EDMONTON -- Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish has repeatedly used the phrase "fine line" to describe the difference between winning and losing in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final that has featured four one-goal decisions, including one in overtime, in the first five games.
"We're cutting this awfully close and we did that through the first two games," MacTavish said after his team's dramatic victory in Game 5. The win improved the Oilers' position to a 3-2 games deficit with Game 6 Saturday in Edmonton. Just as in Game 5, the Oilers face elimination Saturday, if they lose. Should they win, they return to Raleigh, tied in the series, 3-3, and in position to take their first lead in games. That is, the only time they'll be in front, in games, is at the wire.
The Oilers were ahead in the series, in goals, in Game 1 when they rushed to a 3-0 lead. They failed in their attempt to hold the lead and lost, 5-4. They were aggressive early and established a big lead. They were less aggressive later and lost the last half of the game, 5-1.
MacTavish asked himself and his team, in words of his own, if they failed to embrace risk and thus failed utterly.
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Schedule / Links:
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| Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos |
| Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos |
| Gm. 3: EDM 2, CAR 1 | Photos |
| Gm. 4: CAR 2, EDM 1 | Photos |
| Gm. 5: EDM 4, CAR 3 OT | Photos |
Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| *if necessary |
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"Game 1, I talk about regret, but Game 1 is a poster child for that," MacTavish said Thursday. "And this time of year, you can't leave a game on the table and I thought we left one there in Game 1. As I said, right after the game, (and) especially after Game 2, the margin of error is fine and we're going to have to be near perfect to win. I still believe that. We're going to have to play our two best games in Game 6 and Game 7 to win this. I do have more hope today that we're capable of it than I did two days ago? Absolutely."
With his team down three games to one, Fernando Pisani's shorthanded, breakaway overtime goal in Game 5 rescued the Oilers from elimination. It was a daring play and a fine example of risk vs. reward. It's a vexing problem, risk vs. reward, in hockey just as in all phases of life: Without risk, there is no success. Risk involves exposure and holds the potential for failure. On the other hand, complacency, the unwillingness to accept risk, also opens the door to failure.
What to do?
The answer lies in accumulating information, evaluating it and putting it into practice in a way that benefits.
Carolina had five of its best offensive players on the ice -- Rod Brind'Amour, Cory Stillman, Eric Staal, Justin Williams and Frankie Kaberle, in front of goalie Cam Ward. After a shift change following a faceoff in which Jarret Stoll beat Brind'Amour and forced the puck up ice, Edmonton changed forwards, also removing Mike Peca, and had four of its best defensive players on the ice -- Chris Pronger, Jason Smith, Ethan Moreau and Pisani.
Smith and Pronger were well positioned behind Pisani, who was in the center of the ice, just outside the Carolina blue line, while Moreau pressured Stillman along the boards to Ward's left. Stillman had just received a short pass from Staal behind the goal line and was quickly confronted by Moreau. Staal moved quickly up ice and was approaching his own blue line when Stillman made one of weakest -- and ultimately worst -- passes of his long career. The puck seemed to take forever en route to Staal.
That's when and where Pisani's growing evaluation skills came into play. Surveying the situation, Pisani knew Stillman was the last man back and tied up along the boards by Moreau. The weak pass forced both Staal and Williams, near center ice on the right boards, to turn back in wait toward their own net, their backs facing the goal they needed to attack. It also caused Kaberle, on Moreau and Stillman's side of the ice, but well out from the boards and beyond his blue line, to over-skate the play. Just forward of Kaberle, on the left boards, Brind'Amour was in the right position for a breakout pass, but Stillman's sight and passing lane were blocked by Moreau.
On the negative side, Pisani knew that if he failed to intercept the pass and Staal collected it, Pisani would be in an increasingly distant position to pursue the Hurricanes' 5-on-3 attack. On the positive side, an interception could lead to the winning goal, as it did. It wasn't like Pisani had a sure thing in front of him.
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Pisani has been one of the Oilers top scoring threats during their remarkable playoff run.
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"Yeah, I wasn't sure," Pisani admitted Thursday. "The puck was kind of going slow and I just decided to go for it. (Staal) has a long reach and I got my stick on it as well. It hit me in the chest and, all of a sudden, I looked up and I've got a breakaway on the goalie."
Smith felt the Oiler defensemen were in position to defend against the potentially overwhelming odd-man rush and hailed Pisani's decision making.
"He was in good position in the middle of the rink and he was confident he could get back on the backcheck if he didn't make the steal and he could get back and get good position in our zone. We had two guys behind him, both defensemen were in good position. It worked out the right way. That's part of the game."
Teammate Raffi Torres had made a brilliant play early in the game to reject a shot opportunity into traffic in front of Ward, turned and passed back to the point to Pronger, who launched a rocket of a slap shot on net. Pisani, an excellent re-director of shots, tipped it past Ward for the first goal of the game. Torres also played an important physical role throughout the game and instantly felt Pisani's decision would make Torres' efforts worth the pain.
"I thought it was great," he said. "I thought, that's the guy we want going in on a breakaway. He showed why he's been our No. 1 guy in the playoffs. It was a great goal by him, incredible shot selection. That's what we've been talking about, getting it up above his glove. He went in like that and made the right decision. That's what made it so special."
Alone in front of Ward, Pisani was faced with another decision: Where to shoot? Ward has a great glove hand, but Pisani's went high over it into the upper left-hand corner of the net, tying him with Brind'Amour for the playoffs' goal-scoring lead with 12. Through study, the Oilers' braintrust believed Ward could be beaten there.
Two decisions, the risky interception and the proper shot selection, influenced by information and evaluation, produced one payoff, the winning goal.
