Bounce Shifts the Oilers’ Way in Game 3

The Edmonton Oilers’ first line had not been first-rate in the Stanley Cup finals, and left wing Ryan Smyth feared their season would soon end unless he and center Shawn Horcoff and right wing Ales Hemsky could make an impact Saturday.

“We talked the last couple of days that we had to get better,” Smyth said. “We had to dominate offensively.... We’d had some chances, but we just couldn’t put it in the net.”

With the frenzied cheers of a Cup-starved crowd at Rexall Place ringing in their ears, Smyth and his linemates delivered a series-shifting effort against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Oilers’ 2-1 victory, built upon a relentless, driving physical presence and supported by goaltender Jussi Markkanen’s 24 saves, cut the Hurricanes’ series lead to 2-1 and transformed the Oilers’ hopes that they might win into a satisfying reality.

“We got a few breaks tonight,” Horcoff said. “That’s a positive for us. Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come.”

Horcoff scored the first goal by redirecting a shot by Hemsky past Carolina goalie Cam Ward 2 minutes 31 seconds into the game, the earliest the Oilers had scored in their 20 playoff games and a reassurance that the rookie who had blanked them in Game 2 was not unbeatable. The Hurricanes didn’t pull even until 9:09 of the third period, when Rod Brind’Amour pounced on his own rebound and flicked it past Markkanen for his 12th playoff goal.

“I thought we got to our game, finally,” Brind’Amour said, “but you know, we waited too long.”

The Oilers thought so too and made sure the Hurricanes didn’t turn that goal into a rally.

“Once they tied it, we got back on our game,” Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish said. “And they were a little less aggressive.”

Riding the exhortations of 16,839 fans who produced loud, spontaneous chants throughout the team’s first Cup finals game since 1990, the Oilers surged ahead at 17:45. It was a typical in-your-face goal by Smyth, “a chip-in par,” MacTavish said.

Smyth had made a drop pass back to the right point and headed for the net. Hemsky shot, and Smyth, trying to crowd Ward, somehow got the puck into the net on a play the Hurricanes said should have been nullified because of goaltender interference.

Referee Mick McGeough had waved off an apparent Oiler goal late in the second period after ruling he’d blown his whistle before Ethan Moreau jabbed the puck out of Ward’s reach. However, referee Paul Devorski ruled Smyth’s goal legitimate, a decision that withstood review by league executives. Brind’Amour said the on-ice officials told him the goal was legal because the shot hit Smyth outside the crease and Smyth carried it into the crease with him.

“It’s a crock. It’s not what happened,” Brind’Amour said. “This is the National Hockey League. What can you expect?”

Ward said the rebound of the initial save “flopped out where Smyth was driving to the net and it looked like it got caught up in his body and he just kept driving to the goal line. I didn’t have much space to move.”

Asked whether it should have counted, he shrugged. “It’s not for me to decide. That’s why there’s replay,” said Ward, who grew up near Edmonton but hadn’t played in the Oilers’ home arena before Saturday. “I just hope they made the right call.”

Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s director of officiating, said the ruling was correct.

“The puck was batted out of the air by the goalie, it bounced off the Edmonton player, and went into the net,” he said. “The puck was in the air. Smyth tried to knock the puck out of the air with his stick. And at the same time, Ward tried to knock the puck out of the air and was successful at doing so. It bounced off Smyth.”

If the bounces didn’t go the Hurricanes’ way, they had themselves and Markkanen to blame. They squandered five power plays and didn’t pierce the Oilers’ defense often enough to pressure Markkanen, who earned his first victory since January and first in two appearances since replacing injured Dwayne Roloson.

“I felt fine and I saw the puck really well,” Markkanen said, adding praise for his defensemen’s shot-blocking prowess.

The Oilers can see daylight now, knowing the crowd will back them again on Monday and that the series will return to Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday for a fifth game. MacTavish said the key on Saturday was his team’s ability to get pucks to the net.

“Now,” he said, “we just have to put everything together in Game 4 and get it back to even.”