TAMPA, Fla. - Almost 2 months ago, when he was named the Flyers' playoff goalie, Robert Esche decided not to talk to the media through the postseason because he felt he had been unfairly criticized.
It was a complete transformation in personality from the guy who once laughed at the idea that goalies didn't talk on game days until after the work was done.
And he didn't change his mind.
Saturday night, when it was all finished, Esche talked. He was disappointed for himself, for his team, for certain teammates.
But he was comfortable with what he had accomplished.
"I know that, without sounding cocky, I know that I did well,'' Esche said. "I proved a lot of people wrong. That was my goal since I was a little kid, to prove a lot of people wrong, and I think I've done that to a certain degree.
"But on the same hand, I don't feel comfortable losing games whether it's in the Stanley Cup finals, whether it's in the first round or the regular season. Now, knowing that it's all over, that's the tough part."
In 18 playoff starts, Esche was as good as any goalie competing in the postseason. He beat the best in the game in Martin Brodeur, another Stanley Cup champion in Ed Belfour, and he went toe-to-toe with Nikolai Khabibulin for seven games. In all, he had only one off game, and in the rest he gave his team a chance to win, earned the respect of his teammates, and in turn learned to respect them even more than he did before this all started on April 8.
"I tell you what," Esche said. "I made the comment to [Mark Recchi] when we lost, I think it was Game 5, that I couldn't think of a better group of people to win two games with than the ones we're with right now.
"We came pretty close, but obviously there are guys like [Recchi, John LeClair, Keith Pri-meau, Sean Burke, Marcus Ragnarsson], and that's just the start of it; I'm sure I'm leaving some out I feel badly for."
But there was one player he really wanted to see in the finals. Eric Desjardins was lost before the first game of the playoffs when he refractured his right forearm. It was believed at the time that he was done for the season, but Desjardins in the last few weeks recovered enough to start working to come back.
He was in the pregame warm-up Saturday night and was certain to try and play in the finals if the Flyers advanced. Esche wanted that to happen.
"I really had a goal in my head to see [Desjardins] play," he said. "I don't know if he got cleared, but he really had a chance to play in the next round.
"I really wanted to see him play. He was the biggest inspiration for me during the season when I was injured. We were injured at the same time and you know that guy is a true leader, a true captain, a true great man, and that was my focus to get to the next round. So he could play."