NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

May 28, 2001

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: Well, I think the three Russians have played together before and right now; especially with Randy out of the lineup, we are kind of looking for somebody to fit in on that line, so I felt that Nemchinov is a very, very good centerman and probably plays his best hockey in the middle. We are trying to get four well balanced lines, so that was the reason for the moves. And I think that Gomez will be able to get Bobby Holik the puck and of course, if need be, you know, Corkum can also take draws in different situations and it also takes Scotty away from the middle where he has been having a little bit of trouble taking draws and it puts him in a situation where he has got two guys that can work the corners and then get him the puck and then he can make the plays.

COACH ROBINSON: No, they are all very smart hockey players. We have used Scotty on the wing a number of times as well, so he is familiar with playing the wing. They will probably also interchange a lot, both him and Bobby and Corkey, I am sure. You start out you know, at one position and as the game goes, everybody is interchanging all the time. Not too worried; especially Scotty, you know, he is a very intelligent hockey player. He can adjust.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, very few because we made the same mistake over and over again. So you wrote it down two or three times when you saw it in the first period and we did the same thing in the second and less in the third. So, it wasn't like we did, you know, alot of things wrong. We just -- we gave them way too much room to skate and they took a lot away, a lot of our room in the neutral zone and clogged up the neutral zone. The biggest thing was that we stood and watched and they skated.

COACH ROBINSON: Most of it was the McKay injury. But I also know that we can get a lot more production out of certain players. I think too much has been put on how our big line was going to play against their big line. I didn't think that we got very much momentum in the game. Our strength has been our four lines. I think the four lines that we have together now are capable of playing against any of their four lines. We will see what happens in the next game.

COACH ROBINSON: No. Why was he on the left there?

COACH ROBINSON: No, it is just because we have got 7 guys and different guys were rotating.

COACH ROBINSON: Yeah, I think he has one that was made up for him right now. It has been immobilized.

COACH ROBINSON: Not right now. They are just more concerned with immobilizing it.

COACH ROBINSON: No. No on both of those accounts. I think that every practice you have is a purpose-practice. The biggest purpose for today was that we wanted to do things quickly. Colorado is getting on us very fast and they are not giving you much room. So you are not going to have time to make the fancy plays or make the fancy movers, so today's practice was more geared around, you know, making -- making and doing everything quickly.

COACH ROBINSON: No. 1 when he was playing really well during the year he was shooting and hitting the net. He had a great chance in the first period that was top corner and hit the shaft of Patrick's stick and right now that's all I think he needs is just to get break that ice. I think he is pressing a little bit because he feels he has to score. I'd never put that kind of pressure on him on a player and say they have to score. If you are not scoring, you can do other things out there that is going to help the team. But he is that type of player. When he gets hot he can carry a team.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, Patrick is a big goaltender. You are not going to get much -- if you shoot anything along the ice on him or anywhere - anywhere along the ice, he has it covered. He is such a big player, there is only a few places that you can shoot; one of them being high.

COACH ROBINSON: I don't think so. If you look at it, wasn't just Sakic. I mean, Drury's line played well against us. So all the attention has been on Joe and rightfully so. He got a couple of goals, but I think more for us, it is more getting momentum from everybody as opposed to just concentrating on getting one person or one line out there.

COACH ROBINSON: No, he's just got to play his game. His game is, you know, being in peoples' faces and playing physical, you know, being strong on the faceoffs and through all of that -- and going to the net, and through all of that, then he will get his offensive chances, but no matter who is out there he has got to play the same way if he was out there against a Sakic or a Yelle, whoever he is against.