I can remember Dave Andreychuk's five-goal game because I was there. It was in Boston on February 6, 1986. Someone asked me the other night how it broke down and which periods he scored in, and I said, "I don't remember that much!" But I do remember the five goals. And if I remember correctly, I had Andreychuk in a pool as well, so I was very happy to see him striking it rich.
As a player, Andy wasn't like Tage.
When we were in Tampa a month or so ago and I went down with the team, Phil Esposito was there. He does color on Tampa radio. Between periods, he was coming up and giving it to me about being around for so long and kidding me about that sort of thing.
I remember Esposito and Andreychuk with the same fond memories.
Both of them had legs like telephone poles. You couldn't move them in front of the net. Once they planted their feet, they weren't going to go anywhere, and it was easy for the coaches say, "Get them out of there! Get them out of there!" You get them out of there! With a stick of dynamite, maybe!
And both of them cleaned up in front of the net.
When Pat LaFontaine was here the other day, I was talking to him about it. He was telling me about playing with Alexander Mogilny and Andreychuk was on the other side. They'd always give Andreychuk a chance to clean up in front of the net and he took full advantage of it.
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If the other guys are scoring on both sides of you on a line, it takes some heat off you. They're not going to key on you either, so it helps a lot.
It's so much fun to watch this team score goals they way they're scoring them. The only problem I have with it is, "Hey, guys! You've got to play defense sometimes!" People might be pointing at the goaltenders, and I'm saying, "Oh no! You can't put all this on the goaltenders. This is too much fun scoring goals." And this is what makes them so much fun to watch and what people are talking about. And I'm happy to hear it!
Sometimes you've got to backcheck. You can't pour everything out in the offensive zone and then have nothing left to get back with you. Unfortuanelt that's part of the game. You can't just say, "Well, we've got a guy back there. He'll look after it!" That's the idea - you're supposed to give a little support here, fellas! I'm probably making it sound worse than it is because it's not that bad, but I think that's where they can clean it up a bit for sure.
The thing is, and I've said it before, it all goes back to the coaching staff. They like the coach and they're listening.
