Brad Marchand's Stanley Cup superpower is rooted in a sobering past
It said something about the nature of the Stanley Cup final that after Brad Marchand was the driving force in giving the Florida Panthers a 3-2 series lead over the Oilers with Saturday night's 5-2 win in Edmonton, he declined to take much of a press-conference victory lap.
Marchand had just unfurled one of the great games of his terrific career, highlighted by one of the best goals you'll see in a big moment. We're talking about the Marchand goal that made it 3-0, in which he danced around Jake Walman before sliding one five-hole on Calvin Pickard. Marchand also scored the opening goal by walking around Mattias Ekholm and zinging one top shelf.
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Vancouver Sun
38 minutes ago
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It looks bad for the Oilers, which is actually good for the Oilers
It's looking pretty bad for the Edmonton Oilers right now, which is great news for the Edmonton Oilers . Trailing 3-2 and down to their last life in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers are on the ropes again, forced there by a deeper, harder, faster Florida Panthers team that knows how to win and seems to be getting stronger by the game. The situation isn't bleak, being one win away from a Game 7 never is, but the odds of Edmonton dethroning the Panthers and staking their own claim to greatness seem a lot longer after they were pummelled 6-1 and 5-2 in Games 3 and 5. But bad is good as far as they're concerned. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. That's the Oilers way. Like the kid who doesn't start his book report until the night before it's due, the Oilers typically don't dig in and unleash their desperate best until it's almost too late. 'We have a lot of guys that, for whatever reason, like adversity, like the competition, like being pushed,' said Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse. 'Tuesday is the epitome of that, it's the exact situation we've been in before so there is lots of experience to draw from. 'We just have to enjoy the moment, enjoy the game, enjoy taking it one day at a time.' This is technically a worse spot than the Oilers 3-2 series deficit a year ago against Florida. In last year's Final they were coming off two rousing wins and playing Game 6 at home. This time they're coming off a listless defeat and have to win Game 6 on the road. There are some hard miles ahead if they're going to win a Stanley Cup, but it's nothing they haven't seen before. 'We said all season that we don't do it the easy way, we've always made it the hard way and that's our approach,' said Corey Perry, whose 10 playoff goals are second on the team. 'Our backs are against the wall. After a disappointing game all around you have to bounce back. If you don't, everything is over and you go home for the summer. 'We want to make sure it doesn't happen. We know what's at stake, we know where we are.' The entire season, the last 10 years in fact, come down to this game. The Panthers are a beast and there is no shame in losing to them, but this is when Connor McDavid , Leon Draisaitl, Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, and Mattias Ekholm need to deliver the game of their lives and make a statement — prove they have what it takes to be champions. This is when the pain of last season, and the expectations of this one, are supposed to converge to create the best version of the Oilers we have ever seen. But, be honest, you have no idea what to expect when the puck drops Tuesday night. You can see the Oilers rising up like they always do when the sky is darkest and posting a decisive win. You can also see the game being 2-2, going to overtime and being decided by a fluke. And you can see the Panthers picking up where they left off in Game 5 and winning by three goals. After three overtime games, two routs, the first three-goal comeback by a road team in 106 years and two games with a tying goal scored in the final 20 seconds, anything is possible. 'We know what's at stake and we know what the task is, we haven't lost focus of that,' said Perry. 'It's about making sure we go out there and do our job. We have to be ready from the start. It would be nice to play with the lead, get the first one and go from there.' One trend that's holding true is that both of these teams know how to fight back. Edmonton won Game 1 in overtime, Florida won Game 2 in overtime. The Oilers came back after losing 6-1 by erasing a 3-0 first period deficit to win Game 4. Florida responded after blowing a 3-0 lead on home ice by choking the Oilers out in Game 5. Now it's Edmonton's turn to show what it can do when the bruises are still fresh. It looks bad. But, from an Oilers standpoint, that can be good. 'Resilience is a term that's been used to describe these guys for a long period of time,' said head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose club went 5-1 in elimination games last year against Vancouver and Florida and climbed out of a 2-0 series deficit against L.A. this year. 'For some reason when their backs are against the wall and they've hit rock bottom or they're facing elimination, and that goes back to my first day with the organization — they were near the bottom of the standings, it couldn't get much worse. It didn't look like they were going to make the playoffs. And, of course, they respond, play extremely well and win a ton of games. 'Last year in the playoffs there were numerous elimination games against Florida and Vancouver. Again, backs against the wall and they play their best. They don't panic. 'The mood on the ice today was fantastic, they're embracing the challenges. Being down, facing elimination is not an ideal situation, but for this group it's almost like that's the situation they want to be in.' E-mail: rtychkowski@ Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters . You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun
