Giguere hopes Ducks bounce back

By KEN PETERS
AP Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Jean-Sebastien Giguere might as well have been watching a pinball careening wildly in front of him in Game 5, with the puck ricocheting off sticks, skates and the boards before finally winding up in the net behind him.

Stung for six goals in the Mighty Ducks' 6-3 loss at New Jersey, the Anaheim goaltender hopes Game 6 will play out differently. The Ducks are down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup finals and need a victory.

``I went through a situation last night that wasn't easy, and I know I'm not really happy with the way things went. I want to come back and have a better game,'' Giguere said.

```It's a battle in a situation like that to not get frustrated, to keep my focus and keep doing the same things I've been doing, even in a bad situation.''

New Jersey scored its first two goals against him Thursday when Pascal Rheaume and Patrik Elias were left unmarked and had easy tap-ins. The third score came when Brian Gionta's shot hit the stick of Anaheim's Sandis Ozolinsh, then bounced off the stick of the Ducks' Mike Leclerc and plopped into the net.

Later, Jay Pandolfo was credited with a goal when a rebound bounced off his skate and into the net, and Jamie Langenbrunner scored after a blocked shot that took a weird bounce off the end boards.

``The puck was bouncing a little bit everywhere, but it's the same for both teams, the same boards, the same ice,'' Giguere said. ``They took advantage of it because they were working harder.

``I believe that you create your own luck and your own bounces by working hard, and that's what they did.''

Ducks coach Mike Babcock agreed.

``We really thought that, as good a job as they did getting the puck to the net, they had real fortunate bounces for them,'' he said. ``You earn those breaks.''

Anaheim's Rob Niedermayer said the Devils simply jammed up the area in front of the net.

``They really put a lot of traffic in front, and threw the puck in there a lot, and that's what happens,'' he said. ``We can't afford to let them do that again.''

The six goals were the most allowed by Giguere in this postseason, his first.

Although it was a long, frustrating evening for him, ``Jiggy'' had no intention of coming off the ice to rest up for Game 6, even when Babcock asked him.

``He asked me if I wanted to stop playing. I'll never say yes to that. I'm on the ice and good or bad, I just want to keep going,'' Giguere said.

Although he didn't like his performance or the result of Game 5, Giguere insists he's still having the time of his life playing in the Cup finals. He was in the hall playing soccer with teammates before doing interviews.

And he smiled and noted that few people believed the Ducks, who had never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs before this year, could make it to the final round.

``To say something like that about us at the beginning of the season, I don't think many people could have imagined it,'' Giguere said.

``It doesn't get any better than this. Every day's a great day for me and I'm really happy. But this is all about winning and I'm looking forward to trying to win this thing.''

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)