NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WILD v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 10, 2003

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Petr Sykora

PETR SYKORA: Well, Mike made a beautiful play on the wall. We went two-on-one. I was kind of surprised, but I was just kind of hoping to get the puck through and, Mike, again, made another really good play, and it was a one-on-one and I tried my move and it worked.

PETR SYKORA: I don't think he saw me. I'm sure he would have played two-on-one. He would probably take a shooter away. It was kind of broken play on the wall. I think that's why it happened like that.

PETR SYKORA: Well, I just, for a second, I kept my head up, and there was nothing, and I couldn't shoot it. I tried to do my move again, and, like I said, it worked. The ice is not very good out there at this time in the game like that, and I was happy that I was able to lift it up.

PETR SYKORA: I have played for Jacques for three or four years, and to be honest with you, it's very tough to create anything. We knew before the game, as long as we wait patiently for our chance, it doesn't matter how long it's going to take. We started to play, it was tough, and it worked in the end for us.

PETR SYKORA: I don't think that one had a chance. I had a couple other chances and he made a beautiful save on me. I wasn't really scoring lately. The puck wasn't going in for me. Personally, I'm very happy that I'm back.

PETR SYKORA: Yeah, I know, once again, Giggy kept us in the game. It's a really great feeling when you go on the ice, if you make a mistake, he's going to save the game for you. Once again, that's what he did. For us to be successful, he has to continue to do that. We are very confident he will. I don't think we need to score three or four goals to win the game. We know he's in the net. We stay playing our game and come out with one or two goals and we have a big chance to win every single night.

PETR SYKORA: I think we play a pretty similar style of hockey. I think all four lines do everything exactly the same. We play very good defensively. I think we are just, like I said before, patiently waiting for our chances. That's what we did in Jersey. We had a great defenseman and great goalie. Same as we have here. I've always been on the winning team, so it's so much fun for me again. To be honest, I'm very happy that I'm in this kind of position right now to see the Devils play in the other semi-finals. I'm very proud of my teammates.

J.S. GIGUERE: Well, you know, they have different tendencies that they do. Obviously every team has set up plays that they do on powerplays. You have to be aware of that, but in the end, you know it's a hockey game and my job is to make one save at a time. You've got to be ready to face any kind of shot. You know, that's what you do; you sort of forecast. Once you make one shot, you think about the other one coming at you. It might take 10 minutes or 5 minutes, but you've got to be ready to face it.

J.S. GIGUERE: We had four days. Obviously, the first day you kind of take a rest and stay away from the rink and then you get two practices where I've always been that way, every time I go on the ice, whether it would be a practice, warm-up, a game or whatever it is, I try to make as many saves as I can. You've got to be as intense as if it was a game. That's the only way I know how to be prepared. I go out there, work as hard as you can whenever you're on the ice and you should be successful.

J.S. GIGUERE: A little bit lucky by me. I thought Brunette did a great job. I don't think he had much to shoot at. He made a nice pass to Gaborik. It was just kind of a diving save. Sometimes you need one of those to make some saves, and, you know, hopefully I won't have to do too many of those. I'll take it tonight.

PETR SYKORA: No.

PETR SYKORA: You know, when I look again at Marty and him, they are very, very, very similar, and Marty used to hate to get scored on in practice. Actually, Giguere challenged me a couple days ago and said let's really go and try to score on me. He knows I'll try to go at him all the time. Like I said, he works as hard in the practice as he does in the game.

PETR SYKORA: Yeah, you kind of get out of the rhythm a little bit. The more the game went on, I felt better and better, and in the OT, I felt like I was flying out there. I think we are back to playing tonight, and the other game in 48 hours, I think we're going to be so much better.

J.S. GIGUERE: Obviously, the Game 1 in Detroit, that was a new experience for me. You learn from all the experiences. I wouldn't say that I have tons of experience, but now I know I can do it, and, you know, it makes me feel good that I know that. Saying that, you know, it's just you've got to keep playing, keep focussing on what you have to do, and what I have to do is making one save at a time, and, you know, I don't play the score, I don't play the time left or anything like that. No, I don't care what my forwards are doing on the other end. My job is to make saves, and that's all I'm focussing on.