The Anatomy of a Moment: The Hurricanes and Oilers Go to War to Begin the 2006 Final
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was a wild back-and-forth affair between two combatants looking to make history by winning the cup.
The Team of Destiny Starts Hot
While the Hurricanes were probably the better team on paper, the Oilers came out in Game 1 with something to prove. The fans at the RBC Center witnessed a stunning start from the visitors. The Oilers drew first blood in the series less than nine minutes into the game. Fernando Pisani redirected Jaroslav Spacek's point shot, and while Cam Ward made the initial stop, Pisani picked up the rebound to score his league-leading tenth goal of the postseason.
Fernando Pisani's postseason run seemingly came out of nowhere. While he put together a career season in 2005-06, scoring 18 goals and 37 points, Pisani was a bit of a late bloomer. He was drafted in the eighth round by the Oilers in 1996, needing several years before finally cracking the big team. With five goals in their series against the Red Wings, Pisani was a big part of the huge upset victory.
The second period provided a little history with it. Niclas Wallin was found guilty of covering the puck in the crease, giving the Oilers a chance to go 1-on-1 with Cam Ward. The Oilers chose to go with future Hall-of-Famer Chris Pronger. In his first season with Edmonton, Pronger had been acquired in the offseason from the Blues and has ties to Hartford, being drafted by the Whalers second overall in 1993. Pronger beat Ward to his stick side, becoming the first player to score on a penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final.
The lead swole to 3-0 in the second period after a tough bounce. Ethan Moreau's shot from the boards hit Aaron Ward in front of the net and beat Cam Ward under his blocker. It was a potentially back-breaking bounce that sucked the life out of the building. Despite the deficit, this Hurricanes team hadn't gotten this far without a little adversity.
Wardo, Willy, and the Wizard Get the Canes Back in it
Whenever the Hurricanes needed a clutch goal throughout the 2006 playoffs, they called on their captain to light the fire. Whether it was Game 3 against Montreal or Game 7 against Buffalo, Rod Brind'Amour was setting the example on the ice. On this night, he kickstarted the comeback. Dwayne Roloson got most of Justin Williams' initial shot, but the puck squeaked through him for Brind'Amour to clean up, getting the Canes on the board less than a minute after Edmonton made it 3-0.
Brind'Amour's late-period magic carried into the third. It took Ray Whitney 100 seconds into the third to get the Canes back within a goal, burying a one-timer from Doug Weight. The Wizard doubled up less than three and a half minutes later with the Canes on the power play. Mark Recchi was denied on a chance alone at the front of the net, but Whitney swooped in to pot the tying goal.
If the roof hadn't been blown off the building yet, Justin Williams did his part to try and do so. Oilers defenseman Steve Staios couldn't handle a puck at the point, giving Williams a short-handed breakaway. At the halfway point in the third period, Williams buried it past the blocker of Roloson to give the Canes their first lead of the game.
With half of the period remaining, there was still plenty to fight for. The Oilers were now on their heels, fighting to draw back even. Shawn Horcoff had a great chance to tie the game with 8:25 left on an empty net. Ryan Smyth made a great pass to catch Cam Ward out of position. Instead of a sure goal, Ward dove back and stuck out his glove, getting just enough of the puck to keep it out.
The Series Gets a Major Shakeup
Though Cam Ward's stop was incredible, the Oilers would eventually get the tying goal. Ales Hemsky, Edmonton's leading scorer from the regular season, scored on the power play by burying a backhand and doing his best Bobby Orr impression to knot the game at four. A defensive breakdown allowed Hemsky to get outside of the penalty killers before making a move to the front of the net for the goal with 6:29 remaining.
It's largely agreed that the turning point in the entire series came 34 seconds later. Ray Whitney fed rookie Andrew Ladd for a chance, but Ladd lost an edge on his way to the net. Edmonton defender Marc-Andre Bergeron gave Ladd an extra push, sending him straight into Dwayne Roloson. In a flash, Edmonton's collective breaths were being held.
Undrafted out of college, Roloson signed with the Calgary Flames in 1994 but never established himself as a surefire starter. He made a stop in Buffalo for two years, and while the Blue Jackets selected him during their expansion draft in 2000, he signed with St. Louis a few weeks later as a free agent. It wasn't until he signed with Minnesota in 2001 that he finally got his chance to shine.
Roloson posted a league-best .933 save percentage during the 2003-04 season, but his season started very poorly with the Wild in 2005. In 24 games, Roloson had managed just six wins. Needing some help in the net, the Oilers traded their first-round pick in 2006 and a third-round pick in 2007 to the Wild to acquire Roloson's services. The trade became more than worth it in the playoffs, as Roloson posted a .931 save percentage through the first three rounds.
The Captain Comes Up Clutch
With Dwayne Roloson knocked out of the game, Ty Conklin came in to play the final six minutes. Conklin hadn't played since Edmonton's season finale just under two months prior, so he was coming into the game and the series ice cold. This would prove costly for the Oilers. Conklin came out of his net to play the puck after the Canes dumped it in. Oilers captain Jason Smith came in to take the puck, but Conklin put a little too much on the pass. Rod Brind'Amour swooped in, stole the puck, and placed it into the empty net with 31.1 seconds left to give the Canes a 5-4 lead.
With time of the essence for the Oilers, they threw everything they could at Cam Ward in the final 30 seconds. For the second time in the game, Ward made a ten-bell stop on Shawn Horcoff. The Oilers tried everything they could, but Ward held his ground, stretching to make an amazing glove stop on Horcoff with 3.8 seconds remaining. This would be the final straw for Edmonton, as the horn sounded in a 5-4 Game 1 victory for the Hurricanes.
The Aftermath
Dwayne Roloson would miss the remainder of the series with torn ligaments in his right knee. Jussi Markanen, who'd played most of Edmonton's games that season, assumed the starting role for the rest of the series. While Game 2 wasn't pretty for the Oilers, Markanen gave them a real shot at winning, making 24 stops in a Game 3 win and pitching a 16-save shutout in Game 6 to send the series back to Raleigh for a winner-take-all Game 7.
Ultimately, the Hurricanes would win the series, getting goals from Aaron Ward, Frantisek Kaberle, and Justin Williams in Game 7 to earn the franchise's only Stanley Cup. Cam Ward made 22 stops in the final game, cementing his Conn Smythe-winning performance as the playoffs MVP. Eric Staal posted a series-high eight points, including the primary assist on the empty-net goal to seal it. Fernando Pisani scored five goals in the series, finishing with a league-leading 14 goals in 24 games.
To this day, there are questions as to whether the Hurricanes would've won this series if Roloson hadn't gotten hurt. I've never bought into that theory, but that's also because of my allegiance to the Hurricanes. Regardless of the theories, the Canes haven't ever returned to the top of the mountain. They've made it to the Eastern Conference Finals three times since then, failing to win a game in any of their appearances.