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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: PENGUINS v RED WINGS

June 12, 2009

Maxime Talbot

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Seven

DETROIT Â– 1
PITTSBURGH - 2

Q. You guys were, at least you seemed to be very calm and collected this morning. When you're up 2-nothing in that game, what's going through your collective mindset knowing that if you just prevent them from getting that you're going to win the Stanley Cup?
MAXIME TALBOT: Right now not much is going through my mind. I'm a little excited. But while we were playing I remember when they scored the first goal, 6:00 minutes left or so. I went to Fleury. There is a game in Carolina which the fourth game when we put them out. I had the game winner, went into the third. And I'm like, Flower, I've got the game winner, you know. Try to make the save, and he did. So after they scored the first one, I went to him and I said, hey, I still have the game winner. Do it for me.
Me and Flower are pretty tight. That's what's going through your mind. You want him to make the save. You know, they played desperate. They were coming at us. They're a great team. And we were able to stay with it and win the game.

Q. I just wonder how could someone call you bad hands now after two goals in Game 7?
MAXIME TALBOT: Hey, I still have bad hands (laughing) you know, these two goals don't improve my stick handling skills. Like Geno said, I still have to work on it during the summer. But I don't really care about the two goals. Everybody's talking to me about that. I'm here because of that. But we won the game. Flower made some great saves. Geno won the Conn Smythe. Everybody sacrificed their body. Miroslav goes on the ice and blocks a shot. This is how you win championships.
You know what, we have a great core for the next couple of years, and I can see great things for this team in the future. But right now I'm just going to enjoy that.

Q. Sid goes down with that injury. Can you take me through what the team's thinking? Is that motivation when you realize that maybe he can't come back?
MAXIME TALBOT: Yeah, you want him to come back, obviously. He's the best out there. But we knew when we came back in the second period and we saw he was pretty beat up. I don't know. We didn't talk too much about it. But I knew what everybody thought was we have to win that for him. You know what, he's been our leader. You just try to follow him the way he played through the playoffs. He was the most consistent player, him and Geno. And he's our leader out there. He's a special player. And when he goes down like that, he was really down on himself when he was he hurt between the second and third, but he knew that we could do it. You know, I'm proud to say that we did it in a big part for him.

Q. Last year you and Flower would have a little fight before you'd come out. And this year your ritual changed. What exactly do you say or did you say to him before the games to get him pumped up?
MAXIME TALBOT: We always say the same thing. We talk a little about life, about anything. About the game coming up. About our family watching us at home when we're not there. About all the -- be proud to play. We're lucky to be here. That's what we say. We say just basic things.
We realize before every game that we're lucky to be there, and that is the exact thing that we're saying. It gets us going, obviously. We feel fortunate to be there with two guys that live 30 minutes away, same age. We went through the World Championship, World Juniors together. We lost in the Final. Since then we're in Pittsburgh together.
He's a great friend of mine. I'm so happy, and, you know, you can quote me on that. Fleury is a winning goaltender right now. You know, everybody's always saying oh, we're not sure. He never won anything. But you know what, he proved everybody that he's a winning goaltender, and I'm so happy for that. And that's going to stay with him.

Q. You seem to have a flair for the dramatic on a stage like this with two goals. And you've had other big goals in situations like this. What is it about you that seems to make you kick it into another gear in these situations?
MAXIME TALBOT: I don't know. Maybe the (inaudible) up my pants gave me. I don't know. It's special. When you get one goal, and you lead a team to championship, which I was lucky enough to do as a junior. And you score big goals through your career. It feels like it stays with you and people talk about it. Now you start believing in it. And you just say to yourself that you're that type of player. You want to be there in big games.
It might sound stupid, but hockey is a lot in the head. Because you look at my skills there are a lot of players in the AHL that has more skills than me. And I'm not lying there. But when you think about it, a lot of plays in the head and what you can believe in and who you believe in, it's special. I just can't believe today that we won the Stanley Cup. That's so special.
Like I like to say, every morning I like to wake up and say today's the best day of my life. Well, today is really the best day of my life (smiling).

Q. Just wanted to ask you a bit about number 87. He has had pressure on him since before he was even drafted by you. At age 16 he was supposed to win a Stanley Cup. Now he's part of a team that does it. Can you talk about your view of the pressure he has faced and how he's been able to deal with it, and how happy you are for him after it's great to be great, but there's pressure that goes along with it?
MAXIME TALBOT: I met Sid when he was 13, I was 16. We were in Los Angeles with our agent Pat Brisson. And since then I saw him when I was 17, he was 15. We were in the World Junior Camp, and he was there just skating by himself. Having all the attention at this age. He was 13, he was 12, he had an agent. And I was in front of my TV when we won the lottery, Pittsburgh got the first pick overall and it was Sidney Crosby. I was kind of scared because I was centerman, and he was a centerman. So I'm like oh, he just took my spot.
But since that we've had a chance to share a lot together. You know what, he is our team. He is the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I think everybody knows that. If they don't, well, I'm telling you, he is our leader. What he brings every day to the rink is special. The pressure he had to go through to become that player is really special.
Every day he thinks about hockey. Everything he does is about hockey. He respects the game. Yes, he's not flashy like other players in the NHL and maybe the media thinks he's boring. But he respects the game. He loves the game. And you know what, today is so special to win that for him, with him. You look at Mario, you know, when he raised the Cup out on the ice, he's the one that brought this to Pittsburgh four years ago. This team was close to moving. And Mario kept the team here and look at what happened. Four years later, win the Stanley Cup Final, and four years later we win that beautiful Cup.

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