NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: CAPITALS v RED WINGS

June 12, 1998

Scotty Bowman

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: What do you mean "an awful lot of minutes?"

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: He is getting a lot less, but he has had it for the last 14 years. I won't take responsibility for the first 9 years. Last night was 75 minutes. He played 29 minutes. No, he has got -- he wants a lot of ice time. He never runs down.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I thought that in general we skated better as a team and obviously he is there too. We had more shots on goal and that is something -- of course, we were down in the game playing a little differently and I think he had some pretty good goals against him - pretty good saves against him. He had 3 or 4 good shots to the net. He can score from a distance if he gets it at the right spot.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: You mean --

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: First period, I knew at the end of the first period the way we were playing we are up 1 goal, and that's why they keep score. We couldn't play any better than we did in the first period. Sure we scored 3 goals in the third period, but the first period most of the guys felt this is the best they have played in the Playoffs in any one period. But, the score is 1-nothing. I mean, except for the third period comeback, we lost the game because as soon as they score the first goal in the second period, what a lift it gives them, and what a downer it is for our team because I have seen those periods in the first period where it is even tied and then you are wondering how you are going to play a lot better and you have got to cash in on your chances. So, I really thought last night was our best start if you are looking at first periods in all the series that we did play, you know, we did a lot of things in the first period that we haven't been able to do in the last couple of series.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: Marty was drafted in the first round and he came to a team that had a lot of good veterans and I said in the last series, especially on the right side, he was pretty tough. If you look at his record, I am not -- I think Marty even played in the Playoffs back whenever it would be when he was about 18 years of age. Then he played in the Playoffs one year I think then he went back to juniors. It was a case of the position that he was playing, and even the year that he was -- he spent half the season in the American Hockey League and he was terrific in that stretch. He scored a lot on the powerplay. He was playing a lot of time, then we brought him back up. We had Ciccerelli and Sheppard and they were with the Red Wings for a long time before I got there. There just was no room. Darren McCarty came on the screen as well around the same time. I think Marty was even drafted ahead -- before him. But he just didn't get the ice time and it was very difficult for him. So, it is just the reason that he is showing what he is doing now is the fact that he is -- when we had a 4-line rotation the last couple of years that also takes away from, you know, a player on a team being able to, you know, have to go to him. I mean, I don't think -- you can't tell a player that he has got a sense of responsibility unless he is playing in key roles this year. We found he was good on the powerplay. He was killing some penalties and did a good job for us. He was good in the Playoffs last year. Have scored a big, big goal against Colorado in Game 6. In a game that was no score.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I thought we were pretty lucky -- I don't remember so long ago just before the Olympic break we got a couple of funny goals on a Sunday afternoon. I remember that. Super bowl Sunday I think we played. That is a long time ago. They don't have the team now that -- they have much different teams now than they had then. They had all kinds of guys injured and they didn't have Tikkanen. They didn't have Bellows. So, it was a team that, you know, they had a long list of players that were out. I think they had eight or nine guys -- they even got some players that are still out. But, players that -- that is something they added and then they got the guys back and they started -- even a different team maybe now than in the first series because they had some injuries in that series as well, but, I look at their team a lot of their players are new, but they had a pretty good team a year ago too. We had a big game. Well, Sergei scored all the goals. It was an overtime win on December 26th of the season before this. It was a great game. Something like the game last night really, and they were tough to play against at that time. They didn't give much away. They played a real gritty type of game. They have added some skill obviously with some of their younger guys, you know, like Zednik, guys like that.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I think when Steve went over to the Olympics, his expectations of being like a role player and obviously in that kind of competition it was a high-paced series all the way through. So, yeah, I think he feels you know, we gave him the last week of the season off. It was a tough call because he didn't have a big injury, but he had -- it was enough too. It could have been aggravated. We still had a little bit of a shot at maybe finishing first in our conference because Dallas had been losing and they had some injuries, but, we just looked at the schedule. It was -- we would have had to win all three games and we were going to play a Tuesday night in Phoenix and then two hour time difference. 6:30 game in Dallas. We played pretty well. Lost by a goal, but -- then we had a couple of other guys that were injured. So maybe taking the last week off also gave him good focus. He didn't come near the team; didn't skate for a week, rested up his injury; then we started the Playoffs. So he actually had nearly two weeks, about 12 or 13 days, I think I helped him.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I thought Sergei just about won the game just about by himself last night. You know, I feel that on our team, we don't have a guy that we have to have every night - Game 6 he did a terrific job against Modano and Lehtinen. This team has guys like Oates, et cetera, obviously Nikolishin has had a good Playoff. So, it is a lot to look forward to when you have a player like that. And our penalty killing has been solid. He is part of that. So, it may be doesn't show up in the stats, but he had some good chances last night and it is like anything else, you always want some goals, but, hey, there is a lot of good players in the League right now that are having trouble scoring in the Playoffs. It goes all the way through. Mike Modano, in Dallas, same thing happened to him. People check those guys a little closer. They draw usually pretty close defensemen against him.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I always wear the one from the last time we won, like last year's ring I had Pittsburgh for a couple of years 'til we won last year.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: I have them in a safety deposit box and I am going to give each of my five children and my wife one of them and that is what I want to do when I retire.

COACH SCOTTY BOWMAN: Every game starts differently. We are a team that looked very ordinary on some nights and as a coach, you wonder, wow, it is a long way back to even, you know, how do we get the team to play the next game. Hockey players bounce from one game to the next and you know, they are not -- it is not -- it is another game closer for us, that is the way I always look at it. And, you know, yes, you have to guard against, if we could play at that level again, and get the scoring chances that we got, we are going to be in pretty good shape. How do you stay at that level? That is something I mean, sometimes you have a lot to say about it and the other team has a little bit too - how they play against you. So, you know, I know the mindset when you get in far, the further you go on, the more teams, you know, are going to put out and give everything you can and plus you have got a veteran team that isn't going to be -- I mean, if it was a young team that had felt good about itself, I said it at the beginning, they will probably won't get -- discourage this team and we won't get discouraged until it is over. That is the kind of teams you have got. One thing I want to mention, because it was reported on Hockey Night in Canada, also reported on ESPN, and I don't think it is fair because it is not the truth. I was asked about a week ago after we beat Dallas: What kind of refereeing would you expect in the Final? I said: Well, obviously, two referees are going to be Gregson and McCreary because McCreary was slated to do the 7th game of the Buffalo/Washington series because they slotted him into game 4, I think. And we had Gregson on the other side. He was going to referee Game 7. So, obviously if referees are going to referee Game 7, there -- is going to take an awful lot for them not to be chosen. Tough choice for the League. They had five referees that they really considered highly - Marouelli and Fraser that had all worked well in the Playoffs, Koharski, Gregson, and McCreary. Insinuations last night that I slighted Don Koharski. You know, you get tired of people blaming you for things that aren't even true. And that is far from the truth. If Don Koharski read that and listened to that, I think he knows enough about the game that people aren't -- I wasn't trying to slight him or Kerry Fraser or Dan Marouelli. I made a statement that obviously they are going to pick McCreary and Gregson because probably unless they really goofed up in Game 7 they head a tough choice to make because Kerry Fraser had refereed - I am not sure three or four -- oh, no, he refereed in 1959 when we played the Devils. He refereed last year, go down to 3, and, I think that is an erroneous report. It is somebody's, you know, figment of their imagination, to say, oh, boy, you know, what is he doing trying to slight Koharski; that is the last thing I tried to do is to slight a referee. Even on the call that we had, the League went around and made a big to do about defending the officials which is their job. We didn't make a big deal about it. We said even if the referee did make a mistake and we know the player touched the puck, we don't know the confusion, what happened after that. Doesn't matter. It is history, and, as far as the officials are concerned, we don't go into the game worrying about who is going to referee and who is going to be on the lines. You might -- some games in the season when you have a young official or if you are in a series early on and there is a guy trying to gain experience, but that statement that was taken and twisted around, it is just not right. It is somebody wants to say something; I am just going to clear the air. Okay.