Raleigh, N.C. – In overtime Wednesday night, the Carolina Hurricanes were a millisecond, perhaps a flick of the wrist, or a bounce of the puck, away from suddenly winning the Stanley Cup.
And the stage seemed set for the onset of the Carolina celebration when Edmonton’s Steve Staios was called for tripping 3:03 into the overtime, giving the Hurricanes’ potent power play another chance.
But then Fernando Pisani’s startling, short-handed goal at 3:31 of sudden death gave Edmonton a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the Cup Finals, derailing the Carolina celebration and sending the series back to Alberta for a Game 6 on Saturday night.
How shocking was it?
The Oilers were just trying to kill off the penalty, hoping to get through the two minutes that even in low-stakes games can seem interminable – at least to the team skating short-handed.
The RBC Center crowd was poised to party the instant a red light came on.
And suddenly, the Oilers’ Pisani was skating in on the short-handed breakaway after picking off Hurricanes winger Cory Stillman’s casual pass intended for Eric Staal.
“The pass was coming slow,” said Pisani, a former Providence College Friar. “That’s why I kind of just jumped up. You know, Staal’s got a long reach, too, so I kind of wasn’t sure. I just decided to go for it.”
After he got to the puck, he said, “it was in my pants and I threw it down and I kind of took a quick look.”
At that point, Pisani added, he noticed Carolina goalie Cam Ward was cheating to his blocker side, so he made the quick decision to shoot the other way, high to the glove side.
Game over.
Series? Not. The Hurricanes still lead the series 3-2, but there is more hockey to be played.
Thanks to Pisani, who had two goals, plus a resilient effort that also included scores from Ales Hemsky and Michael Peca and 21 saves from pressed-into-service goalie Jussi Markkanen, the Oilers still have a chance to become only the second team in the history of the Finals to come back from a 3-1 deficit.
“We were just thinking, ‘Let’s get a kill for Stevie (Staios),”‘ Edmonton center Shawn Horcoff said. “He’s been a warrior for us, and you hate to see the season end on a play like that.”
“There’s no doubt you feel pretty low,” said Staios, a veteran defenseman who hauled down Mark Recchi to draw the penalty. “You’re just kind of hoping for the best.”
Neither team scored in the final 30 minutes of regulation, or not after Staal’s second power- play goal of the game pulled the Hurricanes into a 3-3 tie at 9:56 of the second period.
The Oilers scored only 16 seconds into the game when Pisani tipped a Chris Pronger shot from the left point and got it past Ward.
For the Oilers to take control, though, probably would have required more of an aversion to the penalty box, and Carolina’s three goals came when the Hurricanes had the man advantage.
Staal’s first goal tied it at 5:54, and Ray Whitney’s shot from the top of the right circle – with Doug Weight screening Markkanen – gave Carolina a 2-1 lead. But the Oilers’ Hemsky, so often criticized for not shooting enough, tied it at 13:25 when his knuckling one-timer from the left circle got past Ward and under the post.
To wrap up the eventful first period, Hemsky set up Peca’s goal with only 17.4 seconds remaining and the Oilers went into the first intermission with a 3-2 lead.
The scoring pace slowed, but the tempo didn’t.
“I don’t know what it looked like up there, but it was break-neck pace back and forth, and lots of energy, lots of chances, lots of action in both ends,” Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but … nobody wanted to see that trophy tonight, that’s for sure.”
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
