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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANES


June 14, 2006


Shawn Horcoff

Jason Smith

Steve Staios


RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Game Five

Q. You score 16 seconds in, you get a power play goal, they get three, back and forth --
JASON SMITH: We wanted to come back and start well. The momentum kind of changed a few times in the first period. We regrouped and focused and executed well for 60 minutes. That's something that we have done all through the playoffs, bounced back, have had things maybe not go well for us, we're going to continue to do that.

Q. How does it feel you are still playing hockey?
JASON SMITH: It's great. We're excited. Nobody in our room wanted to come here and not have an opportunity to play another game or two games. And we got an opportunity to play one more, and we're looking forward to that the next game.

Q. Still alive.
SHAWN HORCOFF: Yeah, that's exactly it. Feels great right now but obviously we realize it's still a long road ahead, but first step that we need to take.
We need a couple more wins but obviously it's a huge boost for us.

Q. What did you think of Fernando, he's --
SHAWN HORCOFF: Huge.

Q. What did you make of the goal with the pressure?
SHAWN HORCOFF: Huge. Obviously stepping up, getting big goal for us. For it to be shorthanded is a bigger boost. We wanted to come in here, steal a game and bring it back to Edmonton where we're pretty good at home. So if we can go back and play similar style hopefully we can force a Game 7.

Q. What is it about Fernando in these playoffs?
SHAWN HORCOFF: Just got the touch right now. Always been a guy that's had a great shot and like I say, he has got lots of confidence right now and he's scoring huge goals for us. Obviously none bigger than tonight.

Q. The way you played tonight is that the way you felt like you should have played the whole series?
SHAWN HORCOFF: Yeah, this is the kind of hockey that we need to play. I don't know if it's because we had a long layoff, maybe we're getting our legs now, but I thought we played four lines and we skated real well and clogged up the neutral zone.
We played good road hockey and we have to go home and play a similar style at home.

Q. You got the momentum now?
SHAWN HORCOFF: Yeah, we got a little bit. Obviously they still have two cracks, but if we can get home and get a win, we can force a Game 7 where anything can happen.

Q. Hemsky tonight, seemed to just be making things happen with the puck, finally shot it, sets it up nice.
SHAWN HORCOFF: He had a huge first period for us. He's been showing up. He has got a knack in big games to show up for us. Got to give him a lot of credit tonight. But I thought -- we played four lines pretty much, when they played three I thought that played to our advantage.

Q. (Inaudible) Raffi comes out hitting.
SHAWN HORCOFF: That first shift was huge. He came out really strong in the first period and obviously set the tone for us and everybody else followed. Any time that happens, it's a huge boost for the team.

Q. Did you guys make any adjustments going into overtime?
SHAWN HORCOFF: Not really, I mean, third period I did a couple of interviews before the intermission there, people thought they outplayed us but they only got two shots. I didn't really feel that way. I thought we played it good. We're on the road. Maybe we can just take a lesson from that.

Q. (Inaudible).
STEVE STAIOS: Certainly a difficult situation. You never want to be in that situation, but you know there's no way that I am going to change my game or change my decision making because of it. You have to play with your heart you have to play solid and if you get in the situation where you get caught, they are going to call penalties. That's the game today. They are going to call them. You just hope they are not -- they are not at the wrong times. We have, you know, we weren't having much success with the penalty kill tonight. So I really didn't know what to think when I was in the box. Certainly a huge relief when the goal went in.

Q. As the game went along, you were outplaying them five-on-five. Was there any sense of dread or fear that with all the penalties were being called that was going to bite you?
STEVE STAIOS: I mean, yeah, could have been the case, but we have a solid team and in that regard, like mentally we feel like we can stay in any game, in any situation and we can come back in games, and hold leads. So when you have that type of confidence in your team and your teammates, it makes a big difference.
We had that feeling coming in tonight, we have a team that feels like we have a lot to prove still. We have done a lot of special things in these playoffs, you know, we continue to believe that we can do it.

Q. Talk about your range of emotions going in, coming out of the box?
STEVE STAIOS: Well, it was a difficult thing to deal with. You try and play hard, you try and play physical, and in the new age there's going to be penalty calls. That was one of those ones you could say, you know, borderline or maybe not or was a call, but they have been making those calls. I tried to get my stick out as cleanly as I could and wasn't able to.
So, the emotions were, you know, you go in there trying to think positively and just try and stay in the game plan, when you get out there you have got to be ready for your next shift. At the same time there's no doubt you feel pretty low and you're just kind of hoping for the best.

Q. You have been aggressive on the PK all season long, created chances, maybe fitting that you scored a shorthander?
STEVE STAIOS: There's no doubt. Our forwards are great down ice. They have a lot of agility and speed up front. You know, we want to continue to put pressure because we know how good they are in the setup once they get in the setup. So we're going to continue to put pressure and pressure them at the lines. Hopefully we can clean up our PK a little bit because we feel five-on-five we're starting to take over.

End of FastScripts...

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