NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: HURRICANES v RED WINGS

June 12, 2002

Sergei Fedorov

Jiri Fischer

Igor Larionov

Kirk Maltby

IGOR LARIONOV: We have to play even better than we did the last two games. We're playing at home. Everybody is expecting us to win, so we will have to play a hard 60 minutes and focus on the win.

IGOR LARIONOV: I don't know. It has been five years since we last won. We still have had a good time -- a good team, but stranger things have happened. We have to be confident, realizing that there are no easy games. We have to be able to play hard hockey and be able to play a full 60 minutes.

IGOR LARIONOV: It's obviously exciting when you win. But when you enter the game, you have to be aware that it is going to be a tough game and hold the excitement for later for whatever happens at the end.

KIRK MALTBY: To us it doesn't matter. I am sure Carolina is the same way; they just want to win. Whether it's here or down there, it doesn't matter. We just want to try and win. I don't think as far as our home ice is going to give us that much of an advantage. They have been playing very well on the road. We just want to go out there and try and win this game, and hopefully we'll have a good chance tomorrow.

KIRK MALTBY: It is a good time. It's what you play for. The whole atmosphere, you don't really ever get a chance to experience it and you never know when you will ever get another chance. So we're just trying to enjoy it and have a good time. When it's game time, it's business. We will go out and play hard. It where we want to be. So you just enjoy it.

KIRK MALTBY: I think we have the experience in this dressing room to keep everyone on an even keel and be focused on the job at hand. We know that we got to go out and play a good game, and we know that we are not going to have anything given to us, and we know that they are not going to quit. So we just are to go out and play as hard as we can play, just as hard as any other game we have played in this postseason, and try and do our jobs. If we're focused and ready to go, then we'll have a chance.

JIRI FISCHER: I am disappointed and frustrated because it's something that I just can't control. It was the League's decision, and there's not much I can do about it now. That's the frustrating part. This was the first incident that's ever happened to me, and right now I wish it could have gone to next season and I would have been able to compete tomorrow night. But that's not the way it is, and there's nothing I can do.

JIRI FISCHER: At the split second, really all I meant to do was push him out of the way. Unfortunately though, I hit him in the mouth and it wasn't -- I didn't -- it wasn't an intentional injury. I didn't mean to do that. But it happened. And there's a lot of things that happen during the game -- and I am not whining -- but I can't control it now.

JIRI FISCHER: I definitely want this team to win no matter what it takes. Everybody wants to do their job to the best of their abilities. That's why it's even harder, I think, not being able to be a part of it on Thursday, however the outcome.

SERGEI FEDOROV: I don't think so. We don't even talk to each other about that. But I think we feel pretty fortunate to have played together that long and be successful that long as a group of players, not just a small group, but as a complete team. I am happy that we've been able to prove again how good of a team we are, and it has been nice to be shoulder to shoulder with these guys for so many years. We have been through enough tough times that we know we can rely on each other without even thinking or talking to each other. Just by looking, we know exactly what we have to do for each other. And all that support you are getting from the guys and the experience that we have, it has been put towards our goal, and I think we're a pretty fortunate group.