2002 NHL STANLEY CUP
HURRICANES at RED WINGS

June 6, 2002

An Interview With:

NICKLAS LIDSTROM
KRIS DRAPER
DARREN McCARTY

Q. Nick, you had another game over 30 minutes, yet you looked pretty strong there late. How did you feel like you were holding up with that kind of ice time?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: I felt fine throughout the whole game. It was a lot of powerplays and penalty killings out there, usually out there for most of them. But I felt energized even late in the third period.

Q. Seems like Kirk and yourself really had the most effective wings out there. Is it the style of play which is conducive to your style of play in this series? So far it's kind of meshing. That's why you seem to be the more effective players out there.

KRIS DRAPER: I think we feel confident with our game, and maybe the passing isn't as good as people think, and we are a line that likes to get in there and grind it out and cycle the puck and take the puck to the net. We feel strong, playing down low, and getting loose pucks and creating chances for one another. Maybe we feel that we can be a factor in this series.

DARREN McCARTY: Pretty much that's it, there's not a lot of room out there and it's that they play such a great trapping style. You have got to have a lot of patience, I think, with our style of play. This really benefits us a little bit more where we can get in there and play the body and grind it around. That's where we are at our best.

Q. Darren, what do you think Brind'Amour was trying to do with Nick at the end of the game there?

DARREN McCARTY: No idea. You are in the Stanley Cup Finals. It's emotional, and you know, who knows, it happens in hockey, and that's fine. We're just not going to let it happen. Everybody sticks up for each other. It's not a big deal. Bottom line is, you know, we had to win this hockey game, and we did.

Q. Nick, once again the big guns are held off the score sheets, the guys with the 600 goals and whatever. Does that surprise you at all about this team and the fact that your fellow teammates are the ones scoring?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: I think that's our strength. As a team, we have four good lines that can score for us. If one line is not clicking well, another line steps up and scores the big goals. That has been our strength throughout the Playoffs, previous years as well. That's a strength we have as a team.

Q. The ice seemed to be really slushy out there. Does that affect the powerplay at all? The way you guys like to move the puck, is that one reason why you were one for eight?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: Maybe a little bit. But I think both teams are playing well in their own end, killing penalties. They are aggressive when there's a chance to do it, and sitting back and blocking shots when you can't really get to the puck. I think both teams are playing well, killing penalties, but the ice, it's pretty hot in the building so the ice gets a little chippy out there.

Q. Both the goals that were up high on Arturs is that something you are seeing or is that just the way it happened?

KRIS DRAPER: I honestly say I had my head down when I shot that puck, so I mean nick just made a great play, and just you know, unbelievable pass I just skated into it and just wanted to try to get a wrist shot away and it went in for me. It was nice.

Q. Can you remember the last time you played 25 minutes in the first two periods in the game?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: I am not really sure. Dave Lewis told me about it after the game, but there was a lot of like I said a lot of penalty out there, I am usually out there killing or playing on the powerplay, most of them, that

takes up sometime.

Q. Can you first describe how you felt when you made the shot, Nick, in particular, your case because you guys have been out there on the powerplay seemed like forever without getting it, all of a sudden just a regular powerplay shot play, it goes in. Talk about finally getting the goal?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: Like I said, they are good at blocking shots and getting in front of the shots, and it's tough to get the puck to the net. On that particular play Sergei was on the top and I was on the right side, and gave me an open lane so I took the shot and I tried to get it up high on Irbe and got the puck through.

KRIS DRAPER: Yeah, for me, you keep shooting the puck, you want to keep taking the puck to the net and sooner or later you hope that's going to go in. I had a good chance early in the third period off a draw, and just tried to shovel it into the net and it didn't go in, and frustrating then you get an opportunity to come down the left side and like I said, just took a wrist shot, it went in. Felt good when Mac gave me one of his patented big bear hugs there and it is nice, you know, to be able -- Nick scores to make it 2-1 nice to give ourselves the two-goal cushion that you are always searching for.

Q. Do you have the feeling this game was going into overtime the way they were stopping a lot of shots and did you have that feeling --

DARREN McCARTY: I think just the style of play out there, it's a tight game and it's typical playoff hockey there's really not much room, you really got to work hard and definitely, we just want to come out and play a solid third period, really take the play to them, and try to draw some penalties, and maybe click on the powerplay, but just keep throwing them at the net. We like the way that we persevered through the first couple of periods, and didn't get frustrated and you know, it worked out for us. So in these Playoffs I think the way teams are -- you see a lot of overtime games. You have got to be prepared for them so you can't worry about that. You just got to go out and play.

Q. Did you feel the energy in the building they had the "go Wings" going, this crowd wanted a win really bad. Seemed like that kind of fed you guys?

KRIS DRAPER: Sure did. This building has been really loud. It obviously a very fun building to play in. The fans get right behind us. That "go Wings" was probably going on for about 3, 4 minutes we were just commenting how loud it was. There was a couple of comments made on the bench certainly after the game, about how loud it was. These fans want it just as bad as we do. Everyone realizes how important this game was for us. You certainly don't want to fall behind 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals and to our credit we were able to go out and win this hockey game and it was certainly something that we needed to do.

Q. Is it hard not to get frustrated on the powerplay when you guys are 0 or 6, four shots up until the time you scored the goal how you just keep going through it?

NICKLAS LIDSTROM: We talked about that in between periods that we have to keep our composure and don't get frustrated and keep working on the things that we're doing. And we are going to find an opening or get an opening if it's not a shot from the point, it is going to be down low, so we told ourselves that we have to just keep our composure out there and finally it paid off for us.

End of FastScripts.