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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: FLYERS v BLACKHAWKS

May 28, 2010

Michael Leighton

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day

Q. Do you remember your one game this year against Philadelphia for Carolina and how are you a different goalie than you were on October 30th or 31st, or whatever that day was?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: I remember that game very well. It was actually -- my daughter was born the day before that. So it was a pretty exciting day for me, and I had late travel coming into Philly. I traveled by myself.
I didn't have good game. So that's obviously erased from my mind. When I came here Jeff Reese changed my style a little bit. I give a lot of credit to him. He saw something in my game that he didn't like and wanted to change it. And I did. And it worked out well.

Q. Danny Briere said he cannot wait for the hate to get going in this series and get started. How about for you, do you say to yourself as you look around and see the Stanley Cup Final logo on the ice today at practice, you can't wait to get going and face these guys?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: Yeah, I've actually been probably more jittery and nervous waiting around for it. I think I'm more anxious than anything, I just want to get the first game going and start the series. We had a little bit of a break here which was nice to get guys rested and injuries to settle down a little bit.
But on the other hand we're anxious to get started and I think we're all ready. (This is Michael Leighton).

Q. Offensively which challenges do the Blackhawks present to you defensively as opposed to Boston and Montreal?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: Obviously have two skilled players that everyone knows. And we have to be aware of them on the ice. Both have done well in the NHL and they're the leaders of their team. So we're just going to have to be aware when they're on the ice and obviously going to have our top line against their top line and our best D against those two. We'll just try to shut them down as much as we can.

Q. Michael, do you size up the other goalie when you're picking matchups, do you look and say I have to outplay that guy? And how do you view this Stanley Cup matchup?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: Yeah, in a way you look at that. But I'm not worried about what he's doing. I have to worry about what I'm doing.
And he's a good goalie. He's had a good Playoff. And we faced good goalies this Playoff. We had Brodeur, Rask, Halak.
And Niemi has done a great job. And we're not going to change anything. We'll go at him just like we did the other guys, put pucks on them and drive the net and hopefully we'll get the same results.

Q. Had someone said to you last summer that the Stanley Cup Finals could begin and Michael Leighton is going to be in goal for one team and Niemi is going to be in goal for the other, what would you have said?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: Last year?

Q. Last summer?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: Last summer I would have said I was with the Carolina Hurricanes and can't work, got hurt. That would be my only way I get an opportunity to do that.
It's obviously a great honor for me. I'm happy to be where I am right now. But, like I said, the last two or three days, my goal wasn't to win the Conference Finals, it was to win the Stanley Cup. We've got a lot of work to do still.

Q. This goes back to a couple days ago when you were talking about, I think it was the year of the lockout, you say you had a couple of injuries, what were your injuries? You never specified what they were?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: At the end of the summer I had stomach and groin surgery. They were kind of linked together. So I finished the year in Norfolk injured. And I just couldn't do much.
I tried to play through it a little bit but it just wasn't going away. And it was just hurting my game. It was lingering around.

Q. Mike, Danny Briere in here said there's a little too much love going into in series between the teams. He said he can't wait for the hate to come out. He gave a couple of examples maybe in the last couple series where he didn't feel like you guys came out to play your best hockey when the series starts. Do you think this team needs to bring out some of the hate or get ramped up like that to make sure Game 1 you guys are ready to go?
MICHAEL LEIGHTON: I'm sure it's not going to take very long. It's hard to do, though, when you have a team that you don't play very often and some things might come from being cocky and arrogant in the media. But I don't think that's the case on their part.
They're a very classy team and obviously like I said it's tough when you don't play a team very often to get that hate on. But I'm sure it's going to come quickly throughout the games. I'm sure they're going to be heated and physical. I'm sure it's not going to take very long.

End of FastScripts

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