It never gets old for Corey Perry, now in his sixth Stanley Cup final
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After Corey Perry scored his seventh goal of the playoffs and reached the Stanley Cup final for the fifth time in the last six springs, fittingly a rematch with Florida, a media guy piped up.
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'How does it feel?' he was asked.
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Perry looked like he'd been asked if getting a hole-in-one gets old.
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'Uh, excited, obviously yeah…as I've said through the playoffs, this is what we play for, this is why we play,' he said.
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'We've got some guys who don't know that feeling (Jeff Skinner after 1,078 league games). We said after Game 7 (loss in Florida last June) we would be back. And we are back,' said Perry.
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It never gets old for Perry, being on one of the last two teams standing.
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Now Perry is old, at least what is says on his birth certificate. But not at work.
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'What is he, 56?' kidded his friend and former Anaheim Ducks teammate Kevin Bieksa on SportsNet Thursday night after Perry, who turned 40 two weeks ago scored the Edmonton Oilers ' first goal, flipping one off Stars' goalie Jake Oettinger's arm and into the Dallas net on the power play.
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Perry's seven goals are remarkably the same as Leon Draisaitl has through the Oilers 16-game run to another Cup finals matchup with Florida Panthers. Only the ousted Mikko Rantanen (Dallas) and Sam Bennett (Florida), who have nine, and Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov (eight) have more than Perry. Chew on that.
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In his 231st playoff game, tied with Guy Carbonneau for sixth all-time, Perry became the oldest player in history with seven goals in a single playoff season. He surpassed Teemu Selanne (2011), Mark Recchi (2010), Ron Francis (2002) and Jean Beliveau (1971). Those four Hall of Famers all had six goals in a playoff year, so yes, Perry, when he finally quits playing, deserves HOF consideration.
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And Perry's goals in Game 4 and Game 5 of the Oiler-Stars series also put him in rarefied company with another guy in the HOF, Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa) as the first 40 year old to score in back-to-back playoff games since 2013.
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'A lot is made about how old he is but he's still playing like he's in his prime,' said Connor McDavid, who was 10 years old when Perry won his one and only Cup in 2007. 'He's been producing, scoring big goals, getting under their (opponent's) skin, getting in on the forecheck, doing all the things we need at this time of year.'
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Perry, now playing regularly on right wing with McDavid after Zach Hyman broke his wrist, has been in the Cup final six times in all, tying him with Wayne Gretzky, Esa Tikkanen, Bob Gainey and Randy Gregg, if we're keeping track. But Perry is the only player who has ever done it with five different teams–Anaheim, Dallas, Montreal, Tampa and the Oilers. Perry has just the one Cup celebration in 2007 with the Ducks, as we all know. He had just turned 22 then. He has just turned 40 now.
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