It’s hard to believe, but one of the most memorable moments in recent Oilers history happened ten years ago tonight. On this day in 2006, Fernando Pisani rifled a shot past Cam Ward in overtime of game five of the Stanley Cup Final to keep the dream alive. The Oilers were trailing 3-1 in the series and faced the difficult task of winning on the road to bring the series home.
Prior to San Jose’s victory last Thursday night, no team in the NHL trailing 3-1 in the Final had won game five on the road since these Oilers.
This game was arguably the most exciting of the entire series. The Oil had their backs against the wall, but they came out flying and took it to Carolina. Chris Pronger fired a shot from the point that hit Pisani and trickled past Ward at the 16 second mark of period number one. It was Pisani’s first contribution on a memorable night.
People forget just how crazy this opening period was. After Edmonton’s early strike, the Hurricanes actually took the lead with a pair of power play goals. Eric Staal would tie the tilt at the 5:54 mark, then Ray Whitney added the go-ahead tally at 10:16.
Edmonton tied things on a beautiful power play goal from Ales Hemsky at 13:25, then took the lead again with just 18 seconds left in the period as Mike Peca roofed a rebound over Ward.
The three goals scored in that period by the Oilers matched their total from games 2, 3 and 4 combined. This was a wild opening frame.
Carolina ended up tying the game at three when Staal scored his second of the night at 9:56 of the second period.
To overtime we would go.
The Oilers actually got a very good look early in OT when Raffi Torres fed Peca in the slot. Peca’s shot his the side of the post and Carolina took the puck down ice, where they drew a penalty just moments into the extra frame.
One line will always stand out to me. Bob Cole uttered the phrase “They’re killing some time. They’ve got time to kill now folks, time. to. kill. now.” I’ll never forget that sentence from Cole. It has stood out to me and stayed in my mind this last decade. His tone and his words fit the moment so well, it’s incredible.
Then magic happened. Cory Stillman had the worst turnover of his NHL career.
This win is one of the most iconic moments in recent Oilers history. It capped a crazy game and it set up what would turn out to be the final playoff game at Rexall Place.
We’ll revisit that game six on Friday.
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