They were in a position to make history – or be history – and almost from the drop of the puck, you could tell how things would unfold for the Edmonton Oilers.
Playing their most complete game in the series thus far, the Oilers forced a seventh game in the 2006 Stanley Cup final with a dominating performance in a 4-0 home-ice win Saturday over a shell-shocked Carolina Hurricanes' team.
On a night when the Hurricanes' Erik Cole made a surprise return to the line-up following a three-and-a-half month absence, Fernando Pisani and Raffi Torres scored goals 8:09 apart in the second period and the Oilers never let up to win the game going away.
With the victory, the Oilers became only the third team since 1942 to even the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final at three games apiece, after trailing 3-1. For the third consecutive playoff, the Stanley Cup final will come down to a seventh and deciding game, to be played Monday night in Raleigh.
Oilers' coach Craig MacTavish was involved in two of those three series as a player – the 1987 final between Edmonton and Philadelphia; and the 1994 final between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks. On both occasions, the team that lost the fifth and sixth games went on to win the Stanley Cup on home ice.
That will be the slender thread of history that the Hurricanes will cling to, after the decision to play Cole made no tangible difference in the outcome – and if anything, may have backfired on them.
“We didn't have anything tonight,” acknowledged Carolina goaltender Cam Ward. “There's no excuse for it. It's Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final. It's disappointing that we put in an effort like that. Fortunately, we have one more game to redeem ourselves. We're going to have to bring it.”
Cole was leading the Hurricanes in goal scoring when he suffered two fractures in his vertebrae after being driven to the ice by Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik back on Mar. 4 and hadn't played since. He'd been skating with his teammates informally for about three weeks, but coach Peter Laviolette had repeatedly ruled out a possible return and finally admonished reporters for bringing up the matter just the other day. Cole received medical clearance to play from team doctors Friday after undergoing a CT scan and went into the line-up in place of centre Doug Weight, who has an undisclosed injury to his right shoulder.
Laviolette took a calculated risk – that Cole could play at such a high tempo despite so lengthy an absence – and reunited him on a line with Eric Staal, who'd been his centre for most of the season.
Cole received a quick baptism under fire on his first shift, when the Oilers' Ethan Moreau put a heavy hit on him in the third minute on a Hurricanes' power-play attempt. Cole got up, none the worse for wear, but seconds later, stumbled at the Oilers' blue line, trying to keep the puck in the zone, and almost gave up a three-on-one break to Edmonton.
“I thought Erik played well,” said Ward. “As a team, we were inspired he's even back playing. I thought he looked great.”
The Oilers didn't just target Cole for physical punishment either. There was an electric atmosphere in the building for the first period, fuelled mostly by the way the Oilers took the body to Carolina. Todd Harvey lined up Aaron Ward for a big hit at the 4:50 mark and about 90 seconds later, Jarret Stoll nailed Bret Hedican with a similar hit. Hedican retaliated and it cost him the first of his two first-period roughing minors.
The Hurricanes were lucky to escape the first period in a scoreless draw after Edmonton outshot them 10-3, but the floodgates opened early in the second when Pisani scored his playoff-leading 13th goal, on a backhander from the high slot, with Carolina trying to kill a penalty for too many men on the ice.
