Ten Years Gone: Oilers Win Game 3

Ten years have come and gone since the Edmonton Oilers most recent playoff appearance. Back in May, we took a look at Edmonton’s victory in game 5 of the Western Conference Final. That win pushed Edmonton to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the spring of 1990, when the Oil claimed hockey’s ultimate prize over Boston.

From May 27th, we fast forward to June 10th. The Oilers are now down 2-0 in the series and are minus Dwayne Roloson for the rest of the playoffs. Roloson, Edmonton’s second best player behind Chris Pronger, tore his ACL in game one thanks to the infamous Marc-Andre Bergeron hit on Andrew Ladd.

The Oilers got crushed in game two, 5-0, and hope had begun to fade away.

Then came Hockey Night in Canada, in Rexall Place, with the season most certainly on the line. The crowd responded and the team responded, gritting out a 2-1 victory in the final minutes.

I love this video because it shows so much more than the highlights It really captures the emotions and energy of that night in Edmonton.

This is one of the best entrances I have ever seen in sports. Rexall Place was crazy that night and the roof nearly blew off the place when Jussi Markkanen led the Oil out onto the ice. I’ll also always remember this game as the first time I had heard Rexall sing the national anthem. In the states, we did not see that until this round. Quite a spectacle.

The Oilers got an early goal from Shawn Horcoff, who tipped a shot that Jaroslav Spacek fired towards Cam Ward after playing some catch with the puck in the Carolina zone. After that, the sides played an even tilt and the game was tied at one in the final minutes.

As a young kid, 12 years old at the time, I only knew the most recent work of Ryan Smyth. I don’t think I understood what kind of player he truly was until this playoff run. His game winning goal in game 3 was one of the ugliest GWG’s in a Stanley Cup Final I have ever seen, yet it was so Ryan Smyth.

That goal cemented my love for Ryan Smyth the player and I’ll never forget it. There was also a sense of true belief and excitement that, once again, we had a series.

This victory restored belief in Oiler fans and set up a huge game 4 on June 12th, a Monday night. Although Edmonton fell in game 4, they extended the series to a fifth game thanks to this victory. From that point on, we saw some pretty heroic hockey from the Copper and Blue.

Next week, we will look back at Fernando Pisani’s finest moment as an Oiler.