Upstart Oilers Take It to Limit

The Edmonton Oilers’ fans wouldn’t let them lose, wouldn’t let them leave Rexall Place without one more triumph that would prolong this wondrously unexpected season.

Riding a transfusion of energy from the stands and burgeoning confidence in their hearts, the Oilers toyed with the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-0 rout Saturday, extending the Stanley Cup finals to a seventh game.

The Oilers, who qualified for the playoffs as the eighth-seeded team in the West, who lost their stellar goaltender and had to rely on a backup who hadn’t won two consecutive games since December, have won two games in a row and will play for the Cup on Monday in Raleigh, N.C.

“We’re not a team that follows statistics. We’ve been breaking statistics all season,” said Shawn Horcoff, who scored Edmonton’s final goal -- and third on a power play -- at 13:05 of the third period.

“It would only be fitting if we’re able to come back from a 3-1 deficit, given our circumstances.”

If they do, they’d join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the only teams to rally from such depths in the Cup finals. They’re also vying to become the first Canadian-based team to win the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Kings in 1993.

“It’s what we wanted,” forward Michael Peca said after the Oilers limited the Hurricanes to 16 shots and supported goalie Jussi Markkanen’s easy shutout. “We’ve given ourselves an opportunity.”

They gave themselves that chance because Fernando Pisani, who scored the short-handed, overtime goal in Game 5 that sent the series back to his hometown, scored on a sweeping backhander at 1:45 of the second period on Saturday and added an assist. They killed off six disadvantages and wore out a team that’s looking frayed around the edges and up the middle.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to skate. We haven’t been skating,” Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley said. “We haven’t been getting pucks in through the neutral zone and in deep. If we don’t do that, the outcome is going to be the same.”

The Oilers took heart from every one of their 20 blocked shots, holding the Hurricanes without a shot in the second period until more than 14 minutes had passed. The 16,839 fans crammed into Rexall Place inhaled and exhaled with every stride, producing a shimmering curtain of noise.

“Our fans were great,” defenseman Steve Staios said. “It was exciting for them, and we’re excited for them.”

Those fans have seen the Oilers move away from the flashy, finesse game that propelled them to five Cup championships in seven seasons from 1984 through 1990. Their effort on Saturday was typical of their best this spring: They were quick to the puck, they battered the Hurricanes at every turn, and they corrected a potentially devastating flaw by revamping their power play, which had scored once in 25 attempts in the first four games but has clicked four times in 16 tries in the last two games.

“Rewind, press play, and repeat what we did the last couple of games,” Peca said in describing the Oilers’ domination Saturday.

Several Carolina players used the word “embarrassed,” among others that aren’t printable. True, they’d lost center Doug Weight to an apparent shoulder injury, but they’d regained dynamic young forward Erik Cole, who’d been out of the lineup since he fractured a vertebra on March 4.

Nothing worked. Nothing helped.

“We’ve just got to get back to the way we’re capable of playing,” goalie Cam Ward said. “They’re the team that deserved it tonight. It may come down to who wants it more.”

That would be the Oilers, was the message from Edmonton’s locker room.

“I think we got them right where we want them,” said Raffi Torres, who escaped the clutches of Carolina’s Frantisek Kaberle to tip in the second goal, at 9:54 of the second period.

If there’s any consolation for the Hurricanes, it’s that they’ll be playing at home and that Tampa Bay, New Jersey and Colorado each won the seventh game of the finals at home in 2004, 2003 and 2001, respectively.

“That’s why we played 82 games and fought all year for home-ice advantage,” forward Kevyn Adams said. “If you’d told us at the start of the year that we’d have the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final at home, we’d take it.”

Whether they can take that game is much less certain.