Post-Game 3 quotes: Fleury, Crosby

Q.  Given the situation you guys were in tonight and the circumstances and everything else, I know you haven't had much time to think about it, but is this the highlight of your professional career so far?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  I don't know.  I wanted to play well.  I think we all did.  And we still have to keep going.  But for sure we needed this one.  So I think we all earned it, and that's the reward, a big win.

Q.  Your line in particular, but you guys as a team were able to generate a lot of scoring chances tonight, which you weren't able to do in the first two games of the series.  How were you able to do that?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  I think we moved our feet a little bit more.  Got pucks deep.  Didn't turn the puck over as much.  And I think defensively we did a better job of being a little more patient.  I think first couple of games we got caught running around a bit and weren't in our positions.  When you're in positions you create turnovers and create opportunities.  So I think we just did a better job of playing positionally, and that's the reward you get right there.

Q.  Sid, it was about 137, 138 minutes without scoring.  What was the first thing that went through your head when you got the first puck in?  Was it:  Hey, these guys are human after all?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  No, just "finally."  It wasn't that the chances weren't there.  It was just finally went in for us.  I mean, we would hit posts and didn't have bounces that came on our stick near the net.  And finally had one go in.  And it felt good to get one in, to get the first one and get momentum and start off the game.

Q.  Sid, Ryan Malone mentioned in the postgame talking about how you were before the game.  He said:  I've never seen him like that.  You walked in, didn't say a word, was dead quiet.  Can you talk about your mindset going into this, how it was different, maybe?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  No, I think it was desperation.  I wanted to make sure personally I had a good game.  You want to be quiet, but you have to have a sense of confidence in the room, too.  I think we all believed that if we put our best game out there, we gave ourselves a good chance.  But personally, you just want to make sure you're leading by example and doing your job out there.  And that's all I was basically trying to do.  I mean, it's not hard to get up for a game this big, especially in the Stanley Cup Final.

Q.  Marc-Andre Fleury, looked like you guys did a better job in the crease tonight.  Is that a fair assessment?

MARC ANDRE FLEURY:  I thought the guys did a great job in front of me.  They blocked a lot of shots and getting rebounds to win.  The "D" stood, battled hard with those guys.  They got some guys close to the crease, and I think they did a great job.

Q.  Sid, coming out of the stoppage late in the first, [Evgeni] Malkin was put on your line.  You might have had a little bit of time during that stoppage to talk.  Did you guys talk at all before that shift, and how much did that shift really get the momentum moving in your direction?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  We didn't talk.  When we're put together, we know what the message is.  We need to create an opportunity and at the same time just momentum.  And we tried to do that.  And when you have three players doing great things like that, your job is to go out there and make something happen.  So we pretty much know the message and not much of that needs to be said.  That's their job and our responsibility to our team, to make sure we do something with it.

Q.  Could you both comment on the increase of the physical play and that shift from [Brooks] Orpik where he had five hits, three knock downs and the momentum that builds off of something like that?

MARC ANDRE FLEURY:  Maybe the fact that we didn't play that much in the year, and it's been three games, and guys have been going at it pretty hard.  And Orpik has always been known for big hits.  And I think he showed it again on that shift.

SIDNEY CROSBY:  Yeah, it's a big lift any time you're getting big hits and obviously the fans get into it.  You get energy from it.  But that's playoff hockey.  Especially at home you want to make sure that you're making the other team pay the price.

I mean, we have to take hits to make plays.  You see Tyler Kennedy gets hammered right before we score that goal.  Adam Hall scores, and that's part of the playoffs.  You have to be ready for that.  But when you're initiating, it's a lot better for sure.

Q.  Sid, back to that one shift with you and Malkin and [Marian] Hossa.  Do you think that it changed the entire tenor of the game when you guys because you guys sustained pressure, and a couple of shifts down the line, there was a goal, as the sustained pressure kept up?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  I don't think so.  It's a good shift, and it's up to the next guys to keep it going.  Whether we started it or the next line started it and kept it rolling, I don't think it really mattered.  But like I said, when we're put out there, we know we have to create something.
So it's always important to back up the next shift, if you have a good one.  But it takes every line to do that.   So whether it was us or someone else, who knows.  But you need to sustain that.  I thought we did a good job of that.

Q.  Sid, you said after the first couple of games that you were okay with the way you were playing because you were still getting shots and chances.  Was it just a couple went in tonight or were you better tonight and if so, what did you do to be better?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  I don't think I changed a whole lot.  I got both goals.  I got some good bounces.  I went to the same spots I typically would go to.  The puck ended up on my stick.  As far as creating things, I think we did a better job creating more.  I think that came from patience.  They're a team that plays in your face, but sometimes you realize you have a little bit more time in certain plays.  And just focusing on deciding when to hold onto it and when to dump it in. Probably just took a little time to get used to.  I thought we did a better job managing the puck tonight.

Q.  Sidney, I know you'll say you probably didn't care if this was a boring win, not big win.  But this was an amazing game, a game that lived up to some of the hype that I guess we had created before the series, in terms of the style of hockey we might see.  Can you appreciate being a part of a game like that on this stage?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  Yeah, that's one, I'm sure as fans, they enjoyed to watch.  Coaches probably cringe when they see a game like that.  But that's the style of players, I guess, from both teams.

There's a lot of skill on both sides, and you have to expect some nice plays and some good opportunities.  But as you said, probably in the first two games they did a good job really shutting things down.  This one was a little more open.  And we tried to play well defensively, but they're going to get their chances, too.  So it was definitely a back and forth game, fun to watch.  But hopefully we can still tie it up.

Q.  For a guy that didn't play for a while, [Darryl] Sydor looked like he's been playing for a while?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  He looked good out there.  He's been through some big games, won two Stanley Cups.  So he knows what it's like to play in big games.  Him and the rest of the guys who haven't played a lot, who have been staying after practice, working hard, getting skated pretty hard for the last two months here, they all realized that there might be an opportunity if their name's called.  And he's done a great job of making sure he's in good shape, and he looked great out there tonight.

Q.  Sid, back to the first goal.  Obviously you thought finally, but as the leader of this team and as the captain, did you feel like you wanted to be the guy that put them on the board and maybe your teammates would follow suit and change the momentum on the bench as well as on the ice?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  Whether it was me or anybody else, we just wanted to get the first one.  We wanted to get a goal.  Find a way.  Didn't matter who or when.  But for sure, it would be nice to get the first one.  I think that was the mind set going in.  And it was nice to get it for sure.  But whether it was me or anyone else, I wasn't really worried about that.  I just wanted to make sure that we gained the momentum as early on.

Q.  Coach said before you guys came in that for a lot of you, you've never won a Stanley Cup Final game before.  You have watched a lot on television.  I know it's not the fourth win, but it's the first win.  What does it mean to win a game in the Stanley Cup Final?

MARC ANDRE FLEURY:  I don't know.  I think as a kid, it's every hockey player's wish to be here and win the trophy.  For all of us, it's a great opportunity to be here.  And we have a great team, great chemistry.  We have lots of fun playing together.  And we're trying to chase our dreams.  So it's pretty cool.

SIDNEY CROSBY:  It feels good.  I mean, we definitely earned it.  But at the same time, it's one.  And you don't want to take anything away from it.  We realize how hard it was and how tough it's going to get.  So it feels good to come out of this game on the other side, for sure.  But we realize it's only one.

Q.  Sidney, after the first goal tonight you had a similar celebration to what you had with the winning goal at the Winter Classic.  Which goal do you think was more satisfying to score?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  This one.  I mean, you're in the playoffs.  Not taking anything away from the Winter Classic, it was a great experience.  But this is when you're playing for keeps, and this is when it means the most.  So this one tonight was a big one.