NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

June 7, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: As a coach?

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: As a player?

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Yes.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Well, it is no different than competing in Game 6 which is kind of scary because we didn't compete in Game 6. We got outworked, outhustled in every part of the game. When the game is over and you can't even pick a player that played well, in a huge game like this, it's very disappointing. But we do have the luxury of one more game, so we have to regroup and bring our work boots as opposed to our running shoes which we did a lot of running around.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: If I knew that's the way this team has been all year. It's absolutely amazing. I think the biggest part of it is that some of these guys and maybe all of them want to be part of the solution or want to be the solution instead of be part of the solution. Rather than be the one that maybe has to go not necessarily score the goal, but go to the net or backcheck or fall in front of a shot they want to be the one that scores the goal all the time. Not everybody can be a hero in a hockey game. Sometimes you have to be one of the leading rolls that just does the job but doesn't get your name mentioned.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Not really. I thought our attitude was very good. I think everybody was ready. That first ten minutes we played as good as any ten minutes that we have played in this series. The killer was the disallowed goal which was rightfully so. And the inability of our powerplay to score. That has been that way all this series. We haven't really won games from our powerplay which we should be doing. We have won games because of our penalty killing but we haven't done anything with our powerplay.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Not that I know of.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Well, I hope it's a repeating pattern because we play some of our best hockey after we have been humiliated and basically tonight they kicked our butts and rubbed our faces in it.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Especially after having our goal disallowed and 3 consecutive powerplays and nothing to show for it then all of a sudden they get a goal like that I thought it kind of demoralized our guys and instead of getting momentum from our powerplay, if nothing else it went the other way for us. And then all we got then was individual efforts, guys trying to beat the whole team by themselves instead of just sticking with the game plan and like they have been told millions an millions of times that you know you are not going to beat this team one-on-one. You have got to go as a unit and get the puck in deep and we were carrying the puck. Our defense was getting cut. They weren't moving the puck ahead, they were carrying it all night and that's not the way that we play.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: Well, like I said, I don't think anybody played well, truthfully. And I mean, you don't -- that line has been successful for so many years and has won a lot of games for us on their own. I didn't see any reason why not to put them back together. That's where they have been for the last two or three years.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: I said that after the second period, but -- and after the game. But I mean, it is too late after. I mean, you have got to feel that way before the game and not enough guys are sacrificing themselves. You just -- you can't cheat in this game. The two teams are too evenly matched. As soon as you start looking for goals and trying to score goals and not paying the price, you are just not going to have success.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: No, I hope not. They were warned beforehand that -- and certainly we should have learned from last year.

COACH LARRY ROBINSON: I certainly hope so. That seems to be the way it is. Our guys just seem to have too many distractions here at home. Maybe they listen to all the people telling them how great they are and they don't concentrate on their job. But we certainly do play much better on the road than we did do at home.