NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 27, 2002

Bob Hartley

COACH HARTLEY: That's a question that unfortunately I can't give you an accurate answer. But one thing is very certain: he's fun to watch play and, you know, he gives us so many options, so much depth. And it seems like this year he's on track for giving us every big goal. Willsie deserves a lot of credit. Didn't play many games, kept a great attitude, and it's great to see him getting rewarded.

COACH HARTLEY: So far definitely one of the best of the series, but tonight another great game. We're already three OT games, so it's pretty tough to ask for more than this. Patrick, once again, was great; special teams were great. Both teams fought hard. It's unfortunate, but you need a winner and the good part is we're on that side.

COACH HARTLEY: Again, I don't want to make too much of a big fuss about the line juggling and the line matching, because the players deserve the credit, like, Willsie with two great games on the road. And the rest of the team, everyone is digging deep, we're working with a purpose. We count on great guys, and it's not the first time, so I'm not surprised to see how we're responding. We're responding like we always did for the past four years.