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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: FLAMES v SHARKS

May 11, 2004

Shean Donovan

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Shean Donovan.
Q. Are you getting that scoring feeling back like you had in mid-season?
SHEAN DONOVAN: It was pretty nice. Our line was going pretty good today. Nil made a nice pass. But it's nice to have a little chemistry. I think every game we're playing, you know, getting to play a lot better together.
Q. Can you take us through that goal, what you were thinking?
SHEAN DONOVAN: Just Montador came around the zone. I think he gave it up to Marcus Nilson. Nilson made a nice pass up to Niemo, breaking through center. He just took a D, somebody made a nice play.
Then on the breakaway, I don't know what I was thinking. I just went blank (smiling).
Q. You told me this morning one thing you learned as you get older is to be more patient. Were you patient on that one?
SHEAN DONOVAN: Yeah, I think a little more. Made a move. I think when I was younger, I might have tried to bury my head and go five-hole. A little more patience anyways.
Q. Are you surprised by where the team is? You probably wanted a split coming in here. You're going home up two.
SHEAN DONOVAN: You know, we were happy about it. But we know it's the first team, four games, two games doesn't really matter. It's nice to get the two wins, but we know they're a good team. They played great again tonight. We knew we had to play better than the first game. I thought we played better tonight. Still we could play better.
We know we got two big home games coming up, so it will be a good battle.
Q. Do you get any more satisfaction doing this against a former team?
SHEAN DONOVAN: I don't think so. I'm just excited to be, you know, in the Conference Finals. You know, you got a shot, one-out-of-four shot to win the Stanley Cup. You know, it's nice to come back.
I got, you know, friends away from the game. Nice to see them. But, you know, it doesn't matter, I guess, against who.
Q. All hockey teams like to play in front, but this team seems particularly tough when you get a lead. How much very focused on getting that first goal and playing in front?
SHEAN DONOVAN: I think -- I don't know, somebody said we had the record for -- broke the record for least amount of goals in the first period, whatever. We went 10 games without scoring in the first.
It's nice we're starting to score in the first. We've got to get a little bit better playing with the lead. They came back in the first game. They were coming back tonight. We just got to keep going because when we play aggressive and skate and hit, when we're playing from behind, we play a little more aggressive, hit. Better than we do when we're leading.
Q. Did you guys talk at all about the importance of taking the crowd out of it right away?
SHEAN DONOVAN: I mean, it's great. I love playing in the "Shark Tank" here. It's always had a great atmosphere ever since I played here. Obviously, you want to get the crowd out.
But we weren't really worried about it. We were just kind of worried about going out there, playing a better first period, not making Kipper having to stop 50-some shots.
Q. Had you guys gotten a little tired about hearing how they played better than you maybe Sunday and lost?
SHEAN DONOVAN: No. I mean, obviously we knew that they had the better of us. Kipper played really good for us. We knew there were some things we needed to do better. We had a little experience in the first game of the Detroit series. We snuck one out, won the first game. Second game, in their barn, we didn't play good at all. We knew we had to play better. It was a huge game.
Every game, the next game, seems to be huger than the one we just played.
Q. I think you had a penalty shot against the Sharks in the regular season. This goal looks eerily similar. Same kind of move?
SHEAN DONOVAN: Yeah, I think it was the same move. I think maybe this one was -- this game was a little quicker than the first one. But it was the same move. I think they'll be catching on to that.
Q. Are you guys I don't want to say surprised, but coming in here, do you think you were under the radar?
SHEAN DONOVAN: No. We've been pretty good all year. Just keeping it one game at a time. I think we just came in here focused on Game 1. We knew we had to win one game. You have to win one game when the team has home ice advantage to win the series. We had to bear down, win the first game. Now we came in tonight, said we have to work hard and play better than we did the first game to win Game 2.
We know they're a good team. They battle like us. They played good again tonight. Just went our way tonight.
Q. You really seemed to enjoy playing with each other, the three of you.
SHEAN DONOVAN: What's that?
Q. The line, you seemed to enjoy playing with each other.
SHEAN DONOVAN: Yeah. I mean, Nilson wasn't a centerman to start out. Each game he's getting more and more playing center. He's a great defensive forward. He makes it easy on me and Niemo to get breaks and stuff because he's so good defensively. He's a lot like Yeller. He just does the little things people may not notice all the time. He's great defensively. He shoots pucks out. He's getting better and better at delaying for the forwards, dishing off like Connie does in the offensive zone. He's a real good player. It's fun playing with him.

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