Edmonton Oilers winger Corey Perry is playing in his sixth Stanley Cup final.Jim Rassol/Reuters
Things could have hardly looked worse. In the previous four periods the Edmonton Oilers had been outscored by the Stanley Cup champions, 9-1. The Florida Panthers were tap-dancing all over them on Thursday and were poised to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven final series.
That’s not quite a death penalty. It’s more like slowly sinking in quicksand en route to one’s anticipated demise.
Corey Perry had seen enough. He is 40, has played in the NHL for 21 years, and was appearing in his 235th playoff game. He has won one Stanley Cup and lost in the final round four times so he spoke up in the dressing room between the first and second periods on Thursday night.
“We had to realize where we were in the moment and look at ourselves in the mirror and at how we were playing,” Perry said Friday morning before the teams boarded five-hour flights from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Edmonton, where Game 5 will be contested on Saturday. “We looked flat. We were off.”
They were down 3-0 and their goalie was getting yanked. As disappointed fans in Alberta, and probably across Canada, looked for something more soothing to watch on TV, the improbable happened.
Three goals in the second period and the Oilers were tied. They went on to win 5-4 in overtime, again on a goal by Leon Draisaitl, and now have a chance to go ahead in the series on their home ice. The other big hero, on a night with a few, was Calvin Pickard.
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The backup goalie to Stuart Skinner came in and grabbed control of a game that had spun wildly in the wrong direction. He is currently 7-0 in this postseason, and while not yet declared the Game 5 starter, it would be a surprise for him not to be in the crease come Saturday night.
In overtime, when Sam Bennett had a yawning goalmouth before him, Pickard got his glove on the puck and it ticked off the crossbar. Earlier Pickard stopped Anton Lundell on a breakaway that would have left Edmonton behind 4-1 in the second period.
So far this is shaping up as the be-all/end-all of 100-plus years of Stanley Cup finals.
“There have been heartbreaking losses and unbelievable wins,” Kris Knoblauch, the Oilers head coach, said Friday. The night before, his Florida counterpart had likened it to Christmas for hockey fans.
Three of the first four games have gone to overtime, and one to double OT. It’s almost as if these gritty opponents are unable to play a normal game.
Anyone who tuned in, then out, and then back in again Thursday probably has whiplash.
‘Wait? What?’
Pickard came in and was impeccable until he allowed Sam Reinhart to tie it at 4-4 with 20 seconds left. It was like watching a horror movie and knowing something bad was about to happen.
‘No, don’t go into the inky-black basement, please!’
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard celebrates with center Jeff Skinner after the win in overtime against the Florida Panthers in Game 4.Jim Rassol/Reuters
Edmonton has come from behind eight times during its postseason run. Draisaitl has four overtime goals, and two in the final. On Thursday he scored the winner while A.J. Greer mugged him. Pickard snuffed the fire out like Goose Gossage.
“It’s hard to describe the situation he gets put in,” Draisaitl said afterwards. “We are down 3-0, he is coming in cold, it’s not easy, right? He is one of the best in the league at making the save at the right time.
“He has been nothing but spectacular for us.”
No telling what is going to happen in the next two games and possibly three. If it goes to seven, two of those are at Rogers Place. So far the home teams are 1-1. Game 6 is back in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday.
“Nothing has been easy for us,” Perry said. “We are good facing adversity and we know how to play hockey and we did it last night. We found our way to check our emotions.”
They back at home on Saturday with a chance to move within one game of winning the Stanley Cup. The Oilers last won one in 1990, and a Canadian club hasn’t claimed Lord Stanley’s trophy since Montreal in 1993.
“These are two good teams and they are evenly matched,” Perry said. “There are superstars on both sides of the puck. It is fun to be a part of. After that period [Thursday] night we showed we are a mature team.”