It’s tough to believe, but ten years ago tonight the Edmonton Oilers won their last playoff game. Edmonton had trailed the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in the Final, but forced Game six at home thanks to Fernando Pisani’s heroics in Game five.
With their backs again against the wall, the Oilers had a chance to turn the tides with a victory on home ice. While the Oilers lost Game four at home by a score of 2-1, they were still dominating in the postseason on home ice. Overall, to this point in the playoffs, Edmonton was 7-3 at Rexall Place.
Rexall was breaking all sorts of noise records during this run and there was a true sense of home ice advantage for the Oilers. With the game on Hockey Night in Canada, there was a sense that the Oilers could turn the tables with a victory.
We once again begin with a raucous Rexall Place introduction. The above video does not have the third period highlights, but it shows just how electric that atmosphere was before this tilt. The full highlights will be posted below, so hang tight friends!
People remember the final score, but seem to forget that the sides played a scoreless first period. Edmonton didn’t open the scoring until 1:45 of the middle frame when Fernando Pisani (shocker….) backhanded a shot past Cam Ward through traffic. Edmonton went up by a pair at 9:54 when Raffi Torres tipped home a Steve Staios point shot. From there, it was all Oilers.
Ryan Smyth scored a powerplay marker at 3:04 with a backhand shot, then Shawn Horcoff put the game away with another powerplay tally just over ten minutes later. Horcoff’s goal, which was the dagger, came off a beautiful Radek Dvorak feed.
It’s hard to believe that the Oilers lost the Stanley Cup after this game. The Oil completely dominated Carolina here and looked to have all the momentum. I’m not sure about any of you, but I thought for sure that the Oilers were going to win the Cup after this. It made what happened two nights later that much more tough to handle.
In the moment, no one would have guessed that this would be the last playoff game at Rexall, let alone Edmonton’s last playoff win for a decade. The electricity of the crowd, the dominance of the Oilers….it still brings chills to me.
Our hearts would break two nights later, but I’ll always remember this run. This victory lead to a crazy final minute, one where the crowd was almost as loud as the broadcast. Enjoy the video below my friends.
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