MATHESON: ‘Phenomenal’ Perry in centre of action with offence, hit on Stone

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While Edmonton Oilers forward Corey Perry had two goals in Game 3, in his 224th playoff game, one back of Glenn Anderson on the career list, a collision between Perry and Vegas captain Mark Stone in the first period was also a storyline.

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Stone, who had two goals in Game 1 and two assists in Game 2, only played 5:54 on Saturday against the Golden Knights.

The play with Perry in the open ice seemed innocuous as Stone fell, until it wasn’t.

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Stone played three shifts after the hit where it appeared he either hurt his arm/hand or his head. Whatever it was, it KO’d Stone for the last two periods. The Golden Knights won without him, but his availability in Game 4 is very much up in the air.

“He’s doing all right … we’ll keep him as day-to-day,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy, tossing out the most used three words about injured players in post-season — day-to-day, until the days run out. “He wasn’t able to finish the game, we all know that. Hopefully he’s better tomorrow and ready to go.

“He went into Perry there and it was awkward and he tried to play through it. That’s all I know from what I saw, that’s my best guess (accident),” said Cassidy, who likely knows more than he’s letting on (where he’s hurt) than for public consumption, of course, because he’s the coach.

“Listen, he is an emotional leader, but we have other guys. That’s our team,” said Cassidy.

“It’s hard to replace what he does on the ice but we’ve got lots of good players. Sounds like a cliche, but at this time of year it’s the hand you’re dealt. You hope to see him walk back down the tunnel (to the ice after being hurt) but it didn’t happen.

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“He’s a big part of this … he’s like (Brayden) McNabb. They’re big guys who want to push through and help us but we’re a tight group like most teams. They’ve won together, lost together so that factors in; you want to give them every chance to rejoin the team. We’re hoping that’s tomorrow.”

Perry checks all the boxes

Perry has five goals on just 14 shots in the Oilers’ nine games, so his shooting percentage is through the roof, as he’s tied with Leon Draisaitl for the team high. When he scored two in the first period (one a hard shot from the high slot, the other a PP tip-in), Sportsnet immediately sent out a stats alert in case he got a third goal.

If he had managed a hat trick with a later snipe, Perry would have been the oldest player in NHL history with a playoff HT. The oldest on record is Edmonton-born Johnny Bucyk, the Hall of Famer who had three for Boston against Chicago on April 21, 1974. He was 38 years and 344 days old.

Perry, who turns 40 on Friday, now has 59 career playoff goals, moving past Brad Marchand for fourth-most amongst active NHLers.

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“Pretty phenomenal what he’s doing. He’s just an elite player around the net,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. I don’t think anybody thought he had this in him for so long but he’s continued to develop and find ways to help the team. And right now he’s doing it around the net, like he usually does.”

Perry has 24 goals in exactly 90 games this season. He played 81 in regular-season and now the nine in playoffs. His contract is up, but if he keeps this up (offence) surely he deserves another one-year deal, with bonuses, doesn’t he?

ALMOST AN IRON MAN

Nobody was surprised to see defenceman McNabb back on the Vegas blue line for Game 3, even if he hit the end boards violently when Viktor Arvidsson’s stick got into McNabb’s skates in the Game 2. He appeared to injure his left shoulder, but he almost never sits out.

McNabb, who had Connor McDavid’s goalmouth pass rip off his skate blade to tie it 3-3 with three minutes left Saturday, has been a no-go for just one Vegas playoff game in their nine years in the league. He was sick, not hurt.

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McNabb’s name is in the Golden Knights lineup card in pen, not pencil.

“I don’t think he’s missed a (league) game in three years. That tells you something about his resolve but you’ve avoided some things too because you block so many shots and there’s a lot of guys who eat pucks but get it on the right spot (broken bone,)” said Cassidy.

“But that one (OT, Game 2), we all saw it. It was an awkward spill. But he’s one of those guys … he’s a fast healer or just a big Western Canadian tough kid (Davidson, Sask., halfway between Regina and Saskatoon, pop, 1,025) who shows up to play every day.”

HITS KEEP COMING

Hyman had eight hits on the stats sheet in Game 3 and now has a whopping 61 hits in the nine Oilers playoff games. That’s only eight fewer than he had in 25 post-season games last spring.

What’s going on here? Hyman always plays hard but his hit totals are gob-smacking this playoff.

“Regular season you play against a team three times maybe and usually not consecutively and when you hit somebody it’s just for that game,” said Hyman.

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“In the playoffs, the hits take a toll. You have to be physical because you don’t know if every hit will wear down the defence. In games five or six or seven, maybe somebody is more tired and they make a mistake.”

“You’re trying to wear the other guys down. It’s a war of attrition.”

GOALS AND MORE GOALS

In these playoffs, it seems like there are a lot more 4-3 and 5-4 results than 2-1 through the first two rounds, tossing out the Carolina-Washington series.

Not just with the Oilers. Toronto and Florida are scoring a bunch, too (Leafs have 13 goals, Panthers have 12 in three games). In this second-round matchup, the Oilers have 12 goals while Vegas has 10 in three battles.

In Round 1, the Oilers outscored Los Angeles 27-24 in six games.

So are the shooters just better than the goalies now?

“What you’re seeing is a lot of goals on low shot totals because the shooters are more selective,” said Cassidy. “I don’t think teams waste shots anymore. There’s certainly high-volume shot teams. We know who they are. Everyone checks so hard and tries to eat every puck and when you do get a look, it’s a good one and the goalies are taking the brunt of it (poor save percentages).”

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THIS ‘N’ THAT

Nobody’s saying what’s exactly wrong with Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard, ruled out of Game 4, but a layman’s guess might be he hyper-extended his left knee when Tomas Hertl fell on the back of his leg in the crease in Game 2. Pickard was able to get through the overtime, maybe on adrenalin, but his leg is bad enough now, he can’t even skate or back up Stuart Skinner.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch seems loathe to make lineup changes and when they had won six straight in the playoffs. It’s understandable, but you wonder if he might switch up Ty Emberson for Troy Stecher as the sixth defenceman for Game 4. Stecher had a regular spot in the lineup but got hurt in Winnipeg April 13.

Golden Knights buddies William Karlsson and Reilly Smith both scored in Game 3. When they do so in the same game, Vegas is 6-0 in career playoff games.

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