Fernando Pisani stunned the Carolina Hurricanes with a short-handed goal in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday and send the series back to Canada.
"This goal puts up right back in it," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "We've still got a lot of work to do, but nobody wanted to see that trophy tonight."
The Hurricanes still lead 3-2, but the Oilers have life. Game 6 is tomorrow night in Edmonton.
Carolina had the upper hand when Steve Staios dragged down Mark Recchi breaking toward the Edmonton goal 3 minutes into the extra period. But Cory Stillman, a star of the playoffs, made a lazy cross-ice pass for Eric Staal as the Hurricanes set up a rush.
Pisani stole it at the blue line, broke in all alone on Cam Ward and beat the 22-year-old rookie with a high shot into the corner of the net over Ward's glove at 3:31 of overtime.
"I saw he was cheating to that side and I just picked the top half of the net to shoot at," Pisani said. "To score that goal was huge."
The Oilers are hanging tough and defying skeptics who expected the Hurricanes to finish things off quickly after Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson sustained a series-ending knee injury in Game 1.
With backup Jussi Markkanen playing another solid game -- his third in a row -- the Oilers are still alive.
"The guys have definitely been playing well in front of me," Markkanen said, "so it makes it way more easy for a goaltender."
Staal scored his first two goals of the finals for Carolina, which had a chance to clinch its first Stanley Cup on home ice.
But the team which was born in the old World Hockey Association as the New England Whalers and moved south in 1997 will have to wait at least three more days to sip from North American ice hockey's most treasured prize.
The cup was packed back up and shipped to Edmonton. If the Oilers win again, it's back to Raleigh for a decisive Game 7 on Monday.
This one was played after the remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto moved through Raleigh, dumping up to 20cm of rain and flooding a major shopping mall a few kilometers away from the RBC Center.
But the storm tapered off in the afternoon and Carolina's fans were able to do their usual tailgating outside the arena, whipping themselves into a frenzy by the time they got inside -- only to have the team from Canada score a stunning goal on the first shot of the game.
Both teams tightened up considerably over the final two periods of regulation. Staal scored the tying goal midway through the second, and the teams combined for only seven shots on goal in the third.
But the Oilers controlled the overtime, putting seven shots on Ward. The last one beat him.
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