NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: STARS v DEVILS

June 5, 2000

Brian Rafalski

BRIAN RAFALSKI: Well, the goalie jumped off the bench and started to get in the play; puck came right to me. Dallas was heading out of their zone, I was heading in. I had to wait for Arnie and Patty to clear the zone, and I saw the space behind Zubov and went wide and was able to get past him and get a good shot off. Two on ones in the second period. The first one had to make trying to recover there, dive back for that one, probably turned the puck over the blue line. So I felt I tried to make up for that. The second one, the powerplay, you know, try to give Marty the shot. I was playing the pass the whole way. I was able to be there.

BRIAN RAFALSKI: It is great so far. We have come this far, but 15 minutes doesn't get you a Stanley Cup; 16 does. The next game we don't want to try to drag this series on any longer. We are going to try to take it to them again on Thursday. When a team is down 3-1, we were in that situation last round, we were able to come back. So we don't want to -- hopefully learn from Philly's let-down there and take advantage of the situation.

BRIAN RAFALSKI: Yeah. You even -- coming over for when I signed with the Devils, I knew I had a good chance of making it this far. That was one of the reasons why I was, you know, was looking to sign with the Devils when they came to me. And then to reach this point, it has been great. It seemed like far way, but I have been in the Finals the last two years in Finland, final games, the pressures, and so much there.

BRIAN RAFALSKI: Well, just got to move on. They only won one game. You have to put it behind. You can't dwell on the past. So last game I felt I played pretty well. Today I played fairly well again, and I have been playing more consistent. Had had a couple of turnovers today, but I am getting used to playing against the Dallas Stars now, which is key for me. I have played two games against them all year until the Playoffs. For me, I have haven't seen a lot of these players. As the series has gone on, I have felt more and more comfortable.