Lindy Ruff Three Quotations

If this was a playoff game he would probably play. But with the three days, maybe the smart thing to do would be patient.

We've won three of our last five now. They've kind of turned the corner. Our play, our tempo, our offensive zone play is back.

Up front you're looking at two or three spots up for grabs. There should be some pretty intense battles.

We've had a great case of ham and egg this year. When the goaltending has given up three or four we've scored the right number to win a game, and when we haven't been able to score too much our goaltenders have kept them down to one or two.

In a long series, they're going to wear down all our old guys. I think our young guys can handle a long series. You look around at every playoff series, they're not decided in three games and they're usually not decided in four games. Not for a minute do I think a long series will hurt our team.

The last three games we got three points. Our concern is we want to continue playing well. The number of chances we're creating again and shots we're getting is the game we want to play.

Camp for them is going to be very competitive for them. They all have experience now, and they all believe that they can be a No. 1. And I think they all think they can be our No. 1 this year, so we are looking for one, two or all three of them to make a big statement in camp.

I don't know if his career was going nowhere. They liked him there, but here he's been a more determined player in all three zones. He fits the way we play here, and when he plays center he's able to play in any situation.

The great thing about our team, and has been all year, is that when one line is getting frustrated there's two or three other lines there to pick us up.

It makes for an interesting three days. You can have a lot of emotion spill over. Really, it's going to feel like the start of a playoff series, and not that often do you get that situation in our league.