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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SABRES v HURRICANESMay 20, 2006Daniel BriereJay McKeeRyan MillerRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game One Q. What were you thinking after you scored the goal? JAY McKEE: I was hoping we didn't need it for the game winner. I am happy to help out my team any way I can and you know, when you don't score many goals during the season or through your career, it's certainly a little bit more exciting when you do in the playoffs. Q. You were the last guy in the arena that knew that it went in, do you think you were? JAY McKEE: It might have been. I was kind of screened from the goalie from the defensemen. I was a little delayed from knowing that it went in. It was certainly exciting when I saw my guys come to me. Q. This is one of the loudest buildings in the league but seemed to be a significant amount of Sabres fans here. Any of you guys hear that on the ice? DANIEL BRIERE: Definitely. Especially just in warm-up when they started chanting "Let's go Buffalo," right away we knew the atmosphere was kind of special. Carolina fans kind of came over the top, but it's fun to see so many fans driving all the way up here to support us. Q. What does this do mentally to win this first game, to get it out of the way especially here? RYAN MILLER: I think we're looking at the right way we want to start. We got out, did a lot of things well, and we know we got to be better as the series goes on because they are going to adjust they are going to be better. We have to do the same thing, and it feels good to get the first one, but there's a lot of work to go. It is the series and we have to be prepared to battle every night. Q. Talk about your day, Ryan, seemed like you were awfully sharp. RYAN MILLER: I had one of those days where I wasn't overly busy in the second period and come third period it's time to hunker down and do what I can. We were playing most of the night with five D, I am sure you guys picked up on that, and just the amount of pressure it puts on them, staying out there for longer shifts or getting paired up with new partners more often than not, having to kill penalties in the third period. You know, I just wanted to be an available for the guys, just do my part and I know these guys are going to do everything they can for me, so I am going to be there for them. Q. Obviously a lot more at stake here, any special sort of satisfaction having the chance to play against the Olympic coach -- RYAN MILLER: Olympics are over, guys, and you know, it is what it is. It's a situation where I could have made the team. Now it is been blown up in this whole, maybe I should have, maybe I could have, had I not been hurt type thing, and it really doesn't matter. Right now we are here to play for an entirely different prize and I don't have to play against Coach Laviolette, I have to go out and play against this team, and it might be some of his plays and some of his thoughts that go into the hockey game but other than that, it is Carolina and Buffalo, that's it. Q. Can you describe the two goals. RYAN MILLER: Brind'Amour delayed on me, I thought he was going to shoot earlier, tried to stay with him. Smart shot, cross corner off the post, I'd like to think I could challenge maybe a little more if I read the play differently. Then the second goal just they got a nice bounce. I think Tony and Commodore were both going for the same puck and it just kind of killed it but he got it up in the air enough where it was kind of over me. I didn't see it until it got to about my shoulder. So that swipe I made at it was just kind of, if I get it great, if not, you know. But we battled really hard, did a great job in the second playing our game and it set up a good third period for us. Q. What was it like for you guys being down a defenseman against a quick team like that, a skilled team like that, how difficult was that? JAY McKEE: It makes it more difficult. We have had the benefit all season of having six guys playing and really balancing out the ice time and I think that's really helped to our success, just keeps guys refreshed for the penalty kill, keeps guys refreshed for the power play. So when you are down to five, certainly makes it a little more difficult, but at the same time I think the ice time still was balanced out pretty good. A lot of guys feel better with more ice time, so certainly it would be difficult to do every night, but we have had a lot of rest this last week, and I think it made the guys feel a little bit, got into it easier out there. Q. You have two goals in the playoffs now. Going to lobby for some power play time? JAY McKEE: No. I know my role, and I will just try to continue filling in my role the best I can, and in the playoffs you need guys stepping out of their role a bit here and there, and kind of like the Campbell hit, myself getting goal here or there. Max Afinogenov lying face first in front of a shot, you need stuff like that if you want to be successful. Q. Where does that goal rank? JAY McKEE: They get bigger and bigger all the time. Every goal in the past for me, there's not a lot of them, but every goal in the past is in the past. Right now we're living for this moment, and every goal is bigger than the one that I have had before. Q. Biggest one you have ever scored, you think? JAY McKEE: Yeah, I mean, it's happening now and I want to help this team now. So for me to rank what goals are big, I remember one that was in overtime in Philly a few years back. That was obviously a big one for me, but I am living right now. I want to keep chipping in right now, so right now this is the biggest. Q. The move on the goal. Where did you learn that? JAY McKEE: Danny has beat me a few times in practice with that move, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I actually picked up the puck went down the side and I was think about passing the whole time two guys going towards the net I was looking at them. Saw a little bit of an opening, thought I'd try something and it worked out. Q. What is it about Lindy's preparation, that enables you guys to break serve ever since he's been in Buffalo, he wins Game 1 a lot, if he doesn't win one game he will win Game 2 on the road? DANIEL BRIERE: I don't know. It's tough to explain. Yes, our preparation is definitely up there with the best teams. It's amazing that so far in the playoffs we found ways to score the first goal of the game, (inaudible) 12 games, that shows very good preparation, but I think it falls back on some of the leaders, Chris Drury, Briere, Teppo Numminen, Jay, the way they prepared after a game. They have shown all year to all the younger guys how to get ready. Obviously our coaching staff is doing a great job. It was a long week last week, obviously it was fun to enjoy what happened but at the same time it was a long week, we couldn't wait to get going. Tonight, I thought we -- I think we can play better than we did. Probably both teams are going to say there is a little bit of rustiness at the start in the first period. We felt it on our side, we definitely think we can play much better than we did tonight. We're happy that we're able to get away with the win. Q. Give a couple of examples of what you didn't like. DANIEL BRIERE: In the first period we were slow on the forecheck, somehow we had a hard time to get there. We saw big difference in the second period, guys started skating better, you know, even myself, skating-wise my legs felt better as the game went on. I think that's from not playing that full week when we did that before, but I guess it's human nature when you get in the playoffs you want to preserve that one-goal lead. We sat back the first ten minutes. I thought we panicked a little too much with the puck instead of making those easy plays, but it came back. Jay's goal was big, once again, to give us a lot of confidence. We just have to maybe play a little better when we're ahead by a goal in the third period. But so far we have played a lot of close games. And we're used to those games. Against Ottawa they were all one-goal games, and our desperation we found a way to win it. Q. On your shot is that just something that comes natural or was that a scouting report where you knew that if you could get it up like that -- does it come natural to you? DANIEL BRIERE: To be honest, I was trying to put the puck on net, and try to, you know, put it over his shoulder somehow. I didn't even see it go in. I had no clue until I saw my two linemates skating with their arms in the air. So I had a delayed reaction, but no, I mean, the goals I scored the past four, five years I haven't scored too many on my backhand. For people who of seen my curve in my stick, I can't go on my backhand too often, so I don't know how it got up like that. Q. Ryan, what is the key for a young player like you to stay so poised in a situation like this? On the road, third period, games are getting more and more important. RYAN MILLER: Just trying to keep it as level as possible, trying to check my intensity every once in a while and see where I am at. If I am too intense, I try to reel it in and relax. Try and sit back, just kind of taking the motto, going to have to play hockey, going to have to really play for this. It's going to work out how it is going to work out. We're going to get opportunities to win or have to bounce back from some losses. It's all going to work out. In the meantime there's a lot of hockey to be played, you can't jump on something that's going to get you too high. Watching these guys score goals, I really will check myself. A goal against, just let it go, it's gone, there's a ton of hockey to be played, especially in a Game 1, you don't want to, you know, get so jacked up in the first game, you know, and set the tone for the rest of the series where you are going to be bouncing off the walls. I have been trying to be real even and real calm. It's all going to work out for seven games. Q. One came with Jay out of the box, you were changing on some other ones, what does that say when you can get all three of your goals -- (inaudible)? DANIEL BRIERE: Shows our depth once again. It's been like that on a lot of occasions, just jumping on the ice and making something happen. I don't recollect on Jay's goal, Taylor Pyatt made a great play on the boards before he gave it to Jason Pominville. It's just the way our depth and our chemistry, all over -- and I mean, I think you have to look back at the fact that it's the same thing that all the guys that are in this dressing room were the guys that were at training camp together. So you get to play with a lot of different guys over the year and you just build chemistry. It doesn't matter who you go on the ice with.
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