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Inside the mind of Pat Burns

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Posted: Monday May 17, 1999 07:55 PM

Often described as surly and laconic, Boston Bruins head coach Pat Burns has been a veritable good humor man during press briefings for much of the Boston-Buffalo series.

In talking about the amount of physical play in the series Burns said, "If this is World War III, then what's going on in that other series [Colorado-Detroit] is the end of the world."

Burns also took a shot at the regular season. He noted that the playoffs are so much more intense that compared to some regular season games you have to wonder "what the heck is going on out there."

Regards running afoul of NHL referees with comments deemed inappropriate, Burns said "You either get suspended, fined or have to give your first-born child to the league."

On a more serious note, Burns is an advocate for a guaranteed point in overtime, but doesn't expect the league will change its regular-season overtime rules.

"Until the league says I get a guaranteed point [for overtime games] I play to protect the point," Burns said while discussing the relative lack of offense in regular season overtime games.

"It's my feeling that if you gave the teams a point [for getting to overtime] you would have a lot more teams going for an extra one [with a win]. That guarantees you a more exciting overtime. I believe that, but there are others in the league who are against it."

Burns says he makes a point of teaching his team to protect what they've earned in an overtime situation before taking a chance on winning the game. He says the discipline pays off in the playoffs because the team then knows when and how to take chance without jeopardizing what they've already secured.

Burns also showed an ability to roll with some media punches, something that was not on his resume when he coached in Toronto and Montreal.

When a columnist in Buffalo implied that the Bruins had more "chicken wings" in their lineup than a local restaurant that invented the odd finger food, Burns used the phrase to his advantage. After Boston's rousing win in Game 5, Burns told reporters to "order up the chicken wings, because we're coming back."

Penguins' future on thin ice

The sudden emergence of Paul Allen, the former Microsoft founder who owns the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, as a player in the Pittsburgh ownership debacle can likely be traced right to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's door. Allen and Bettman have a history that dates back to the days when Bettman was an attorney for the NBA. Bettman has tried on several occasions to get Allen to bid for an NHL expansion team.

Allen has denied making an offer for the Penguins, but has not denied having an interest. However, Pittsburgh's mayor is not enthralled by the rumors.

"We have a situation where there is supposedly an offer from some anonymous person," Thomas Murphy said in a prepared statement. "In our view, this is just a ploy. We are proceeding confident in the knowledge that [the Penguins] are legally prohibited from leaving Pittsburgh."

A bankruptcy court judge has ruled that moving the Penguins is not an option, but there is speculation that that ruling only applies to current ownership.

There's no doubt that the league is serious in its support of Mario Lemieux's bid to buy the bankrupt Penguins and keep it in Pittsburgh. But by bringing Allen into the mix -- assuming it is Bettman who has done this -- the commissioner puts pressure on the courts to resolve the ownership issues before the entry draft June 26 in Boston. It also puts pressure on city fathers to commit to a new building for the Penguins. Lemieux has been asking for guarantees from the city and state to build a new building that would eventually replace the Civic Center, at 38, the oldest building in use in the NHL today.

The prospect of an out-of-town buyer also takes some of the public scrutiny away from the league. The idea of disbanding a team and selling off the assets (players) in a dispersal draft would be an extraordinary blot on the NHL as a financial investment. That kind of bush league mentality is unheard of in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball and would give the NHL a trash-sport reputation the likes of which is usually reserved for indoor soccer, arena football and roller derby.

Bettman this week defended the league against charges of economic instability, noting that the Penguins' problems are the result of a series of business decisions in Pittsburgh and not a reflection of the overall state of the NHL.

Bettman has a strong point in that regard. Since taking over in the early 1990s Bettman, has faced down a number of unstable franchise situations, each time playing a hand in bringing more financially responsible owners into the league.

The Bettman group helped stabilized the situation in Los Angeles after the Bruce McNall debacle and has worked to bring new investors to the Edmonton Oilers, the St. Louis Blues and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

There was a slip-up with the New York Islanders, but that's been corrected. Pittsburgh is now Bettman's only serious trouble spot, but there appears to be some deep-pocketed people in the wings should Mario Lemieux's takeover bid not win out. In addition to the reported interest in Paul Allen, Mark Cuban, the founder of Broadcast.Com and a new-age billionaire, is said to be readying a proposal. Cuban grew up in the Pittsburgh area.

Beware the Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been surprising people for too long not to dismiss their success is because of luck and Jaromir Jagr.

The financially floundering franchise was in free fall at the end of the season, and Jagr seemed determined to run off head coach Kevin Constantine.

Yet these same Penguins knocked off the Detroit Red Wings in the closing days of the regular season (to secure their playoff berth), then beat the New York Rangers in overtime on Wayne Gretzky day.

Despite finishing last in terms of playoff qualifiers, they knocked off the top-seeded New Jersey Devils while Jagr was out of the lineup with a strained groin for much of the series.

Considered largely an offensive-minded team, they are currently giving the Toronto Maple Leafs fits with their defensive play, virtually shutting down the NHL's best offense.

All this is happening while there is growing talk that their days in Pittsburgh are coming to an end. It's now possible that should the Penguins go on to win the Cup, the parade will start in downtown Pittsburgh, march past the courthouse where the bankruptcy issues are being decided and end in Portland, Ore., or some other heretofore hockey-less city.

A fine mess

It will be interesting to see how the NHL collects the $50,000 in fines leveled at Philadelphia Flyers managing partner Ed Snider and the $25,000 pointed at coach Roger Neilson for the public comments about NHL officiating.

NHL bylaws have a limit of $10,000, but the league could argue that Bettman has extraordinary powers when it comes to protecting the game (it's in the bylaws) and so the fines would fall into that category. That makes sense, but it would also pit Bettman against one of the more powerful owners in the game and as ex-president John Ziegler learned, it's not a good idea to run afoul of too many owners at one time.

Bettman is fairly adapt at that, but with a poorly functioning Collective Bargaining Agreement and many teams in financial difficulty because of it, this is not a time to be making powerful enemies.

Fraser falters again

Referee Kerry Fraser appears to have learned from last spring when he refused to go the video replay booth for clarification on a goal.

Not that it's done him any good this time.

Last spring, Fraser refused to heed arguments that the Sabres had scored a pivotal goal in Game 2 of their series with the Washington Capitals. Replays showed the Sabres did indeed score, and Fraser was publicly reprimanded by the league and did not work the Stanley Cup finals as scheduled.

This time, he ruled that a shot by Pittsburgh's Kevin Hatcher did cross the goal line. He went to replay for confirmation, but the replay official said the tapes were inconclusive. That puts the onus back on the on-ice official, and Fraser ruled the puck crossed the goal line.

However, isolated slow-motion replays enhanced by technical crews at the Canadian Broadcasting Company showed that the goal didn't cross the line. Hence Fraser is back on the hot seat, especially because the goal was pivotal in the final outcome.

Fraser wrote in his report that the puck flipped up and crossed the goal line when it hit the padding on the post. The NHL supported his call, but now replays show otherwise. There is some argument that even Fraser wasn't sure because initially he did not stop play to signal a goal.

That caused Maple Leafs president Ken Dryden to accuse the supervisor of officials at the game -- Charlie Banfield -- of bailing out on the call.

Leafs coach Pat Quinn claimed, "There is immunity built into [the replay system and NHL officiating] where nobody has to own up to anything except the players," Quinn said. "It's all fabricated. There is no proof the puck ever went in. That's why we have cameras up there to look at these things."

There is, however, a rule that says if the video is inconclusive than the referee has the final say. Fraser made the call. The question is whether or not he was right.

It would appear fines are coming again on this matter. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Fraser as the playoffs progress.

An Avalanche of momentum

So why is it that Colorado has climbed ahead of the Detroit Red Wings in their Western Conference series?

Obviously some shaky goaltending in the Detroit nets played a part, as did the toll on Detroit's older players as the games start to mount up. The fact Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy is on a roll doesn't hurt either.

But the Red Wings have also had to play some games without key center Igor Larionov after he left an early series game with a dislocated finger. Larionov is a key faceoff man for the Red Wings, but he's having trouble gripping his stick and taking draws and shots.

He's also the key to their potent power play, and the Wings don't seem to be able to ignite any offense without him.

Home-ice disadvantage

Let's see teams play 82 regular-season games just to qualify of the playoffs, and, if they're really good, get a one-game home-ice advantage.

How valuable is that?

Through Wednesday's games, road clubs are on a pace to post the highest winning percentage in a single playoff year since the NHL expanded from six to 12 clubs in 1967-68. Through those games, road clubs have won 30 of 55 games, a winning percentage of .545.

Along the boards

Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy made 44 saves in Game 3 of the series with Detroit. It was the 11th time in his playoff career that Roy has faced 40 or more shots. He is 10-1 in those games. The shutout victory on Sunday was the 105th of Roy's playoff career, extending his ongoing NHL record for most playoff wins by a goaltender. ... Toronto rookie Adam Mair became the first player in 10 years to score a playoff goal in his first career NHL game when he tallied in the Maple Leafs 4-3 loss Tuesday to the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... Pittsburgh's Jan Hrdina likely won't win rookie of the year honors this season, but he's making people think twice with his performance in the playoffs. In Game 3 of Pittsburgh's series with Toronto, the Penguins rookie won 19 faceoffs and was on the ice for the final minute of play when the Penguins were protecting a one-goal lead. He won a draw against Mats Sundin and blocked two Toronto shots in the final 26 seconds of play. Heady stuff for a first-year man. Not surprising though. Hrdina leads the league with 323 faceoffs won in the playoffs, 33 percent more than the second-place Sundin.

Jim Kelley covers the NHL -- and the Sabres -- for the Buffalo News. His notebook and rumor mill appear weekly on CNNSI.com.

 

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