Peca Simply Guts It Out for the Oilers

Had there not been a chair in front of Michael Peca’s locker and a wall behind him, he might have crumpled to the floor in sections Sunday night, to be swept up with the discarded towels and used tape that littered the carpet of the visitors’ locker room at the Arrowhead Pond.

He put up a valiant fight against the stomach bug that depleted the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup before the game and picked players off all evening, knowing the team could not afford to lose another link in its tight-knit chain. If he could get through three more periods it would all be worth it.

He willed himself to skate hard every shift, to clamp down on defense, to make the second or third effort that might make a difference. In doing all that, he pushed himself and his team to another impressive defensive effort, continuing his personal redemption and sustaining the Oilers’ surprising playoff run.

Peca contributed an assist and an empty-net goal to the Oilers’ second successive 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks in the Western Conference finals, noteworthy efforts that allowed the Oilers to take a forbidding 2-0 lead home with them when the series resumes Tuesday. But it was his perseverance that counted most Sunday, his refusal to give in while those around him were skating on wobbly knees and wondering if their next shift might be their last.

“We’re going to get an inquiry on the team meals,” Peca said with a wan smile. “But guys ate at different places and still got sick.”

Raffi Torres was so sick, he never made it out of his hotel room. Nor did Marc-Andre Bergeron. Shawn Horcoff was fine in the morning but was fading fast by the end of the evening. “He was the color of this sheet of paper during the last period,” Coach Craig MacTavish said, holding up a game summary printed on pristine white paper.

Peca, himself a whiter shade of pale, said players discussed their difficult situation but refused to use it as an excuse. “We knew we had to dig down,” he said. “It was gut-check time.

“We threw around a lot of cliches before the game on how to deal with adversity. It came down to finding ways to do it. We had to find a way to really grind it out.”

They found the energy to collapse around goaltender Dwayne Roloson and clear the rebounds he left. They blocked shots, gave the Ducks nothing on the power play and outworked a team that had won the first two series with hard work and persistence and pluck.

“It comes with confidence, and the belief we just can’t lose,” Peca said. “We’re not carrying around a swagger. We’re not walking around with our chins up and shoulders back. We’re modest in what we’re doing and realistic in what we’re doing and we feel if we work hard, there are little areas in the game we know we’re going to have success.”

Peca’s season with the Oilers was anything but successful. Acquired in August from the New York Islanders, he struggled through 71 games. Twice a Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward, he scored only nine goals and 23 points and compiled a minus-four plus/minus rating. He was criticized. He was, for one of the few times in his career, uncertain of his purpose.

“I was letting myself down,” he said, “and that’s often the biggest thing.”

Not until the Olympic break, when he talked to MacTavish about his game and his place on a team that needed him to be a leader, did Peca clear his mind and become more sure of himself. As he improved so did the Oilers, who secured the eighth playoff berth and upset Detroit and San Jose to earn a conference final matchup against the Ducks.

In 14 playoff games, Peca has four goals and seven points and a plus-three rating, including a plus-two effort Sunday.

“I let the baggage hang around a little longer than I should,” he said. “Once I got out of the Olympic break, I promised myself I wasn’t going to deal with it anymore. I was going to cut the baggage loose.

“I had a meeting with the coach and assured him I’d be there for the team, and my game has just continued to get better and better, and I’m happy with where it is now.”

MacTavish said he couldn’t help Peca earlier in the season “because I was trying to figure his game out and his personality. And you know, I was surprised. I had really high expectations and was very excited to get him and he was struggling with the new situation and surroundings. I had a hard time getting my head around his game.”

Weak though Peca was after playing 19 minutes 19 seconds, he had a firm hold on his game and on the Oilers’ prospects.

“As you progress in the playoffs, when you get down, it becomes a little tougher to fight back. I think history proves that,” he said. “We obviously like where our game has been at home. The fans have been tremendous and our game’s been tremendous. We’re just looking to come out and play a more consistent 60-minute game and do the things we need to do.”

Then it will be up to the Ducks to see if they can stomach it.