Those plucky Oilers
The Stanley Cup bandwagon just did a U-turn on Tobacco Road.
Everything seemed to be going the way of the Carolina Hurricanes. They held a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven NHL championship series against the Edmonton Oilers. They hosted the Oilers Wednesday night in Game 5, with Edmonton coming into town late the previous evening due to mechanical trouble with their charter plane. And Carolina was on the power play in overtime with the score tied at three. One more goal, and the ‘Canes would win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Then Fernando Pisani scored a shorthanded goal to stave off elimination. There will be a Game 6, and it will be in Edmonton on Saturday night. Pisani’s marker was the first-ever shorthanded OT goal in Stanley Cup finals history. With it, the Oilers are not only alive in these playoffs, but energized heading back to the friendly confines of Rexall Place.
“Came out in the overtime and really took it to them,” Oilers center Michael Peca told reporters. “We knew their mentality was to try and come out and end this thing early. They have a lot of tired bodies on the blue line, a lot of guys that aren’t feeling great. We wanted to flip the tables on them and come and try and end it early ourselves.”
One of those tired bodies was defenseman Aaron Ward, who was checked into the boards by Raffi Torres early in the affair and appeared to suffer an injured left shoulder. Center Doug Weight also seemed to hurt his shoulder after a Torres/Chris Pronger tag-team hit in the third. Weight left the game and is listed as day-to-day; Ward came back and proceeded to take a puck to the ankle. Those injuries could end up having an impact on the rest of the series.
Neither Carolina injury is going to have the same effect as Edmonton’s loss of netminder Dwayne Roloson. However, the rest of the squad appears healthy, and backup Jussi Markkanen is showing signs of settling into his role between the pipes. Markkanen has given up just one even-strength goal since Game 2 – all three of Carolina’s goals Wednesday night were scored on the power play.
“We feel like we can take it to them 5-on-5,” Oilers defenseman Steve Staios said after Pisani’s game-winner, which came while Staios was in the penalty box. “We feel that we’re gaining momentum.”
Edmonton is going to have to find a way to apply that momentum on the man advantage. The Oilers are just 2-for-32 on the power play against the Hurricanes; they’re ranked seventh out of the 16 playoff teams at 16.4 percent efficiency, while Carolina leads the way at a tremendous 25.4 percent clip. Both clubs had fair-to-middling success while playing a man up during the regular season.
Game 5 had its twists and turns, yet the final outcome stuck to what is becoming a familiar playoff script. Four of the five games in this series have been decided by one goal. By playing it close to the vest, the Oilers have been able to rack up a bankroll-swelling 39-14 record against the spread in away games, where the home team is generally laying a goal-and-a-half. That record is in sharp contrast to Edmonton’s 17-34 ATS mark at Rexall Place. The Hurricanes are 30-21 ATS in away games this year.
Not that everything has been predictable thus far. The total for Game 5 dropped from six to 5 ½ goals, perhaps in anticipation of the referees putting the whistle in their pocket in order to prevent the Stanley Cup from being “won” on a special teams play. That didn’t happen, and the OVER found the pay window for the first time since the series opener.
Oilers fans won’t be too upset if Carolina grabs the cash Saturday night, as long as Edmonton manages to extend the series to a Game 7 in Raleigh. That could very well be the scenario if recent trends hold up. The Oilers are going to be slight favorites in Game 6; they’re 7-1 straight up in their last eight games as the chalk. Edmonton is also on a 10-3 SU streak at home, although one of those three losses was Game 4 against the Hurricanes.
Only once has a club come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Stanley Cup. That was back in 1942, when the Toronto Maple Leafs lost three straight to the Detroit Red Wings, then bounced back to win the next four games.
The Stanley Cup bandwagon just did a U-turn on Tobacco Road.
Everything seemed to be going the way of the Carolina Hurricanes. They held a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven NHL championship series against the Edmonton Oilers. They hosted the Oilers Wednesday night in Game 5, with Edmonton coming into town late the previous evening due to mechanical trouble with their charter plane. And Carolina was on the power play in overtime with the score tied at three. One more goal, and the ‘Canes would win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Then Fernando Pisani scored a shorthanded goal to stave off elimination. There will be a Game 6, and it will be in Edmonton on Saturday night. Pisani’s marker was the first-ever shorthanded OT goal in Stanley Cup finals history. With it, the Oilers are not only alive in these playoffs, but energized heading back to the friendly confines of Rexall Place.
“Came out in the overtime and really took it to them,” Oilers center Michael Peca told reporters. “We knew their mentality was to try and come out and end this thing early. They have a lot of tired bodies on the blue line, a lot of guys that aren’t feeling great. We wanted to flip the tables on them and come and try and end it early ourselves.”
One of those tired bodies was defenseman Aaron Ward, who was checked into the boards by Raffi Torres early in the affair and appeared to suffer an injured left shoulder. Center Doug Weight also seemed to hurt his shoulder after a Torres/Chris Pronger tag-team hit in the third. Weight left the game and is listed as day-to-day; Ward came back and proceeded to take a puck to the ankle. Those injuries could end up having an impact on the rest of the series.
Neither Carolina injury is going to have the same effect as Edmonton’s loss of netminder Dwayne Roloson. However, the rest of the squad appears healthy, and backup Jussi Markkanen is showing signs of settling into his role between the pipes. Markkanen has given up just one even-strength goal since Game 2 – all three of Carolina’s goals Wednesday night were scored on the power play.
“We feel like we can take it to them 5-on-5,” Oilers defenseman Steve Staios said after Pisani’s game-winner, which came while Staios was in the penalty box. “We feel that we’re gaining momentum.”
Edmonton is going to have to find a way to apply that momentum on the man advantage. The Oilers are just 2-for-32 on the power play against the Hurricanes; they’re ranked seventh out of the 16 playoff teams at 16.4 percent efficiency, while Carolina leads the way at a tremendous 25.4 percent clip. Both clubs had fair-to-middling success while playing a man up during the regular season.
Game 5 had its twists and turns, yet the final outcome stuck to what is becoming a familiar playoff script. Four of the five games in this series have been decided by one goal. By playing it close to the vest, the Oilers have been able to rack up a bankroll-swelling 39-14 record against the spread in away games, where the home team is generally laying a goal-and-a-half. That record is in sharp contrast to Edmonton’s 17-34 ATS mark at Rexall Place. The Hurricanes are 30-21 ATS in away games this year.
Not that everything has been predictable thus far. The total for Game 5 dropped from six to 5 ½ goals, perhaps in anticipation of the referees putting the whistle in their pocket in order to prevent the Stanley Cup from being “won” on a special teams play. That didn’t happen, and the OVER found the pay window for the first time since the series opener.
Oilers fans won’t be too upset if Carolina grabs the cash Saturday night, as long as Edmonton manages to extend the series to a Game 7 in Raleigh. That could very well be the scenario if recent trends hold up. The Oilers are going to be slight favorites in Game 6; they’re 7-1 straight up in their last eight games as the chalk. Edmonton is also on a 10-3 SU streak at home, although one of those three losses was Game 4 against the Hurricanes.
Only once has a club come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Stanley Cup. That was back in 1942, when the Toronto Maple Leafs lost three straight to the Detroit Red Wings, then bounced back to win the next four games.