NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DEVILS v SENATORS

May 15, 2003

Pat Burns

COACH BURNS: Over the playoffs, yeah, I would have to agree with you, probably one of the best games we've played defensively in the playoffs. We've played a lot of games like that through the course of the season against big teams, but I thought over the course of the playoffs, you're probably right. I thought everybody did their jobs and we kept them boxed out a little bit. Did the simple plays, not the great plays, but the simple ones.

COACH BURNS: I didn't really see it until I saw it on the overhead like everybody else. They had called us down; our video personnel called us and said, "That's a goal." I imagine somebody will be held accountable for it, you've got to be. If we criticize people, our referees and whatnot, we'll usually be held accountable, so I imagine somebody is going to be held accountable for that one. It was a goal. I don't think you can argue that fact. It's less of an issue right now. I don't think it's a big issue right now, but if it would have been an overtime game and you would have lost in overtime, it would have been a different issue, on my part, anyways.

COACH BURNS: Right away.

COACH BURNS: Yes.

COACH BURNS: Even if you do call the time out, you can't ask the referee -- the play had begun now, so let's go back a little bit. Play had begun when I got the news. Once the puck is dropped, it's too late.

COACH BURNS: It's too bad because the impression that people get, especially on television is that we are not because it takes awhile to get through the traffic sometimes to get here. But once the game started, you saw the place fill up. I didn't see any empty seats, not that I was looking that close. But our fans were great tonight. You always have the 100 moronic people who boo national anthems. They forgot that that was over two months ago, a day late and a dollar short again. But most of our fans were definitely not in any part of that and I saw a lot of our fans shaking their heads and we apologize for that, for sure. Our fans were boisterous tonight. They were loud and they were good.

COACH BURNS: He had the stick in the right place, had an active stick in the lane there and tipped it. It's good for him. I imagine he will be able to tell you a lot more than I can tell you about it. It happened quick. I didn't see it. So I could give you all his internal feelings if you want, but all I'd be doing is guessing. You are better to ask him than me.

COACH BURNS: That's a good point. You've got to be on the bench or dressing room to realize that at one point in time, you've got to make them forget it, including myself. I was a little upset myself that it wasn't called. And that's the thing, is to try to keep everybody under the impression that we can't worry about it. You let go a little bit and you say what you've got to say and then after that, you have to forget about it. But once we were in the dressing room, we said that's it; no more discussion about it. It was like the end, they gave Madden a shot going into the bench for no reason at all and everybody got uptight and excited and had to forget it. We had a game to worry about.

COACH BURNS: I think whether you're a veteran coach or not, I think any coach would probably have that same feeling or that same intuition, that you have to let your team know that you can not worry about it and carry on about it and talk about it. I don't think it's a question of being a veteran. I think the team, being a veteran team, is a lot easier. They were supporting what I was saying on the bench, too.