Oilers hoping good history repeats itself in Game 3
EDMONTON, Alberta -- History is both the Edmonton Oilers' greatest ally and its most dangerous enemy.
And so the challenge in trying to escape the 2-0 series deficit in which they find themselves in these Stanley Cup finals is to be selective about the role history plays in preparing for Game 3 Saturday night vs. Carolina.
 Peca • Hurricanes rookie goaltender Cam Ward has been, in Craig MacTavish's words, "unflappable" in the Stanley Cup finals. The Oilers will continue to put traffic in front of Ward, but Ryan Smyth said something else might put a chink in the netminder's armor: nerves. Saturday's Game 3 will be a sort of homecoming for Ward, who grew up in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park. "There's going to be a way to get into his head a little bit," Smyth said. "I know he's from around this area. Hopefully that gives him a little more butterflies and we can jump on that." • Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said Thursday that Georges Laraque would not be suspended for his shot-from-behind hit on Carolina's Andrew Ladd in the waning minutes of Game 2. Laraque received a game misconduct. -- Joy Russo |
First, the bad history.
Of the 29 NHL teams that have won the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals at home since the seven-game series was introduced in 1939, 28 went on to win the Cup. Only the Montreal Canadiens lost the first two games on the road and ended up champions, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks in seven games in 1971. Overall, teams winning the opening two games of the finals have gone on to win the Cup 38 of 41 times. The 1942 Maple Leafs, who overcame a 3-0 deficit, and the 1966 Canadiens are the other two teams to complete the comeback.
"That's got nothing to do with anything," insisted Oilers forward Fernando Pisani, who leads the Oilers with 10 goals this spring. "The past is the past."
Well, sort of. The past is the past only if it means you're done like dinner.
And for the Oilers, there's always the good history to fall back on.
It was less than a month ago that the Oilers found themselves trailing the San Jose Sharks 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs, having dropped twin 2-1 games in California. The Oilers won Game 3 in triple overtime at Rexall Place and went on to dispatch the Sharks in six games.
"As a coach you can at times, and I don't like to, but you can be the master of the obvious," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said Thursday after the teams had flown in from Raleigh. " 'We've done it before, we can do it again' has I guess some merit. They all know that.
"What I will say is Game 3 [against San Jose] was as a tremendously difficult game to win here. Carolina quite clearly has got all the momentum in the series at this point. Things are going well. They're getting timely goals, timely saves when they need them. That'll be the most difficult game to win will be Game 3," MacTavish added. "But having been there and been in that position and succeeded and overcome a late San Jose lead and then win the game in overtime, we know momentum changes."
Just thinking about what happened a month ago isn't going to cut it for the Oilers. There are some technical things, like taking too many penalties and being unable to find clear shooting lanes or beat rookie goaltending sensation Cam Ward. But some Oilers believe there is a comfort in knowing that it can be accomplished.
"I think you can look at how we responded to being down 2-0, but this is pretty much do or die. Nobody's moving on after this. It's over after this. I think we all understand that," said defenseman Chris Pronger.
"Coming back home, we're excited," added forward Ryan Smyth. "The fans thrive on it and we thrive off of that. We have to continue what we did in San Jose -- right now. That really turned things around the right way for us."
Scott Burnside is an NHL writer for ESPN.com.
