Stanley Cup Finals Notebook

Ducks obviously listened when Giguere raised his voice

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- After the Mighty Ducks lost the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals, Jiggy was angry.

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the main reason Anaheim is playing for the NHL title, complained that hid team was playing without emotion.

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It must have helped.

The Ducks have bounced back to tie the finals 2-2 by winning twice in overtime.

"Jiggy showed that he's a great leader. Somebody had to step up, and no one better than a guy who's been our wall throughout the whole playoffs," said Steve Thomas, whose goal 39 seconds into overtime gave the Ducks a 1-0 win in Game 4 on Monday night.

"No one respects him more for actually doing that. I think you're going to find 25 or 30 guys that are in our locker room who share the same feeling I do. It was good timing and it was the right thing for him to do. We fed off that, big-time."

Said Giguere: "Nothing I said wasn't the truth. We gave them [the Devils] too much respect, and we needed to go out there and play our game."

Giguere, at 26 considerably younger than such veterans as the 39-year-old Thomas and 40-year-old Adam Oates, is in his first postseason.

He earned his fifth shutout of the playoffs in Game 4 and extended his NHL record overtime shutout streak in the playoffs to 168 minutes, 27 seconds.

Anaheim looking just Ducky on faceoffs

Anaheim again dominated New Jersey in faceoffs, winning 45 of 63.

The Devils' John Madden claimed the Ducks were cheating after they held a 51-30 edge in Game 3 and scored the game-winner off a faceoff.

Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said that Ducks publicity director Alex Gilchrist had come to him before Monday's game and told him, "Hey, they're lobbying the referees and press about cheating."

Babcock said: "When you cheat, you get kicked out. The reality is, this is something we've focused on all year long.

"It gives us the opportunity to be on offense rather than defense. You're not letting them attack. It was real important, obviously, again tonight."

Devils coach Pat Burns indicated before the game that faceoff help might be on the way.

Joe Nieuwendyk, who played only three shifts since injuring a hip in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, is the only New Jersey player who has a faceoff percentage this year of at least 50 percent. He might be available soon.

"We can't invent a top faceoff guy right now," Burns said before Game 4. Who knows, maybe Nieuwendyk might be suiting up the next game."

Both Nieuwendyk and the Devils have been mum on the exact nature and status of his injury.

No extra credit for Brodeur

New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur's record in overtime belies the rest of his career. One of the finalists for the MVP and Vezina Trophy, Brodeur is only 8-18 in playoff overtimes.

"Some of us are really lucky in overtime, and some of us are not as lucky," Brodeur said after Steve Thomas beat him 39 seconds into the extra session on Monday.

The Ducks' win gave goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, in his first postseason, a 7-0 mark in playoff overtimes.

"You can't really control your destiny too much," Brodeur said. "You just try to stop the puck, and that's what I have been doing through all my career. When it's one bounce away, it's one bounce away."

The Devils have seen their 2-0 series lead bounce away.

"It was a challenge today, and we didn't respond," Brodeur said. "When you get into these defensive battles, it's hard to score out there -- and when you're on the visitors' side of the ice -- it's hard to play these games. We paid the price in these two games."

Quiet, please

Anaheim coach Mike Babcock, hoarse from shouting during the Cup finals, has been mostly a silent type around friends and family for the past several days.

He sounded raspy and spoke softly before Monday's game.

"I'm saving it for tonight. I've got a sore throat," he said. "Actually, people that know me and had to hang out with me have liked it the last day and a half."

Babcock made himself heard during Game 4, but afterward, he sounded even more hoarse.

By the numbers

The first four games of the finals were won by the home team for the first time since 1978, when Montreal and Boston held serve. ... The Ducks, who have 14 victories in the playoffs, have scored the winning goal in 11 of those games either in overtime or with less than five minutes left in regulation. Three of the goals came off the stick of Steve Thomas. ... Anaheim's OT win was its seventh in this year's playoffs, matching Carolina's total from last year. The only team with more in one year was Montreal, which won 10 overtime games en route to the 1993 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won three straight games in the finals against Los Angeles. ... No matter who wins Game 5, Saturday could be a landmark day in sports -- with the NHL champion being crowned, a possible Triple Crown winner in horse racing, and the Yankees' Roger Clemens trying to join the 300 win club.

 

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