NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: CAPITALS v RED WINGS

June 11, 1998

Kris Draper

KRIS DRAPER: I came off on a line change and I don't think anyone from Washington saw me. I was coming in back door and Marty just got the puck and I just went to the net with my stick on the ice and he made a great pass and I just, you know, one-timed it into the open net. I think you can tell by my smile how excited I was and obviously still am.

KRIS DRAPER: This is it. This is obviously, you know, my biggest goal. The only thing I can come close to it you know, was Western Conference Finals I got a game winner against Chicago and at the time that was, you know, my best goal, and right now, this is great. I mean, this is what your dream is as a little kid, you know, you are playing ball hockey and the clock is counting down and you go to the open net and put it in for your team to win. And, that is exactly what I was able to do tonight. It was certainly a lot of fun to do it.

KRIS DRAPER: Yeah, you know, in the overtime I had a great opportunity, I took Joe Reekie wide. Looking back on it I should have kept driving to the net; instead, I stopped and shot the puck. I mean, scoring goals is all about confidence and when you go, you know, whatever, 14, I don't know how many games I have played without a goal, you just kind of doubt yourself. But, you know, I just kept playing hard. Like I said, we were getting goals from big, big guys were stepping in scoring goals. I just felt that sooner or later, if I kept shooting the puck, one was going to go in. I didn't realize that it was going to be an overtime winner in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I will take it.

KRIS DRAPER: This is obviously a great win for our hockey club, a great lift. Washington played a great game tonight, but, just shows you the character that this hockey club has. We were very persistent. We felt in the third period that if we kept going, kept going, that sooner or later we were going to give ourselves a chance to win the hockey game. That is exactly what we did.

KRIS DRAPER: If we threw our names in a hat, I don't think mine would have been the first one to come out. But, you know, we felt that and we said it, guys were saying that the hero is going be in this dressing room. That is -- I am sure Washington was saying the same thing. When you go into overtime, all it takes is one shot to win the hockey game and, you know, like I said, I was just fortunate to be at the right spot at the right time to one-time Marty's pass into the open net.

KRIS DRAPER: He wanted to fight me?

KRIS DRAPER: Oh, I was going to say -- oh. I mean, it was -- there is the trash talk going on and that line is very good at getting in our team's face. You know, we were playing against them, myself, Kirk, and Joey, and both lines obviously like to crash and bang and with the 3 that they have and the 3 that we have, you are not going to see a lot of guys backing down. That is what it was. When you have Joey and Simon going in the mix, the best thing for me to do is kind of get out of the way and let them say their piece. But, I mean, in Stanley Cup Finals you are not going to see fighting going on. You are going to see teams playing hard and just taunting one another. That is what it was. I am sure he was trying to draw a penalty just as Joey was doing the same.

KRIS DRAPER: It is called anticipation. (LAUGHTER) No, I mean, like I said, I was just coming on a line change. My responsibility, if it didn't go in the net, it was to get my head down and make sure that I was the first guy to get back in our zone. The left wing lock system isn't by any means to try to take away from offensive scoring chances. I mean I came in, and I had a clear lane, so, I mean, it was just a great opportunity for me to try to create a scoring chance. Marty did all the work I happened to be at the right place at the right time; puck hit my stick, and I one-timed it into the open net.