A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cup…

After watching the Panthers rip into the Oilers during the first period of last night’s Game 4 in Sunrise, Florida, I couldn’t help but marvel at what a superb hockey team they are.

In my mind, the perfect hockey team with the perfect blend of attributes. Speed, size, skill and toughness, with high levels of compete and character.

If I were building a hockey team from scratch, I’d follow Bill Zito’s blueprint to the letter.

Entering the second period with a 3-0 edge and a 2-1 series lead, it appeared a Cup repeat was all but in the bag. Then someone let the cat out of the bag, to coin a phrase. Or more accurately, grabbed the Cat by the tail and stuffed it into the bag.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch replaced starting goalie Stuart Skinner with journeyman backup Calvin Pickard. He consigned wildly undisciplined and penalty-riddled Evander Kane to the fourth line.

Perhaps the biggest spark came in the form of a between periods “pep talk” from Corey Perry. Normally not one to speak up, the 40-year-old power forward implored his teammates to wake up and get to work, albeit with more colorful language.

“You don’t get this opportunity too many times, and there’s reasons for that, and this league is so good that you have to take that opportunity and run with it,” said Perry, a six-time Cup finalist. “You have to be urgent. You have to be in the moment, present, and take advantage of where we are.”

Message sent and received. While the Panthers hung back and squandered their momentum, the Oilers stormed back to tie the score on second-period goals by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin.

The Oil continued to flow in the third period, snatching the lead on a tally by Jake Walman (with a primary assist to Kasperi Kapanen) before the Panthers tied it with 20 seconds left in regulation on a goal by Sam Reinhart. Setting the stage for Leon Draisaitl’s dramatic OT winner.

With the series tied at 2-apiece and shifting back to Edmonton for Saturday’s Game 5, suddenly it’s the Oilers who are very much in the driver’s seat.

Whichever team captures the Cup, it’s been an incredibly hard-fought and entertaining series with more plot twists than a daytime soap opera. Truly some of the best hockey I’ve had the privilege to witness.

Trade Winds

Over on Pensburgh, Gretz suggested a number of potential black-and-gold trade targets in his article, Trade or pass: Looking at the NHL’s trade boards for potential Penguins matches.

I’ll steer you to his fine article for the deets. But among the players Gretz mentioned were forwards Jason Robertson (Stars), Marco Rossi (RFA-Wild), J.J. Peterka (RFA-Sabres), Isaac Howard (unsigned-Lightning), Matias Maccelli (Mammoth), Lukas Reichel (Blackhawks) and defenseman Bowen Byram (RFA-Sabres).

Stars power forward Mason Marchment is rumored to be on the block as well. Perhaps Rangers RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller, too.

Others mentioned in the comments section include forwards Mavrik Bourque (RFA-Stars), Ross Colton (Avs) and Mackie Samoskevich (Panthers).

For the record, I’ve always liked Colton. Kind of a poor man’s Sam Bennett.

Anyway, Gretz’s article is well worth the read.