NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: RED WINGS v FLYERS

June 2, 1997

Terry Murray

Q. Could you detail the changes for tomorrow night?

TERRY MURRAY: Be a little bit more specific. What do you want to know?

TERRY MURRAY: Yes, I have. Snowy is going to play tomorrow.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, Al, I will tell you, it has been a long few hours since the end of the game the other night. All I have been doing is thinking about the direction I wanted to go with the goaltender. And, you know, you don't even sleep at night when you are thinking about what the decision should be. As they say, there is no wiggle room at this time of the year in the Finals. I have been wiggling a lot. The decision is based on what I saw in the game. Again, after the game the other night, I thought that the opportunity for us to get ourselves back into the game was taken away. And, the goal by Yzerman certainly was the reason for the decision. I feel very comfortable going with Garth Snow. He has played very well for us in the Playoffs. He is ready physically, mentally. He will give us a big performance.

TERRY MURRAY: He handled it fine. He will be in here, I am sure, and talking to you. He handled it fine. Again, as the professional that he is, when I first made the decision at the start of the Playoffs to go with Garth Snow, he was simply outstanding in the support and going to Snowy right away to talk to him to try to help him out in any way he can. He practiced very hard. I talked to both goaltenders before the practice today. And, if you were watching the practice, I am sure you saw that Hexy was again the professional and doing everything that he had to do to keep himself as prepared as possible.

TERRY MURRAY: No. No. It is not based on practice at all. If I based it on practice, there would be a few guys from the Phantoms playing. (LAUGHTER) They have good practice.

TERRY MURRAY: I am going to go with what you saw, the line that you just talked about. I thought Druce had an outstanding game in Game 1. I have a lot of confidence in him. Just going back over the history of the year with him, the reason he was out of the lineup I think was because we have some young guys really stepping up and doing some outstanding stuff and we were knocking a couple of the veteran players out of the lineup. With the game the way it is and the time of the year, with the Finals, I think the four lines with more skill is going to be the direction to go in. I see what Detroit played. They have four lines that they rely on very heavily. And, I think that the opportunity to go with a speed and a more skilled lineup is the right direction to go.

TERRY MURRAY: I don't think it is ever a dictatorship in the'90s. I think it is very important to get the feedback from the players as to what they feel, what they experienced in the game itself. It is fine to be able to -- you know, sure, I see what is going on. I know the systems that the Red Wings are throwing at us. But, you also -- I think to have the players' input is very important to make a little bit of a change, a subtle change, a little bit different pattern in the breakout in the neutral zone regroups. And, it is a general feel-good time, too. I mean, we are happy to be here. We are excited. We want everybody to be a part of it. And, Eric is the captain. He does have a great hockey mind. He knows the game very, very well when it comes to playing the systems and reading of what the tendencies of the opposition are, what their defensive play is. And, I believe that whenever there are players that can contribute in that area, whether it is, you know, a special team or just 5 on 5, that the feel is good. It carries over into the locker room. It is going to carry over into the game, and I think it is just a time to share right now.

TERRY MURRAY: Absolutely. If I go with Colin Forbes, who was on the left side on the fourth line, he has had a great year. He is a big kid. He can skate very well. And, what attracted our attention to -- I am going back as early as training camp -- is that he is a big hitter. He can get the fore-check going. He can finish his check and will finish his check on a consistent basis. And, we not only need it from him, we need it from our big line. We need it from John LeClair, Renberg. I think we can all pick it up in that area.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, Rejean Lemelin is here. He is our goaltender and coach. We talked about it some after the game the other night. But, I think when it comes to it, you know, obviously there is lots of feedback. There is lots of feedback as to what they saw and what they think. But, it comes down to a decision by the coach to make the final decision.

TERRY MURRAY: I would consider a change again. I don't like to play musical chairs. It is not any kind of game that I am trying to play. I am just stating that we feel very good about both goaltenders. They have done a good job. Hexy's Game 1 overall, he really played a pretty good game. He had a lot of odd-man rushes, 2 on 0s, 2 on 1s, and did a fine job. But, I have made a decision. I am going to stand firm with it. And, Snowy is going to be the guy.

TERRY MURRAY: Maybe with any other pair of goaltenders, that would be a worry. I think the way they have come together over the past couple of years, their relationship and friendship, the support that they show for each other, has been simply outstanding. We see it in the locker room. Certainly it doesn't have to be publicly. But, in the locker room we see a lot of support from either goaltender that is not playing to the other, to share some advice or some thoughts. And, there is 100% support for each other.

TERRY MURRAY: No, that is not part of it. It was just whether to make the change. Again, because I feel that, you know, Hexy did do a pretty good job in that game, Game 1. He had some scoring chances, again, that we gave up in front of him due to breakdowns. It was not an easy decision.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, that is part of the thought process, yes. It is not a change for a sake of change. It is a change to help us be a better hockey club in this series. I think by going with Pat Falloon, he has done a great job with us over the year and he certainly has played pretty good in the Playoffs. I have told him that right from the time the Playoffs started that he would get in. And, when he did come out, it was not because of lack of good playing. He played very well. I needed another penalty killer because of the injury to Joel Otto, and, so, you know, I am just getting him back in there and hoping that his stick gets hot. He is a goal scorer. He is an offensive kind of player. And, we need some goal scoring at this time. The four lines, being more of a skilled lineup right now, simply because I don't see a lot of the chippy play, the aggressive play, the fighting there, is nonexistent now, and this will give us a better flow and a better balance to our game.

TERRY MURRAY: Well, we told the guys not to give up any odd-man rushes. (LAUGHTER) It is not who was on the ice. I mean, on the first shorthanded goal that they got, you know, it is simply a turnover, as we all saw, and the defensemen are doing the thing that they are supposed to do, get on the attack. They have offensive-minded players. We wanted them to be a part of the attack on the rush on the power play. But, there still has to be support. There has to be an identification as to, you know, where the positioning is whenever the puck is in a certain area. We just got to be better. We got to be more aware. We got to think better. Our defensive game has got to be improved. That has been the heart of our team, the heart of our organization for the last couple of years. And, we have got to get back to having a more solid foundation.

TERRY MURRAY: Well --

TERRY MURRAY: I don't know what his status is yet. I will know tomorrow morning as to whether he can play or not.