NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

June 2, 2003

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Steve Thomas

STEVE THOMAS: Well, I have to pinch myself every time I find myself in that position. Tonight the goal I scored tonight was the effort of 20 guys that came to play and came with the inspiration and the passion and emotion that was needed to win a game like that. We tied the series 2-2. It's much better being 2-2 than 3-1 going back to Jersey. That's for sure.

STEVE THOMAS: We knew from the beginning of this series that after those two games, we knew that we're a much better hockey team than what we showed. We didn't have our legs moving. For whatever reason, I don't know exactly what it was, but we decided in the dressing room that it was time for us to turn up our game. We're in the Stanley Cup Finals, and it was a little bit embarrassing the way we played in the first two games. I was embarrassed by the way I was playing. It was up to each and every guy to pick up their game and play to the level that's necessary to win.

J.S. GIGUERE: Experience. Look at him. It's been great. He's been great. Obviously, he's got a lot of experience. A lot of playoff experience, even though he's never been in the Final, he's been around for a long time. He's scored a lot of big goals. Every minute he played in the playoff in the past is a minute we can use as a team. We're using it as a team. It's great to have him.

STEVE THOMAS: Personally, euphoria. When you have an opportunity to score an overtime goal like that, to win a hockey game for your team, that's the ultimate. There is no better feeling than winning a hockey game for your team, but we're going to enjoy this for 15, 20 minutes, half an hour, and we're going to get focused and re-energized for our next game. It's an awful tough task to beat New Jersey in their building. We'll have to bring our A-game.

J.S. GIGUERE: I think, obviously, in overtime we feel good going in. You don't have time to think. You've got to go out there and play. That's what we have been doing so far. We go out there and play our game, go after them. We're not scared to lose. We go out there to win. It's been great so far.

STEVE THOMAS: I think there is some luck involved, but I also think having that feeling that you can make a difference out there during those situations is half the battle. I get the feeling that I want to make a difference and I want to win a hockey game for our team, and I don't know what it is. I just feel it inside that I want to be that guy, and it's happened quite a bit in my career. I think some of it has to do with luck and a lot of it has to do with wanting it deep inside.

J.S. GIGUERE: I wasn't even worrying about the team responding when we have been responding all year. That's what we have been doing all year. That's why we have been successful all year. Nothing I said wasn't the truth. Everybody knew that in the paper everything was true, and we only needed to go out there and do it. We gave them too much respect, and we needed to go out there and play our game, do what we do all year. I think it's been like this for the last two games. There is a hell of a lot of difference on the ice. It seemed everybody in the dressing room has been enjoying their game a little bit too.

STEVE THOMAS: Jiggy showed that he's a great leader. He showed that somebody had to step up and no one better than a guy who's been our wall throughout this whole playoff. And no one respects him more than myself for actually doing that. And I think you're going to find that the 25 or 30 guys that are in our locker room share the same feeling I do. It was good timing, and it was the right thing for him to do. We fed off that big time.

STEVE THOMAS: I think Chistov gave me a great pass in the neutral zone. We talked about a lateral play, and Pahlsson drove through and gave me a good lane to make a good pass over to Ozolinsh and he took it to the net. But Marty made a great save, but I was coming towards the net sniffing out a rebound. Fortunately, it sat there and I took the shot and it luckily found its way in. Before the deadline, Mike Smith approached me and mentioned if things were going to continue like this in Chicago, that we were going to move you at the deadline. He said, "I'm going to send you to a playoff-bound team." He wouldn't tell me and I got on the flight before the deadline, flew out to Anaheim and found out when we landed I was actually traded to Anaheim. I didn't know what to think of it at the time. A little bit apprehensive, didn't know for sure how far we were going to go in the playoffs. I have been so pleasantly surprised, very fortunate and honored to be sitting behind some of the guys I'm sitting behind and going to war with in this Stanley Cup Finals. I've got to pinch myself every time in that locker room, and I'm having the time of my life right now.

STEVE THOMAS: It was all of those things. Having an opportunity to play with Chistov and Pahlsson. Having a coach that believed in me and believed in my abilities, and having me believe in my own abilities. Never once during the hockey season this year did I think I couldn't make a difference on any team I was playing on. I got an opportunity here to play and play on a powerplay in key situations, and I'm trying to take that and run with it.

STEVE THOMAS: They're my biggest supporters. I wouldn't be in my situation I'm in now if it wasn't for my family, my wife in particular. My kids keep everything in perspective. I've got two beautiful kids that I can look at and forget a little bit about hockey for the time being. It's definitely good to have your family around, there is no question.

STEVE THOMAS: I think we complement each other real well. Sammy is a good defensive player. Chistov is an unbelievably talented player who can stick handle in a phone booth. We complement each other real well. If I don't think either one of those guys are carrying their load, I'll push them, give them a kick in the butt. At the same time I expect them to do it to me, and they have in the past. I think that we work well together out there.

STEVE THOMAS: Over the course of the game I had some opportunities and I just wanted to get the puck on the net. I usually shoot it high for some reason. It was along the ice and found its way in. I always tell my little guy, "If it's not in the top shelf, it doesn't count." So I'll have to listen to him give it to me when I get home.

STEVE THOMAS: Throughout the playoffs we have been successful. When I look around, I don't know about anyone else, when I look around the locker room and I see it in the guys' eyes, I know we have a good chance of winning tonight. I think a lot of it has been based on how well we've done in the overtime periods. Just to know that our motto has been throughout these playoffs, we're just not going to go away. I think that was proved tonight. It has been throughout the overtime periods we've played in.

J.S. GIGUERE: In my mind I'm focusing on the next shot. This is all I have been doing all year. As soon as I step on the ice I tell myself to have fun. There is no better way for me to get better as a player than being in overtime. It doesn't get any better than that. It's exciting to be in those situations. It's just fun to be in those kinds of games, and I thought tonight was a very exciting game. It was tight checking. It was the way I like them. It was great to be in that kind of game.

STEVE THOMAS: Like I said earlier, the confidence level our hockey team has right now just gives us that intestinal fortitude to go out there and make it happen in overtime. We know that New Jersey plays a real solid defensive game, as do we. When we're playing well we're as good defensively as any team out there. We know and we're confident that if we can get to the end of the third period with a tie, then we've got a pretty good chance of winning.