Duncan Keith’s phone started blowing up over the weekend after Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch announced to the media that the three-time Stanley Cup champion had spoken to the team.
Specifically, Knoblauch shared, Keith reminded Oilers players Friday morning how he and the 2011 Chicago Blackhawks team came back from 3-0 down in a first-round series with the Chicago Canucks. Vancouver in 2011 to force a Game 7 overtime before ultimately falling just short. in a few rather memorable days.
Needless to say, this Oilers team would certainly take Game 7 overtime against a Florida Panthers team that would have its second chance to hoist the Stanley Cup Tuesday night in front of their home crowd in Game 5.
Reached in Penticton, British Columbia, on Monday morning, Keith, now the Oilers’ player development consultant, made it clear that he didn’t exactly give a “speech” to the team, but that he did rather spoke with a number of players in separate conversations Friday morning. Game 3.
Which suits Keith’s low-key style better.
Duncan Keith has played the last 64 of his 1,256 NHL games with the Oilers. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
“I was getting text messages from friends and family saying, ‘You should go back and give them another speech,'” Keith said. Athleticism with a little embarrassed laugh. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about? »
Then he saw what Knoblauch had shared. Which was good, of course. But it wasn’t a speech in front of the whole team.
“I went there to see the guys more than anything, you know, but I talked to a few players,” said the 2015 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. “I was walking around talking to different guys. I gave them a little bit of the situation I was in in 2011 against the Canucks.
Keith spoke to most of the team’s players in various side chats.
“I just shared how we were down 3-0 and pushed it all the way to Game 7 in overtime, and the turning point was we were fed up,” Keith said. “I was embarrassed by the situation knowing that we were also the defending Cup champions, about to be swept in the next round (after winning the Cup).
“We were all a little upset and just playing a little angry. When we were able to get that win in game four, we started to feel really good about that win. And it just gave a good dynamic and confidence to our group.
The Oilers also looked like they played a little angry in Saturday’s 8-1 win.
For Keith and the 2011 Blackhawks, real belief began to build after a Game 5 win. This is what the Oilers must try to achieve on Tuesday night.
“We had a really good Game 5 in Vancouver, and now we’re in a series,” Keith said. “And you built that trust. Once that momentum can change, just start building and building.
Another victory in Game 6 at home in Chicago in 2011 caused chaos.
“It’s almost a situation where you believe so much that you can’t lose, you know? It goes the other way,” Keith said. “I know that was the case for us. We believed in it until the end. When we went to Game 7, I thought it was destiny.
Clearly, that wasn’t the case, as Alex Burrows ended things in overtime and the Canucks survived en route to a possible Stanley Cup Final appearance.
However, the Hawks gave the Canucks a lot of fear.
Can the Oilers do the same?
There’s a reason only four teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit in NHL history. There’s a good chance the Panthers will get the job done, if not Tuesday night (that’s my bet), then at least over the next three games.
We did, however, reach out to members of the 2014 Cup champion Los Angeles Kings team that made it last round, coming back from 3-0 down against San Jose to beat the Sharks in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.
“If you’re in Edmonton and you’re down 0-3, no one expects you to win anymore,” Justin Williams texted Sunday. “You obviously always want it, but no one expects it anymore, so mentally you might be able to play looser, freer and with less stress, and that’s a powerful thing. Florida doesn’t hasn’t had to face any adversity or real pressure so far in this series due to their lead, but if you can just chip away, with each game the pressure mounts and becomes heavier to bear.
“If you’re in Edmonton, you also have to remember that the team you’re playing hasn’t won anything. … It’s not like you’re playing against a team with multiple winners who have done it before, so that mentality also has to be used if you want to recover.
Justin Williams and the Kings came back from a 3-0 deficit against the Sharks before winning the Stanley Cup in 2014. (Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images)
Another former Kings player from 2014, Jarret Stoll, recalled how huge Game 5 was for them.
“Obviously you say one game, one game – that’s how you have to take it. Otherwise, your season is over,” Stoll said. “But Game 5 is such a crucial game because especially when you don’t have home ice advantage, you win Game 5, you have to win in their building, which is not going to be easy. We did in San Jose, and that’s the game I remember the most. We played a great game, and then we had all the momentum in the world and we just weren’t going to lose game six at home. Then you go back to game 7 and there it is game 7.
“It’s going to be difficult, that’s for sure. This is why only four teams have done it. But it’s interesting: once the momentum starts, you can’t stop it.
Williams added: “Game 5 will be the toughest test, and Florida is going to throw everything. It will take individual players to be great and make a play (probably Stuart Skinner). If they win game five, true belief will show and you never know.
But there is also that. That 2014 Kings team had championship pedigree, just like the 2011 Blackhawks team.
“You know, on that 2014 team, we had won six rounds before that series against San Jose,” former Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said. Athleticism. “Most of the coaches, players, management that won the Cup in 2012 were still there, and then Chicago beat us in the conference final (in 2013). So I think that always comes into play. Just that you have that bank there, you know that the fourth game is the hardest to win, but when you have won the fourth game several times as a group, you always know that the pressure is more on the other group if he has the series lead.
Still, Sutter, like everyone else, is intrigued after the Oilers’ 8-1 victory Saturday night.
“Obviously it makes the show interesting again,” Sutter said. “Because some people thought it was over. Well, it’s not over yet.
But is the momentum real in the playoffs? This is the age-old debate.
“I heard Paul Maurice say last night that he didn’t believe in momentum,” Stoll said. “There are two ways of looking at it. I remember in 2006 (with the Oilers in the Cup final against the Carolina Hurricanes), we were down 3-1 in the series and Fernando Pisani scored in overtime in Game 5 in Carolina, so same kind of thing. ‘history. We go back to Edmonton and definitely play our best game of the season. We won 3-0 and gave Carolina like 12 shots or something. We go back to Carolina for Game 7 and we have all the momentum in the world.
“But they came out like gangbusters in Game 7 and just took it from us in the first half. From the first five minutes of this match, they gained this momentum. Now there are two days between games before Game 5 in Florida. I think it’s great for Florida to completely reset after this loss.
The fact is, who knows what an 8-1 Oilers win really means heading into Game 5 on Tuesday night?
Obviously, Keith is not neutral on the issue given his work with the Oilers. He hopes Game 4 will be something to build on.
“I really believe the game they won a few nights ago could be a real catalyst for them in terms of gaining momentum and confidence now,” Keith said. “Now they just have to continue to move away from that.
“Like Connor (McDavid) said, take them back to Alberta and let’s see the Panthers try to beat them again on the ice in Edmonton. It would make a great story, that’s for sure.
(Top photos of Connor McDavid, Stuart Skinner and Duncan Keith: Derek Leung and Andy Devlin / Getty Images)