DENVER – Jean-Sebastien Giguere won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007, but the Colorado Avalanche backup goalie said the best stretch of his career as a goaltender came during the 2003 Western Conference finals against the Wild.
Giguere recorded three consecutive shutouts to open the series and had a shutout streak of 212 minutes, 43 seconds before Andrew Brunette scored the Wild's only goal in Game 4 as the Ducks swept the series.
"You kind of feel unbeatable at that point," said Giguere, who stopped 122 of 123 shots in the series. "You're so in the zone and everything seems to hit you and you get lucky a lot of the times, too. It was probably the most fun I've had playing."
Giguere went on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP despite losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. In fact, the Wild's Mike Rupp scored the Cup-clinching goal for the New Jersey Devils.
"Personally, three shutouts in a row is not a bad thing in that series, but at the end of the day, winning is what matters and is what's fun and we didn't do it that year," Giguere said.
Giguere would, however, in 2007 with Wild goalie Ilya Bryz- galov as his Anaheim backup. Eleven years later, Bryzgalov is trying to lead the Wild to its first playoff-series victory in 11 years.
"He keeps everything light and fun, and you never have a boring day with Bryz around," said the 36-year-old Giguere, who might be considering retirement after this season. "He was a good kid. He was trying to make his place as a No. 1 goalie in the league and he gave me a run for my money, that's for sure. He made me better because I had to play good if I wanted to keep playing.
"It's been a tough year for the goalies in Minnesota. What did they have, five? It's tough to hear what [Josh Harding] went through with [multiple sclerosis], especially with how great he was playing. But this gives Bryz a chance to show everybody again that he can be a No. 1 goalie."
