On the performance of Marty Turco: I don't know how many saves he had, but it was a lot. That was an amazing game, both goaltenders were excellent. Marty made some huge saves. That was as fitting as anything I have ever seen in sports, that Brenden Morrow got the winning goal. I've been around the game a long time, and it's been a long time since I've seen anyone have a series like that. That's him just taking his team on his back and carrying them. And Turco was excellent also. That's so fitting for Brenden to get that goal.
How much different is this team this year? Well, you've got to look at the way they act and the way they feel about each other. Nobody gave us a chance against Anaheim. Nobody give us a chance against San Jose. Those guys believe in each other. And that starts from Brenden just saying 'Come on, jump on my back and we're going.' Turc's the same way. There's a group of players in there, their will and effort is just phenomenal. Tonight, all we talked about going in to the game was 'The games are so close, can you give us 5-10 percent more'. And then I think about Brenden Morrow and I go 'Wow, I'm going to ask for 5 or 10-percent more from this guy? That's a lot!' But we said we just needed to find more. And after the game, I told him I didn't think it was going to be 195-percent. It was just a gutty effort from everybody and fitting that Brenden got the goal.
On Sergei Zubov: We don't have to worry about managing his minutes anymore. He's fine. He's over 50, so there's no more holding him back. He's back in top shape now.
On where this ranks among the marathon games the Stars have played: This one ranks the best for me because I've been in a couple of them and I've been on the bad end of a couple of them. The one in Anaheim and the one in Vancouver last year. I can tell you it's way nicer when it ends this way, then when you go through a marathon and it ends the other way.
How surprised by the power plays in overtime? On the penalty on us, there are a lot of chintzy little calls that could be called in regulation. The one on Marleau, I could see that one because there was a scoring chance. I haven't seen the replay of the trip yet, but it was an offensive-zone play where you're going to have puck possession, so it's just fitting that they get one, we get one.
Can you talk about the mental standpoint of closing this game out tonight? I didn't want to say it to the players, but a seven-period game and then jumping on the plane in the morning would be no fun. No fun. So we went about it the right way.
Did it at some point become your Game 7? I don't know if the players thought of it that way, but you're so wrapped up in the game. That would be a tough road to hoe going home. Our success in that building speaks for itself, but when you get two teams that are really tired, you travel, and that's the one time that the home ice and the emotion from their fans might give them an edge there. It's not a playing thing or a tactical thing. Would our players show up and play hard? Sure they would. When you go back to a loud building like that, that might give the home team the advantage.
On the game going 70 minutes without a penalty call: Discipline teams, eh? (laughter) That's a perfect case of the referees not wanting to dictate the outcome of a game. The penalties that were called were just blatant calls. But I think it's a by-product of both teams. Both teams are disciplined teams hockey teams. San Jose is the least penalized team in the playoffs and we had to match that. There were calls that should have been called that weren't, but it was in the flow of the game. The referees stayed out of it.
-- Keeli Garza
