Recchi Puts Carolina Close to Real Deal

When Mark Recchi waived his no-trade clause and agreed to be dealt from Pittsburgh to Carolina on March 9, he knew he was going from worst to first in the standings.

The 38-year-old also had a feeling the Hurricanes would go far in the playoffs.

“We played them four times before I got traded there, and you could tell they played like a team,” he said. “They were deep even before I got there. They came at you in waves and they skated well.

“On the Eastern side, I just thought that was one of the teams that would have a good chance.”

Thanks to Recchi’s timely goal against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, the Hurricanes will have a chance on Wednesday to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship.

Recchi’s 15-foot wrist shot from the left side at 15 minutes 56 seconds of the second period held up as the decisive goal in the Hurricanes’ 2-1 victory over the Oilers at Rexall Place, giving Carolina a 3-1 series lead to take home to Raleigh. Cory Stillman, leading a furious forecheck, created the opportunity when he tipped a pass by the Oilers’ Chris Pronger into the air. Eric Staal jumped to corral it before setting it down and onto his stick.

“Good thing I’m 8 feet tall,” Staal joked.

Staal, who’s actually 6 feet 4, passed it to Recchi, who had an easy target over an out-of-position Jussi Markkanen. The prolific winger hasn’t missed many chances like that during his 17-season career.

“You envision this, but I think we all know how hard it is to get here,” said Recchi, who won the Cup with Pittsburgh in 1991, when he was 23.

“This is what I was hoping. If we could finish it off, it would be a dream come true.”

As in most so-called Cinderella stories, the Hurricanes’ success didn’t come easily. When they lost Erik Cole to a serious neck injury in early March, they zeroed in on Recchi to replace him, but he scored merely four goals in 20 regular-season games. In the playoffs, he has seven goals and 14 points in 22 games.

On Monday, with Coach Peter Laviolette mixing up his lines to change the team’s look and get favorable matchups, Recchi played in concert with Staal as if they’d teamed up forever.

Staal, a whipping boy for the hyper-critical Canadian media because he’d gone six games without a goal, silenced his doubters by assisting on Stillman’s tying goal, at 9:09 of the first period, before he set up Recchi.

“We just want to win games whether I’m putting points on the board or whatever,” Staal said.

The goal by Stillman loomed large too, because it came 29 seconds after Sergei Samsonov had given the Oilers the lead with a tip-in.

The crowd, which had begun roaring during the warmups and reached a fever pitch during the national anthems, wanted so much to take over the game, but the Hurricanes wouldn’t allow it.

Certainly, the Oilers contributed to their own predicament. They were scoreless in five advantages on Monday, including a five-on-three edge for 1 minute 12 seconds in the first period, and they’re one for 25 in the finals. They’ve scored only three goals in the last three games.

“They capitalized on their chances and we didn’t. That’s the storyline,” Pronger said.

“We’ve got to get more shots. There’s a lot of loose rebounds we’re not getting to, and we’ve got to get to those pucks.”

Said Samsonov: “Obviously, these are desperate times. You’ve got to play with desperation, but you’ve also got to play smart. You can’t forget your game plan. We’ve got to find some energy and some way to get to the net and get those ugly goals.”

The Hurricanes found a way to succeed on Monday. Another performance like that, and the venerable Cup might hold mint juleps.

“This is going to be the toughest game we face, going home to close the series,” said Stillman, who won the Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004 and can join Claude Lemieux as the only players to win with different teams in consecutive seasons.

“But you know what? We’re looking forward to doing that on home ice.”