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Horcoff hopes to be striking this pose Monday night.
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Oilers' Horcoff:
We've won nothing yet
By John McGourty | NHL.com | June 19, 2006
Nothing was delivered
And I tell this truth to you
But, simply because it's true
Now you must provide some answers
For what you sell has not been received
And the sooner you come up with them
The sooner you can leave
-- Bob Dylan
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Bob Dylan wrote Nothing Was Delivered long before Edmonton Oilers' first-line center Shawn Horcoff was born in 1978, but Horcoff subscribes to the message.
The Oilers faced a three-games-to-one deficit after losing Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at home to the Carolina Hurricanes a week ago Monday and were written off by most hockey analysts. But they rallied to win Game 5 in overtime here Wednesday and evened the series Saturday with a 4-0 thrashing of the Hurricanes.
Now, those same analysts say the Oilers are favored to hoist the Stanley Cup Monday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, RDS, NHL Radio) in the RBC Center.
Horcoff isn't listening to them.
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"No, not at all," he insisted Sunday. "We've got to get confidence from the fact that we were able to force a Game 7, but on the other hand, it will all be lost if we can't get a win here tomorrow."
Jean Beliveau, Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky, Milt Schmidt, Bryan Trottier, Steve Yzerman: From time immemorial, first-line centers have been the "go-to guys" on Stanley Cup-winning teams. Horcoff is the Oilers' leading-scoring forward in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 23 games.
He was asked if he felt a sense of satisfaction for having met his responsibility, shown the needed accountability to his teammates. Or, does that time for reflection come later?
"I just want to think about trying to do what I can to produce offense and play well defensively for my team," Horcoff said. "Whether we have to win a game 1-0 or 5-4, it really doesn't matter. We want to get that win.
"When your job is to be a first-line player, you want to go out there and produce. At the same time, when it comes to a Game 7, you have to take what the game gives you and not be to be squeezing the stick too much. Be confident and take what's out there.
"It's the last possible game of the year, no matter what. Anytime you get yourself to a position like this, it's obviously gratifying and you feel good about yourselves. But, you obviously want to get the job done. We're looking forward to it. We're excited and calm."
The analysts are balancing the facts that no home team has lost a Game 7 at home in the NHL, NBA or Major League Baseball since the 1979 Baltimore Orioles were beaten by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the obvious edge the Oilers had over the Hurricanes in Game 6. Does that Game 7 whammy that visitors face concern the Oilers, the only conference No. 8 seed in NHL history to win two playoffs rounds, let alone advance to the Final?
"Not really," Horcoff said. "Statistically, we haven't followed too many of those rules in this postseason. We're somewhat of an underdog in everyone else's mind but we truly believe we can get it done. It gives us another challenge and some adversity that will make us better.
"We feel like we're just starting to gain stride here," Horcoff said. "After we were off for nine days (following their five-game defeat of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the Western Conference Final), it took a few games for us to get going. After Game 5, we felt like we were starting to skate well. That's when we're playing our best. For a while, we felt like we had a line or two going well, but the last few nights, we had everyone going.
"Every game for us (since Game 4) has been an elimination game and the same holds true tomorrow," he added. "If we lose, we're done. It's nice knowing that the Stanley Cup is in the building and we have a chance to touch it. It's been there for the last two games and we've been trying to hold on and give ourselves a chance to be in this situation. Now that we're here, we're grateful for it and we want to try to make the most of it."
The Oilers struggled through much of the regular season, but solidified after acquiring goalie Dwayne Roloson at the trading deadline on March 8. They edged the Vancouver Canucks by three points for the final Western Conference playoff berth, but it was closer than that for most of the final month.
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Horcoff knows the fourth win is the toughest to get.
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"I don't feel like there's been as much pressure in the locker room during the postseason as there was in the regular season," Horcoff said. "It was such a dogfight the last 15 games just to make (the playoffs). Man, there was a lot of pressure on us. We knew the kind of personnel we had and we knew that if we could just sneak in, we could do some damage. We were able to do that and it's been kind of relaxing ever since." The Oilers' physical play was key to victory in Games 5 and 6. After Game 4, Oilers coach Craig MacTavish remarked that he was surprised that the Oilers' bruising forecheck hadn't already shown results. Do the Oilers think the Carolina defenseman are getting gun shy from the banging on the boards and the open-ice hits?
"We hope so," Horcoff responded. That's been our focus the whole time: Go out there and play a physical game and let them know they're going to pay a price if they want to make plays back there. Nothing's going to be different. We're hoping to come in even harder.
"We'll find out. I'm sure they're going to come with their best game and show a lot of energy, especially being at home. We don't want to change anything. We want to be able to go out there and skate hard, pressure their 'D,' be physical and get pucks to the net."
Roloson was hurt in Game 1 of the Final here. The Oilers lost that game and the next, 5-0, in front of backup goalie Jussi Markkanen, who has gained his confidence in the succeeding games and is a major reason why the Oilers live to contest Game 7. Horcoff said the Oilers have confidence, not only in Markkanen, but in all their teammates.
"We all feel confident," Horcoff said. "We expect this out of ourselves and we expected to be in this situation. Now that it's here, we know if we go in and play the type of game that we can play, we're going to give ourselves a good chance to come out on top."
Horcoff intends to deliver. Then, he can leave, carrying the Stanley Cup.
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