Victory Is Something Special for Hebert : Ducks: Goalie has jitters facing his former team, the St. Louis Blues, but focuses on puck and sticks to business.

Goaltender Guy Hebert could have stood in the middle of the Mighty Ducks’ dressing room and said winning on Sunday meant nothing special. He could have launched into a bunch of bunk about beating his old team being no big deal. Just another victory.

But he knew that would be a lie.

Since his first glance at the 1993-94 NHL schedule, Hebert knew the night of Dec. 12 would be special. It would be his first chance to face his old team, the St. Louis Blues.

So he told the truth.

After all, this was a tough night to keep his emotions in check.

“It was pretty weird playing the only team, the only organization I’d been a part of,” he said.

Hebert felt the jitters as he skated onto the Anaheim Arena ice, but “focused on the puck and forgot about who was shooting it. (But) it had a little special meaning to it from a personal standpoint.”

Winning, 2-1, in overtime made it all so much more memorable.

For the longest time on Sunday, it looked as if Hebert would be overshadowed once again by Curtis Joseph.

Hebert played 37 games as Joseph’s understudy the past two seasons, but yearned for something more. A chance to play regularly simply wasn’t going to happen with CuJo in goal in St. Louis, and Hebert knew it.

Escape finally came in the form of the expansion draft when the Ducks made Hebert their first pick in June. He couldn’t be happier.

Through 52 minutes of sluggish, stop-and-go hockey Sunday, Hebert stared at a 1-0 deficit and wondered if the Ducks could get one past Joseph.

“I was worried he’d hold the fort and they’d win, 1-0,” he said. “They were relying on Curtis to win the game for them, 1-0.”

But the Ducks stormed back on Alexei Kasatonov’s third-period goal and Jarrod Skalde’s game-winner, 2:56 into overtime.

Hebert played a part in the victory by stopping 31 shots, including Ron Sutter’s backhander on a breakaway less than a minute into overtime.

“I tried to remember what he did in all those practices,” Hebert said later. “For the life of me, I couldn’t, so I tried to play him as honest as possible.”

Sutter picked up a loose puck ahead of the pack, cut to his left and tried to slip a backhander past Hebert. Didn’t work. Hebert wasn’t fooled, stopping Sutter cold in the Blues’ only overtime shot.

Best of all for Hebert--it was Sutter skating in all alone, rather than snipers like Brett Hull (16 goals in the past 18 games) or Brendan Shanahan (35 points in 28 games).

That firepower from Hull and Shanahan could have ruined his night, but Hebert was worried about Bret Hedican, his old roommate, most of all. They proved to be well-founded concerns. Hedican assisted on Rick Zombo’s first-period goal. Hull and Shanahan had quiet nights.

Hebert also knew Joseph would be tough to beat, if not impossible.

“He’s a wicked competitor,” Hebert said.

And that’s probably why Hebert had such little opportunity to play in St. Louis. If he holds a grudge against the Blues it doesn’t show.

“He was making millions,” Hebert said. “Plus, he’s one of the best, if not the best goalie in the league. We’re awfully good friends.”

It felt good to win, though.

“Awfully good,” Hebert said.