacked a little finish here and there, but I think the score could have been a little more, but he made some big saves, too.

COACH BURNS: No, I wouldn't say that. Madden's line has been our best line of the whole time of the playoffs. Maybe he wants to check our checking line. Who knows? I think if you're going to play that kind of game, as he knows, if he's going to do that, he's going to be able to get his good players out there. You have to do that sooner or later. I think the matching wasn't that much important in Ottawa and I don't think it will be that much important now. If they have last change, they will make the last change. There wasn't a whole lot of going back and forth. I think it's going to be played on the ice and chances, and both team had them.

COACH BURNS: Again, it was a nice goal by Friesen, but, again, we had a lot of chances. We just didn't finish them. The score could have been higher, I think, after the first half of that game, and we had some excellent chances, excellent shots. You're not going to get a whole bunch of opportunities as this series goes on.

COACH BURNS: I didn't put it up on the board.

COACH BURNS: He's a liar. I didn't make the quote. He did. See what he says.

COACH BURNS: What was wrong with it? I guess because we won, that's wrong, because we practice a certain style, that's wrong. I disagree. I think we play some pretty good hockey, and I don't know what Mr. Bettman said so I really can't respond to what he said. I didn't hear the press conference. I like the way our team plays. That's the way we play, and we're here today, and there is some teams that aren't. Is that our fault? We shouldn't be here? Is that what you're saying.

COACH BURNS: I really can't answer, because I don't know what he said. Anything else?

COACH BURNS: Yeah, he played a real good game tonight. We were concerned about his faceoffs. He was all over them with the faceoff department. He really picked his game up. We missed him the whole time he was gone, coming back tonight and filling in. He can play all those positions. I thought that line was really good.