NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WILD v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 10, 2003

Mike Babcock

COACH BABCOCK: I guess the length of it did. You know, I didn't think that the way the game was played reminded me of either one of those two series at all.

COACH BABCOCK: We got better, but I didn't think we had our A game here tonight. Any time you're five power plays to one powerplay, I don't care who you are, that's putting you on your heels.

COACH BABCOCK: That was unbelievable. Obviously, I thought our penalty kill was outstanding tonight with the exception of that powerplay. They really move the puck, so your penalty kill is everything. Tonight, in reality, our specialty teams won us the game. Five to one is unbelievable for the least-penalized team in the playoffs.

COACH BABCOCK: He's a skilled guy. You give good players good opportunities. He had a great opportunity, and I don't know if it was in the third or the overtime there where he had a great opportunity in the slot, almost twice in a row and never buried one. If you get him home free with your goalie, that's a great opportunity.

COACH BABCOCK: It would be easier if I comment after. Today's game is a different game in the fact that it's like chess out there. You can't get through the neutral zone with either team. You take a little split second to get in the way and never get it to the net. Both teams are that way in that your free opportunities are so few. When you get a free opportunity, you better bury it, because these goals are pretty good. You're not here without good goal tending and knowing what you're doing.

COACH BABCOCK: No, I wasn't surprised at all. I knew the crowd would be like that. We talked about that. We're concerned about ourselves and having the jump. We didn't feel like we had our legs at all tonight. Give them a ton of credit. They're a real quick team and they make you not manage the puck because of speed at times. I don't think we skated that well. We'll get better for sure.

COACH BABCOCK: I thought we did all the right things. Prior to this game, we took yesterday off. That wasn't our plan. We thought we were playing a night game. We didn't want to change because of the fact that last time we skated before we left, we got hammered in Dallas. It's all in your head any time at this time of the year. We didn't have the kind of jump we needed to have.

COACH BABCOCK: Brian Murray phoned me about right after the game when the game was won, and so that's when I found out, so I could have called 25 guys but we just thought, you know, if it's not broke, don't fix it kind of thing. That's what we tried to do. Like I said, I didn't think we had the kind of zip we normally have. Thanks guys.