Oilers pull off miracle in game 6!

Vancouver Canucks vs Edmonton Oilers 3-4 OT (1-1, 2-0, 0-2, 0-1)

The Oilers were preparing themselves for yet another fight to the death, while the Canucks were still quite safe in the knowledge that very few teams had ever come back from a 1-3 series deficit. Vancouver had also taken both games at Rexall in this series and found little reason to panic - as if panic has ever been subject to choice. Edmonton made no line changes and opted to keep Khabibulin in the net from the start.

For the fifth straight game, the Oilers allow the first goal of the game. Henrik Sedin was, as Louie Debrusk would most certainly call it, "Johnny on the spot" to pot home a big rebound from Khabibulin. Fortunately for the home team, they managed to apply instant pressure to the wound and control the damage by adding a power play marker of their own just a minute later. Anton Babchuk's laser beam grazed Luongo's blocker on the way, but ended up in the net nonetheless.

After being denied a goal by the Bulin Wall earlier in the shift, Alexandre Burrows got his vengeance on the Russian netminder by waiting him out the next time around, sending his team in front. The slide got more slippery, the hole got deeper and the light got fainter for the home team three minutes later. Ryan Kesler was able to tip Daniel Sedin's shot and fool Khabibulin just enough to score. Edmonton sprung into action and drew two minors before the second break, but could not solve Luongo during either of them.

The third period evolved into a siege by Edmonton on the Canucks, though that also implies that little attacking was done. The Oilers kept neatly to the outside for most of the period, taking low percentage shots because they were what was available. It was apparent that the coaching staff was looking for a more driven approach, but Vancouver's defence was solid. The sands of time was grinding the Oilers' season to a halt and the fans must have been thinking of Jules de Gaultier's words "Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality." Reality was that there was a superior goaltender, a superior defense, 2 minutes and a overwhelming statistic between the Oilers and further life in the post-season. When Lee Falardeau wristed a Moreau pass into the net with 1:58 to go, most fans cheered like wild animals, but knew within their hearts that it was but a cruel tease. Then, with 28 seconds to go, Khabibulin on the bench, sticks on the ice, shoulders to the wheel, noses to the grindstone, plugging away, grinding it out, keeping it simple, putting pucks to the net, driving to the crease, never saying die and willing to win - Patrick O'Sullivan completed the comeback and sent the game to overtime in a most scripted fashion, by finding that miniscule hole between Luongo's arm and pad to send the puck into the net!

On an Oilers power play, eleven minutes into overtime, 16 839 people at Rexall Place witnessed how religion is born, how legends are spawned and how something CAN be created from nothing. Although some scientist have proven the latter is possible, none have done so in such an entertaining fashion, nor will ever likely do so. Dustin Penner drove down the left wing, forcing his way past Sami Salo, fed Brooks Laich with a pass, but to a collective "ooooh" Laich gets little on the shot and the puck barely goes into Luongo's right pad. Taylor Chorney, who had a total of zero regular season games and is a pending RFA, came rushing in from the point to poke the loose puck through Luongo - rendering the people in the stands nothing short of euphoric. Edmonton's comeback had defied logic, more than 'one and one making three' could ever do.

Post game: "So beautiful...they should have sent a poet" quoted GM Kowalski from Carl Sagan's Contact. He made no further comments, but instead left head coach Constantine to reiterate the need for a collective effort in game 7. "It's a bit dry, I know" said assistant coach Tom Renney, "but we really do have to regroup and come out strong, because this was not the end of it. We are fortunate to be in a game 7 and now we have to pay lady luck back by taking it home". Suddenly it appears pressure is with the Canucks, who were stunned by the unexpected resurgence of the Oilers. Alain Vigneault remarked a vital point, "We were not playing badly, but they came through nonetheless". Taylor Chorney's #41 can be expected to appear on an increasing amount of jersies before game seven, that is the only certainty of it all.



Scoreboard
1st Period:
VAN - H. Sedin (D. Sedin, Samuelsson) PP
EDM - Babchuk (Hemsky, Tangradi) PP

2nd Period:
VAN - Burrows (Pettinger, Edler)
VAN - Kesler (D. Sedin, H. Sedin)

3rd Period:
EDM - Falardeau (Moreau, Brule)
EDM - O'Sullivan (Tangradi, Yonkman)

Overtime (1st):
EDM - Chorney (Laich, Penner) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Tangradi - Laich - O'Sullivan
Axelsson - Cogliano - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - Brule

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Chorney - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)