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Rewind: The Night the Carolina Hurricanes almost won The Cup

By Jeb Bohn

RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 07: Aaron Ward #4 of the Carolina Hurricanes reacts after falling to the ice during game two of the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers on June 7, 2006 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 07: Aaron Ward #4 of the Carolina Hurricanes reacts after falling to the ice during game two of the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers on June 7, 2006 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

1st Period

Maybe you believe in omens; maybe you don’t.  No matter your stance on that topic, things didn’t get off to a great start for the Hurricanes.  Off of the opening draw, the puck went into Carolina’s zone and the Oilers swarmed.  With traffic scattered throughout the slot, Raffi Torres slid the puck to the point where Chris Pronger rifled a shot on goal.  Fernando Pisani, Edmonton’s playoff hero, tipped it past Ward.  Just 16 seconds in and the visitors were up 1-0.

A fortuitous bounce nearly tied the game for the Hurricanes 95 seconds later when Josef Vasicek threw the puck in from the neutral zone.  A strange carom off of the glass caught Edmonton goalie Jussi Markkanen off guard as he came out of his net, forcing him to dive across the crease in order to preserve the lead.  The Hurricanes were starting to buzz, forcing the Oilers into taking penalties in an effort to slow them down.

With Edmonton’s Matt Greene off for hooking, Carolina quickly set to work on their second power play of the game.  After driving the play, Eric Staal took a pass from Recchi and fired a heavy wrist shot from the right circle.  The initial shot was blocked, but Staal drove the net, scooping up the loose puck and launching it on net.  Markkanen made the first save but was unable to stop Staal’s follow-up attempt.  The boys in red had tied things up at 1-1.

Just past the halfway mark of the period, with Greene again in the penalty box—this time for holding—Ray Whitney uncorked a shot from the top of the circle to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.  Edmonton answered a little over three minutes later when Ales Hemsky wired a shot over Ward’s shoulder, tying things up at 2.  This was the third power-play goal of the period and first for the Oilers.

What had been a crazy period skewed more towards the insane when a loose puck came to Michael Peca, who promptly slid the puck past a sprawling Ward.  As the first period ended, the visitors skated off with a 3-2 lead.  The teams had combined for 16 minutes in penalties during a wide-open period that saw 5 different goal scorers.

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