"May 7, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Phoenix Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett and members of the team celebrate after beating the Nashville Predators 2-1 to win game five of the 2012 Western Conference semifinals at Jobing.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIREThe NHL has provided the transcript of an interview conducted with the Coyotes players and management listed above. It is provided for your enjoyment thanks to Frank Rekas of the Fansided Network and The Rat Trick. An interview with:COACH DAVE TIPPETTDON MALONEYSHANE DOANMIKE SMITHKEITH YANDLETHE MODERATOR: Questions, please.Q. Shane, just a quick question. There you are in the cafeteriaafter 15 years, you’re in the finals, taking all this in. Yourimpressions.SHANE DOAN: It’s been pretty cool. We’ve enjoyed the run. When ithasn’t worked, you’ve been told that it can’t. It’s nice to be able to saythat it can.We’re pretty excited as a group – very excited.Q. Mike, I was looking your name up on Wikipedia.MIKE SMITH: How many came up (laughter)?Q. It said you’re the only goalie in history to get a shoutout, getin a fight, and score a goal in the same game.MIKE SMITH: No, false information. I scored. I got a shutout and awin, but I never got in a fight. The Gordie Howe hat trick is out.Q. East Coast?MIKE SMITH: Yeah, first year as pro. I don’t like to fight(laughter).Q. Shane, the break between games. Do you want to ride thecoattails of momentum off the last series?SHANE DOAN: I think a little bit. You’d like to. We definitelyenjoyed a little bit of a break. The last series started fairly quickly.We went six games and I think we started three days later.At the same time it’s nice having the break. It’s not like anyone’sreally complaining too much. They’re on as big a roll as anyone ever hasbeen on I think in the playoffs. It would be nice to be playing maybeyesterday, but having till Sunday, it’s okay.Q. Keith, could you talk about the goaltending matchup in thisseries, two hottest goalies in the league. The fact that you have theability to get a few past Pekka Rinne, a pretty good goalie, in the lastround?KEITH YANDLE: Yeah, we faced two good goalies so far with Crawfordand Rinne. We’ve been able to solve them. We know Quick is a good goalie,great goalie, playing well. We got more confidence in our net minder thantheirs.SHANE DOAN: And he’s friends with Quick.Q. Shane, could you talk about the value of having another guythat’s been around this league for a long time, Ray Whitney.SHANE DOAN: He’s a lot older (laughter).Q. Just the value of him, and also the value that he’s been throughalready.SHANE DOAN: You know what, it’s funny. Everybody on our team forthe most part hadn’t been past the second round, I mean, other than Ray andRaffi in the past, Vermette. Those guys are the only three that have beenpassed.It’s been nice to talk to him. At the same time we got a pretty goodveteran group of guys that are pretty comfortable. But Ray offensively hasbeen our best player probably throughout the whole year. He’s beenunbelievable in the playoffs, getting huge goals, just keeping it kind oflike a businesslike approach. We all make sure we follow along.Q. Mike, you have yet to lose on the road. Coming in tomorrow, howdo you keep home ice as an advantage?MIKE SMITH: Yeah, no, they’ve been an outstanding team on the road.It’s obviously going to be huge for us to not think about that too much,worry about what we have to do.The first 5, 10 minutes is obviously going to be a huge part ofmomentum swings in the series. When you start off on the right note with agood first 10 minutes, good start, go from there.Q. Everybody is saying how similar these two teams are. They appearto be. When two teams are alike, what can make the difference in theseries?MIKE SMITH: They said that about us and Nashville, too. I think inplayoffs, every team is going to have some similarities. Everybody isgoing to be working hard, blocking shots. Everybody has a good goaltender.I think in that aspect, teams are similar. But we have our ownidentity. We’re not trying to worry too much about them, just kind of playour game.Q. Mike, what has Barb said to you?MIKE SMITH: Barbs (LaBarbera) is such an easy guy to get along with.I think everybody knows he doesn’t say too many bad things about anyone.It’s been a very easy transition coming here and working with a guy likehim. He works super hard in practice, very easy to get along with off theice.Obviously that relationship is huge. I’ve been with guys thathaven’t had the same kind of relationship as I have with Barb, so it’s beeneverything I can ask for.Q. He came up with that handshake?MIKE SMITH: He did. I can’t take credit for that.Q. Along those lines, timeouts, seems like you’re talking to him.MIKE SMITH: We’re talking about golfing (laughter).No, like I said, he’s an easy guy to be around. He’s calming to bearound. When I get a chance to get a few words in with him, kind of calmmyself down by being able to talk to someone like that.When you’re in the heat of the moment of the game, you’re nerves areworking against you. When you get a timeout to go to the bench, get tochat with a guy like that, it’s a calming influence.Q. (No microphone.)MIKE SMITH: Probably not this long of one. I’ve played well in thepast, but never been able to find that consistency I have this year.You know, goalies go in and out of hot streaks. Obviously you havesome games where you don’t play your best. But this year I found a way toplay well when I haven’t felt my best and tried to get out of slumpsquicker than I have in the past.I think that’s been a big part of my success this season.Q. Shane, coach joked after Game 2 of Nashville that he’s happy foryou to do your own thing in Phoenix, nobody has to notice. Can’t fly underthe radar anymore. What is it like to get more recognition now nationally?SHANE DOAN: I’m pretty sure everyone is probably picking against usanyways again. It’s where we want to stay, pretty low-key.Here in the valley, it’s been great. We’ve enjoyed the way that it’skind of worked out for us the last couple years here. We’ve had success asa team. It will be fun to experience.Again, I think that’s where we’ll go back to a guy like Ray, guysthat have experienced it. Coming in here and talking to you guys, Ihaven’t done that before, it’s kind of nice.Q. Mike, your goal in the HCHL, the reason I would want you to goback into your memory bank, to get your thoughts on it, because JonathanQuick, when he got his first win in the HCHL, he also scored a goal.MIKE SMITH: Really? I didn’t know that.Q. You both have that in common. Do you remember it?MIKE SMITH: Oh, yeah. Tough to forget. The bad thing is, once youscore once, you want more, so…That feeling of obviously scoring when you’re a goaltender is likenothing else. But also can work against you, too. You’re only thinkingabout it when their goalie’s out. The number one job is to keep the puckout of my end. If it does go in the other end, that’s great, too.Q. Mike, can you give us a sense of the way you are before games.Are nerves something you need to battle? Are you pretty easygoing beforegames? And, Shane, what is your sense of him?MIKE SMITH: I want Shane to leave me alone anytime. He’s a pestanytime I’m around him (laughter).No, I’m pretty easygoing. I get nerves obviously this time of theseason. I think everyone gets nervous before games. I don’t think I showit. I think I just try and do my thing and enjoy the moment, enjoy playingthis game that we all grew up playing and dreamt of being in the NHLplayoffs, just trying to take advantage of the situation.It’s been fun so far.SHANE DOAN: Yeah, he’s as competitive off the ice as he is on theice. We all play in a two-touch game that is pretty intense at times.Usually we’re arguing with him whether or not he’s out or not.MIKE SMITH: Because Shane is always right (laughter).SHANE DOAN: It doesn’t matter, every game, doesn’t matter if he’s ona roll, it’s the exact same thing. That’s one of the great things. Itdoesn’t matter how everything is going, he’s going to make sure everybodyaround him, it’s still the same. It’s nice when you have your startinggoalie to be like that. We enjoy it. We have fun with him.KEITH YANDLE: Yeah, I agree. I think Smitty is a guy, he sees thegame well. He’s a goalie, but he sees the game well, as if he’s adefenseman or a player back there.You know, you can talk to him about hockey or anything before, duringor after the game. It’s fun to have a guy like him around.Q. You guys are obviously keeping it lighthearted here. What roledoes humor and being able to jab at each other relieve some of thetenseness of the game coming up? Second part is, who provides the besthumor in the locker room?SHANE DOAN: I’d say Jelly (Yandle) does. He’s usually got somethinggoing on. When things are going on, he keeps it pretty lighthearted.We got a great group of guys that really enjoy each other. No one isafraid to give it to anybody. I think it makes it fun. We all enjoy it alot.MIKE SMITH: Especially this time of season, it can get prettynerve-wracking. To have the group we have, to keep it light, especiallybefore big games. It takes a lot of energy out if you’re serious all thetime.It’s been a fun year. It’s been a very easy transition for me tocome into this group. Obviously we have great leadership. Everyone in thelocker room gets along. That’s a huge part of why we are where we areright away.Q. Divisional rival for the first time. The style of this seriesgoing to be any different than Chicago or Nashville or closer to one or theother in the way it’s played?SHANE DOAN: I think we’re pretty familiar with each other. I mean,we’ve had some pretty intense, physical games already. I’m assuming thatit’s just going to kind of go up even more than that. We’re prettycomfortable playing each other. I don’t think there’s going to be too manysurprises. They got Carter late. That’s about the only thing that’schanged since the last time we played them, three or four times when theydidn’t have him.It will be a fun, intense playoff hockey. I think the third round,as a fan, I think the intensity goes up so much after the second round,because the second round, you’re happy to get into the second round, getout of the first round. Sometimes there’s a little bit of a lull.Third round, you recognize how close you are to achieving your goal.From watching it way too many times, that intensity is fun to see and willbe fun to be part of.Q. Keith, could you address, out of the All-Star break you went on agreat run, That kind of turned the whole season around for you. Can youpoint to any particular reason why that time of the season was wheneverything started to click and why?KEITH YANDLE: I don’t know if there’s something you can really justpinpoint. We came together. I remember having some meeting, Tip tellingus how much the next 15, 20 games mean to our team. It was a rush to getinto the playoffs. It was so tight in the west, we knew we had to playwell to get into the playoffs, get the highest seed we could get.I think it was the coaching staff getting us together and pinpointingthat we really needed to step up our game. I thought we did a real goodjob of doing that.Q. The All-Star break preceded that. This is your longest break.Is there something to be said to be able to use that time to rest? Can yousee any connection between what you were able to do, All-Star break, takingthat time, to now kind of refocusing again?KEITH YANDLE: Leading up to the All-Star break, I think we had oneof the toughest schedules I know I’ve ever been a part of. That break cameat a perfect time in the season. This break can work to our advantage.We also have to recognize that we’ve had time off. We have to comethe first 5 minutes, 10 minutes, like I said, and get onboard and get backinto the playoff adrenaline and energy out there, because both teams havehad big layoffs now. It’s probably going to be a little bit of feeling outthe first 5, 10 minutes. But after that, we’re going to have to really upour tempo.THE MODERATOR: Thank you.Questions for Coach Tippett and Don Maloney.Q. Coach, can you talk about the adjustments you make when you see aguy like Daymond adjust to a fourth line? How do you tweak things intowhat you’ve done so far in this post-season?COACH TIPPETT: What we try to do is put positions where they canhelp us win and they feel like they’re a part of what we’re doing here.We rely on everybody to do their job. We talked a little bit aboutthis yesterday as a staff. We feel like this is as deep a team as we’veever had. When you have a player of Langkow’s quality of stabilizing ourfourth line, we don’t call it a fourth line, we call it Langk’s line. Hegives us quality minutes, a role in the game, good penalty killer. Thatline has chipped in some important goals for us.What we try to do is make sure players know their responsibilities,know what they have to do to help us win. It’s our job to put them inthose positions to let them be successful at it. We’ve had a lot of guysthat have kind of bought into that and it’s gone well.Q. Don, might have been a few people that raised an eyebrow when yougave three years to Ray Whitney given his age. What were your expectationsand thoughts?DON MALONEY: I wish it was three, because it was only two.Unfortunately he’s up at the end of this year.When we looked at Ray, we had two players at that period that wethought could play in a top-six role. Ray was one of them. I think at thetime people were questioning whether one year, two years. Usually when youget to 36, 37, 38, there’s a little hesitation on extending, just the waythe CBA is, beyond a year.Just studying Ray, looking at his game, we watched a lot of video,how he played, who he played with, the ability to protect pucks, make playsat a competitive level, I didn’t see the risk. Even the level of contract,it was something we felt we could swing. He’s been terrific year. He’shad a terrific year. He’s invaluable from a skill base. Radim Vrbata andcertainly Marty Hanzal formed our top offensive line and we’re going toneed them to be good this series.Q. To follow up on that. The value of a Ray Whitney right now asyou head into the third round. Not many guys on this team have been thisfar. He’s the only guy that’s won a Cup. Touch on the value of what he isnow to this team other than what he can give you on the ice.COACH TIPPETT: The one thing that Ray does for us is he’s obviouslyone of our top players, top offensive players, and he takes thatresponsibility very serious. The experiences he’s been through, you canhear him every day. He’s relating something, whether it be to teammates,whether just a situation that arises, down to little things like a breakbetween a round, how you deal with it.His experience in those areas, his preparation, how he deals, heprepares himself, rubs off on other people. But he’s also very open insharing his experiences to make sure everybody else can get through those.His contribution goes farther – much farther – than on the ice.DON MALONEY: We do have older players on this team, but not olderplayers that played into the semifinals. He relates well. He always has astory. Very personable person.Again, without having a lot of guys that have won a Cup, he’s veryimportant to us.Q. After tomorrow night’s game, it will be unfamiliar territory withneither team having fallen behind in a series. Are you interested to seewhat the response will be from either side?COACH TIPPETT: Well, I’m not going to worry about after Game 1 tillthat one’s done and we’ll see how that one goes. Series, you have to makeadjustments, momentum-wise, tactical-wise, you kind of read and react towhat’s happening.If you looked at the last series, after Game 1, we won, but weweren’t very happy. We went to Game 2 and knew we had to be better. Soevery series is different, every game is different.I think with both teams having a bit of a layoff here, both teams aregoing to be anxious to get going. I think Game 1, there’s always a littlebit of a feeling-out process. I think everybody will be glad to get Game 1going and get through it, then we’ll read and react from there.Q. (No microphone.)COACH TIPPETT: For me, it’s all about winning. I mean, every day Igo to the rink and I figure out how we’re going to win or talk about withthe staff, with the players, how we’re going to win.Ultimately I have a saying all the time: Winning trumps everything.Team and winning trumps everything. It can be top players, goaltenders,winning trumps everything.I’ve been fortunate a couple years in the minors, I had unbelievableoffensive teams that were the highest-scoring teams in the league. InDallas, I had a couple teams that were high-scoring. I believe you can’twin unless you play a strong team defense.I would be interested to see if anybody could name a team that wonthe Stanley Cup that didn’t know how to defend. There’s some very goodoffensive teams. You look at Vancouver, a very good offensive team. Butthey’re also a very good defending team.Detroit, when they won their Cups, everybody thinks that they’re apuck possession, great offensive team, they’re one of the best defendingteams in the league.You can’t win unless you know how to defend. That goes back for along time. You go back to my first years in the league with the EdmontonOilers, they didn’t start winning until they figured out how to win a 1-0as well as an 8-7 game. The only way you’re going to have a chance to winis defend well.We look at our team, reality is, we’re not going to go out andoutscore people on a nightly basis. We have to work people out, defendpeople. If we give easy goals away, we’re not going to have much chance towin, so…Our players have recognized that. It comes down to how we’re goingto win. They recognize how we have to play. They have to do their part.If we do it, we have a chance to win.Q. Can you maybe speak to the goaltending matchup, in particularwith Quick, how much work you put into analyzing this guy.COACH TIPPETT: We’re a team that we really rely on what we’re doing.Believe me, we think we’ve got a great goaltender. We recognize they havea great goaltender.Some of the goaltending, they play a good defending game. They allowtheir goaltender to have some success. We feel like we can do the samething.We’re a lot more geared to what we do. Obviously there’s some thingsfrom a goaltender’s perspective that we’ll run by our guys, areas that wethink might be vulnerable. That’s no different than any other team. Thetwo goalies in this series are going to be critiqued very hard because alot of it is they’ve played very well and they play a different kind ofstyle.We’ll talk about that. But other than that, we’ll let the games playout.Q. When you came off the ice today, you were like, Okay, enough ofthat. At what point this week did it go from this rest is going to help usto, Okay, let’s play the game?COACH TIPPETT: I think as you get closer, you get a little anxious.We had a couple good days off. We had a hard practice day where you couldtell the guys after that were, Okay, let’s play now, enough of that hardpractice stuff.We try to wrap it up every day. Today we basically used it as almostlike a pregame skate. Tomorrow with a 5:00 game, we won’t skate in themorning. We did our final preparations today. Let’s go home, get somegood rest, show up tomorrow and get ready for Game 1. Guys are anxious togo.Q. Where do you see Aucoin at?COACH TIPPETT: He won’t play tomorrow. He certainly won’t be aplayer in Game 1. He skated a little bit today. I think we’ll monitor hissituation, but he won’t be a player in Game 1.Q. You said both teams don’t change their style at home or on theroad. Why do you think that approach has been successful for both teams?COACH TIPPETT: It’s who you are, your identity, how you play. Itgoes back to how are you going to win. If you change how you play at homeor on the road, one of them is not going to work.Both teams stay true to who they are and play the same whetherthey’re home or away.Q. (Question regarding the break.)COACH TIPPETT: Our guys are pretty good. When we go into a breaklike this, very similar to the All-Star break, coming out of it, we had aplan in place at the start of the week. We went through the plan with theplayers. They know exactly what to expect each day coming, how we expectto wrap it up, the elements of this series that we think are important thatwe have to make sure we put in place in practice, their preparation, theirworkload versus rest, all those things.What you try to do is create a week where every day they feel likethey’re trying to get better to accomplish and get themselves ready for thestart of the series.Different than last season. When we had that last break, we were insurvival mode for about six weeks and then we just needed rest. This weekis a little more preparation and I think our guys are anxious to get readyto play.Q. This is kind of an unusual matchup. Two teams that have not hada whole lot of playoff success. Obviously you’re wrapped up in winning andwhat you have to do. Can you on a successful level appreciate the storiesand journeys that your team and the Kings had to go to get through thisfar?DON MALONEY: You’re on a roll (laughter).COACH TIPPETT: I appreciate both sides, because I’ve been in bothorganizations obviously.I think it’s great for the cities, the exposure, when you get to thispoint in the playoffs. I know the exposure in the Phoenix area has beenvery good for our organization, hopefully very good long-term.You recognize the work that a lot of organizations put in behind thescenes. Everybody’s working for the same goal. When you haven’t beenthere before and you finally get to these levels, it’s very rewarding fornot just the city, but the people involved in the organizations.I can say that speaking from both organizations because I know a lotof the people well.DON MALONEY: It’s an interesting time. You can feel it in ourmarketplace anyway, beating Nashville, getting to this stage. Just thecity, the valley, the attention that we’re getting, the media, newspapers,certainly radio and television, it’s second to none. It’s what we need tosurvive here. We feel we’ve been in survival mode for three years, reallysince Dave showed up.This is great for us and our franchise. We’re certainly notsatisfied to just sit here today. We certainly expect to move further.Same with L.A. We respect them. If you go back to the pre-season, youlook at the teams, a lot of people looking at the L.A. Kings say, that’s ateam that can come out of the west. We know they’re a formidable opponent,even though some years they struggled like we did. Both teams, my belief,belong here.Q. A question about how you put this team together. It’s andunder-the-radar group, without the star power of a lot of teams. You’ll gointo tomorrow’s game with at least twice as many first-round draft choicesas the Kings. Were you big on pedigree? Why have they been able tosucceed here, guys like Pyatt, Chipchura, Brule?DON MALONEY: I think you hit the nail on the hit. Brule was atop-five, top-six pick. At the time he was picked, he was expected to be a30- to 40-goal scorer in the league. By the time he gets to us four, five,six years later, he’s figured out that, you know what, I can be a goodplayer. But maybe it’s in a role, coming off the bench, riding somesecondary offense.Kyle Chipchura, a very good player for us, important player for us.Brings a lot of energy to our game. I think it’s a little bit by necessityhere. We’ve had to really search for the right players that fit into oursystem.Taylor Pyatt is a prime example. Taylor Pyatt, you know, for anumber of years in Vancouver was a very good player. Had some personaltragedy in his life, was able to refind his game here. He’s an importantplayer, and will be in this series. A big, strong, power player for us.It’s like anything, we have X-amount to work with. We do the bestwith what the league has been able to provide us. Fortunately we’ve beenable to come up with some nice stories.Q. Why have these guys been able to find roles here that they didn’thave elsewhere?COACH TIPPETT: I think once you get through that first or, in somecases, second team, expectations in the player’s mind seem to go down.They’re just looking for an opportunity to refind their game.Talking to young Brule this morning after practice, he’s got a bigsmile on his face. This is the most fun I’ve had in hockey in my wholelife. It’s probably the least role he’s played on a team, but he’s havingmore fun.The expectations, some of those guys was certainly probably higherthan they were able to produce at the time. Once they get to us,expectations have come down a little bit. We try to really create a teamatmosphere where everybody has to chip in. Sometimes players like that,they feel like they had to do way more than everybody else. Here they justhave to do the same.They get comfortable in a role. They’re able to succeed in thatrole, whether it’s a little bigger or a little smaller role, they have somesuccess, they get confident and they can play.Q. Don, could you bring us back to your initial conversation withDave when you were thinking of hiring him. Part of the sales pitchprobably wasn’t, We just declared bankruptcy.DON MALONEY: It was interesting at the time. You really have to goback. I had initial conversation with Wayne Gretzky late May. At thatpoint I felt I didn’t think he’d come back regardless as the coach. Henever said it. In our initial conversation, he asked me if I didn’t, doyou have a guy, because I’ve got a guy. We both had the same guy. He’ssitting to my left. He had just been let go from Dallas.The first time I called Dave, I met him out in Minnesota. Again, hadto be quite covert, quite frankly. The last thing you want me to do isrunning around looking for coaches, have the world look at that. There wasone other coach I talked to.For all those reasons, it’s well-published. He knew the division, heknew the conference, he had great success in Dallas, he’s won everywhere.Been a coach in the minor leagues, won in the minor leagues. It was agreat fit.Really, of all the years since the bankruptcy, the only littlepush-back I had with the NHL at the time when I was signing him was alittle bit on the term of the contract. If you look back at the time, theywanted a short-term deal. I said, A short-term deal isn’t going to workhere. It was just one short conversation.I have to give him credit. Looking at our situation, I’m not sure Iwould have come into this mess at the time. I think he looked at it andsaw that this is the chance to build something from the ground up.Fortunately we’ve been relatively successful to date.Q. Any Ranger blood left in you tonight?DON MALONEY: I do. Obviously you have to be somewhat impartial. Iplayed with George McPhee. I hope the Rangers win tonight. I got a lot ofgood friends. Glen Sather was very, very good to me. And not only GlenSather, but the whole organization was very, very good to me. I’ve gotnothing bad to say about them and I’d love to play them in the finals.My brother Dave, he scares viewers away on occasion. A young StanFischler there. I don’t really quite get that, but talk to him a littlebit after. There’s the family.COACH TIPPETT: Thank you, guys.THE MODERATOR: Thank you.FastScripts by ASAP SportsPhoenix Coyotes Practice QuotesMay 12, 2012Forward Radim VrbataOn the time off he and his teammates have had this week: “It was nice toclose that series early and have a couple of days off, but on the otherhand it would be nice to be playing again. I think we had some rest, we hadsome good practices and now we’re ready to go, we’re looking forward toit.”On the challenge of maintaining a good balance in practice: “You want tokeep it loose and you want to have fun, but on the other hand you want tostay focus and do the drills right and prepare for what we start tomorrow.So, I think there’s a good balance; there’s fun but there’s someseriousness to it, too, I think.”On the amount of fun he’s having: “It’s fun. When you realize there’s onlyfour teams left, it’s something. When you think about it in the biggerpicture, that’s an accomplishment. But as we said after that second round,it’s not over yet. We want to win this round and then we want to win thenext. So, that’s what’s fun, because you’re getting closer and closer. Atthe first part of the season there’s 30 teams that have a chance to win,now there’s only four. So, the odds are getting better.”Forward Ray WhitneyOn whether he’s ready to start playing: “Yeah, it’s been a long time off. Ithink both teams probably feel the same way; that it’s enough practicing,it’s time to get out there. At this time off year you don’t like practicingthat much anyways; you’ve had enough of those throughout the season. So,we’re excited to get back to playing and I’m sure they are as well.”On the time off both teams have had: “We’ve both had plenty of time toprepare and heal and I would assume everybody is healthy on both sides ofit. So, everybody is starting fresh, which should be no excuses in thatdepartment.”On LA: “They’re playing great right now… They haven’t been beaten on theroad, they’re playing really good hockey right now. So, I don’t think itmatters right now of what we think is going to happen, it’s going to be amatter of competing to the level they’ve competed at in the first tworounds. They’ve been very exciting to watch, they’ve been very impressiveto watch and we’re going to have our hands full.”On the amount of shots Phoenix has given up in the playoffs: “There wastimes in the Chicago series where it got out of hand, and the first gameagainst Nashville. Really, aside from that, the shots weren’t that bad.Actually, we were pretty good in the games 2, 3 and 4. Obviously, in Game 5they put everything they had into it, they got a few shots, but no, I don’tthink we’re concerned with the amount of shots we give up or don’t give up.I don’t think that has much of an affect at all.”On the amount of time off he and his teammates have had this week: “It’sactually been pretty calm in here for most of the time. We had a good, hardpractice the other day. It felt a little bit like training camp, thepractice that we had. The last couple of days have been shorter and alittle higher tempo. I think being at the rink and practicing keeps youinto it. We’re excited to get going, but I think the first two seriescaused some injuries or some bruising and I think the guys have used thattime to relax and get healthy again.”"
