Corey Perry, Who Might Legitimately Be A Vampire, Willed The Edmonton Oilers Back To Life During The 1st Intermission After Being Down 3-0
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.There's an alternate universe somewhere out there where Corey Perry is currently going after his 6th Stanley Cup. It will be just 5th Cup win in the last 6 seasons. He is one of the most decorated NHL players of all time, and certainly the most decorated in the modern era.
I'm sure when Corey Perry won the Cup with Anaheim as a fresh-faced 22-year-old in 2007, he thought he'd have plenty more opportunities in his career to hoist Lord Stanley over his head. But 18 long years have passed by without getting his name etched into eternity again. Not only has he not won a Cup since, but he's had to stand there and watch as other teams take it straight out of his hands in 4 out of the last 5 years.
Corey Perry may not be completely dead inside, but he sure as shit can't be completely alive either. Corey Perry is the undead. He's a hockey playing vampire. And the thing about the undead is that you cannot kill which is already dead.
Usually you'd expect McDavid to speak up during a moment like this. We obviously all heard and saw the "RIGHT FUCKING NOW" clip during last year's Stanley Cup Final. If it's not going to be McDavid speaking up and telling everybody to stop taking so many goddamn penalties, and try to chip their way back into the game, you'd expect some frighteningly aggressive glances from Leon Draisaitl towards everyone in the locker room to do the trick.
But Corey Perry knows this moment better than anybody else on the planet. He knows what it takes to win a Cup, but he also REALLY knows what it takes to lose a Cup. He's been in this moment countless times before, and he knew the Oil weren't quite dead yet. The Florida Panthers, and everybody watching the game, may have thought Edmonton was dead in the water. The Florida Panthers, and everybody watching, may have thought that game was already wrapped up. But Corey Perry has been killed plenty of times before, and he knew this wasn't that.
We still don't know what or how he said what he said. But clearly it worked. This old bag of bones didn't just come this far to lose his 5th Cup Final. Whether he had to cast a spell during intermission or what, he was going to make sure they won that hockey game last night.