Pisani, Horcoff reflect on Edmonton Oilers’ 2006 loss

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SUNRISE, FLA. — As the 2024 edition of the Edmonton Oilers readies for their date with destiny Monday night — trying to become the first NHL team in 82 years to climb out of a 0-3 foxhole to win the Stanley Cup — nobody is pulling for them more than the 2006 Oilers, the first No. 8 seed to make it to the final.

They don’t want the current team headlined by Connor McDavid to have the same sour ending — 25 games over two months — they did when Fernando Pisani, Shawn Horcoff and coach Craig MacTavish got to Game 7 18 years ago.

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‘Devastation and shock’

No Dream Team. Instead, they were left with the heartache that they had come oh so close, only to fall 3-1 in Raleigh, N.C., on June 19, 2006.

You try to shut out the outside noise (in the rink), but as Pisani, who had 14 goals that playoff spring, says, “It’s crushing, to be honest.”

“You go that far, and you’ve done so many things as a team and as an individual … but there’s no other way to put it: it’s crushing (when the bitter end comes). It’s tough to walk away from. You hear all the yelling and other stuff (on the ice) going on, and you’re not a part of it,” Pisani said.

“You’re numb. There (are) no tears. It’s devastation and shock,” said Horcoff, now Detroit’s assistant GM. “Back then, every one of us whole-heartedly believed we were going to do it. Every year, at this time, you’re reminded of it. It’s a lesson, but we weren’t able to do it.”

In fact, they missed the playoffs for the next 10 years — the decade of darkness.

Chris Pronger was one and done, traded shortly after the loss in Carolina. Mike Peca left too. So did Sergei Samsonov and Jaro Spacek.

McDavid’s Oilers clearly don’t want the same fate, and not having trailed for a single second over the past three games, they may just be a runaway train. As we all know, a win would finally cement McDavid’s legacy.

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All the great ones, no matter the sport, have to validate their place in the game with a team win. McDavid’s said it. All the Hart trophies and scoring titles are fine, but he doesn’t want to be sitting there with the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP if he doesn’t have the Stanley Cup as a bookend.

“(McDavid is) one of the all-time greats, and he wants to do what the other greats have done. Gretzky, and you think of Kobe, Jordan, Brady. All the greats have a story, like bringing a team back from three down, literally on their back,” Horcoff said.

By now, we know the 2024 Oilers are writing a fantastic playoff script, but the 2006 Oilers had their days in the sun too. And the trajectory of how they got to where they did is pretty similar. Pisani won Game 5 in ’06 with a shorthanded dagger in overtime in Raleigh with the Stanley Cup in the house. Then, they blew out the Hurricanes at Rexall Place in Game 6, but the last loss was a violent kick to the gut.

“We kind of felt Game 7 would be period four of Game 6, but it was something completely different,” said MacTavish, who was behind the bench then. “For whatever reason, we couldn’t sustain the level of pressure we had in Game 6. We didn’t have (many scoring chances). We pressured them for 60 minutes in Game 6 and probably pressured them for six in Game 7.”

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Former Oilers captain Doug Weight was on the Carolina team but hurt. Cam Ward, the pride of Sherwood Park, was the ‘Canes goalie, and former Oilers stick boy Ray Whitney was emotionally torn, beating the team he grew up idolizing.

“I’m sure (Ward) gets over it when he looks at his ring,” said Pisani with a laugh.

“It was dicey (having a 3-1 series lead and almost blowing it). It was a real beat down in Game 6,” said Whitney. One of his duties was keeping champagne on ice in the dressing room in the 1987 Oilers final against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We had a chance to do what nobody else had done, an eighth seed winning, but at the time, you’re just so focused on the task at hand, I don’t recall anybody bringing that (storyline) up,” said Horcoff. “But we didn’t have social media back then. It’s a different world today.”

‘Running on adrenaline’

Horcoff the player lived in the moment. Same with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and the other Oilers of today.

“During the game, you’re not thinking about history, but the media’s talking about it,” Horcoff said.

Horcoff certainly sees travel similarities between the Carolina-Edmonton journey of 18 years ago: the back-and-forth grind in the final and today’s six-hour charter flights between Edmonton and Florida. He also sees the same picture show in terms of the rallies, then and now.

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“We win Game 5, like we did (on the road), then we come home, and to play as well as we did, obviously, you’re feeling good about yourself. Game 7 was close. For me, it could have gone either way. They scored first, and we had to chase the game. They got an empty netter,” Horcoff said.

“It’s hard to come back in a Game 7 … You’ve played over 100 games at that point, and you’re mentally and physically drained. You keep pushing and grinding through it. You get a few chances, and it’s about who scores,” said Pisani, who scored so many goals in 2006 that every meal he had in Little Italy was on the house.

He scored the iconic shorthanded goal in Game 5. In Game 7, he scored early in the third period to make it 2-1 and almost got it to overtime.

“I had the one at the end, but the puck bounced over my stick,” Pisani said.

Horcoff does concede the extra day, especially before a Game 7 can be an elixir for the team that got stomped the game before.

“(Carolina was) able to elevate their last game at home. There’s probably something to having an extra day to regroup … By Game 7, you’re running on adrenaline. But it’s an extra day of preparation to mentally let go of Game 6,” Horcoff said.

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