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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLAMES v SHARKS

May 9, 2004

Steve Montador

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Game One

THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Is that your thing when you're looking for the puck, to bang it that way? Does that just happen at the moment?
STEVE MONTADOR: Not usually because you don't want to give yourself away as an option if you're just stationed on the blueline to their winger. Maybe vocally you'll say a key word, a nickname.
With the space, I think they were making a change. I think the crowd was going and I wanted to make sure that Jarome could hear me. You know, he's usually a shooter and a very good one at that. He recognized that there was an open man, made an excellent pass to get it to me.
Q. What did he say to you afterwards? Did he hear your stick or just recognize?
STEVE MONTADOR: I haven't asked him that yet. I just said, "Thanks for listening." Certainly he did that.
Q. How tired was everyone getting out there?
STEVE MONTADOR: I think fatigue started to set in midway through overtime a little bit. We tried to make sure that we had as short a shift as possible. You know, not wanting to get caught out there is a big thing. They did that to us a couple of times when we tried to ice the puck and weren't able, they would pick the puck up in the neutral zone all throughout the game, not just the overtime.
Kept myself in there and Robyn for maybe one or two shifts, and a couple other of our deep pairings. It's something we're going to have to get better at for Game 2.
Q. Did you feel your team was on the ropes at all during overtime?
STEVE MONTADOR: No, I don't think so. I think -- I mean, obviously they had some good chances. There was running around maybe a bit in our own end. We've been in overtime three, four, five times now. We're pretty confident with our overtime play. We're not going to be hesitant, maybe going for some chances -- give up a chance.
But I think that's somewhat of a risk you have to take because if you just sit back, you know, you're not going to get any scores.
Q. Can you talk about Kiprusoff's play today?
STEVE MONTADOR: What, 52 shots? That's a lot of shots. You know, you guys maybe put some pressure on him with the whole ex-San Jose stuff. You know, we certainly wouldn't have been in overtime without Miikka's play, especially in the first period when they were coming at us for the first 10 minutes really hard. They got some chances, kept us in, turned the momentum back to our way to give us some chances, and it worked to give us two goals in the first, which was very, very big. Certainly can't say enough about Miikka's performance tonight.
Q. You're playing every day, probably something that wasn't expected. Where would you be right now if you weren't out there scoring an overtime goal? Where were you this time last year? What do you do?
STEVE MONTADOR: Well, I think I was on vacation actually with a teammate of mine in weather like this for a couple of days. So I certainly like this weather, but I'd certainly rather be playing.
Q. What does it feel like being a hero?
STEVE MONTADOR: My teammates would laugh at that question. No offense (laughter).
Yeah, I don't know. It's just great to be a part of, you know, a team that's done well so far and has higher goals and wants to achieve things. So to be able to contribute, I think that's what every player's goal is. You want to win the Stanley Cup. But you want to be a contributor, you want to be a part of that.
Certainly that's how I feel right now.
Q. How big is this, to get the first game, take home ice away from them?
STEVE MONTADOR: It's very big. We came with a one-game mission that we wanted to get today's win. We knew we were going to have to win a game in this building, you know, obviously because we didn't have home ice. So it was very big.
I think now it leads us into a big Game 2.
Q. How often would you say you've called for the puck this year in that manner?
STEVE MONTADOR: With the stick or that type of play, three on two?
Q. With the stick.
STEVE MONTADOR: A couple of times. Veterans players say don't do that. Dave Lowry says, "Don't do that, you'll give yourself away." I wanted to make sure I was giving myself away on that play because there was nobody on me.
Q. Some people will be a little surprised by the finish on that goal. I remember when you guys had the competition, your game came up a bit on the breakaway, one-on-one moves. Maybe your teammates weren't surprised.
STEVE MONTADOR: I don't know. I guess everyone's pretty happy about it. But I think in practice, especially, you maybe play with a little bit less of an edge in a breakaway competition, where you would try something a little more creative, a little more risky. You just said to myself, "Just get it by him. Just get it by him." It worked out that way.
Q. Four straight overtime wins. Are you guys getting comfortable playing in extra time now, especially with the way you won in the same fashion, similar fashion, against Detroit?
STEVE MONTADOR: Well, I think it's certainly a place we're comfortable playing. I don't think we ever get hesitant in overtime. I mean, if you look back Game 7 in Vancouver, there was 5.5 seconds where they scored. We were up 2-1, whatever it was. You know, that didn't change our thought process at all. Didn't, I don't think, take away any momentum or anything for us going into overtime that game. I think we learned from that and felt good about that and confident.
I think any time in overtime, I'm sure you want to win it before that, but I don't think it's going to slow us down at all.
Q. How excited do you think some of your teammates are, Kiprusoff, Shean Donovan, of course Coach Sutter, they all at one time were with the Sharks organization, for you to come back and win like this?
STEVE MONTADOR: I think they're excited just with the win, regardless of them having old ties to the team and the city. I think everyone's excited about winning Game 1. Now we're going to have a Game 2 mission. I don't think that's a factor.

End of FastScripts...

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