SUNRISE, Fla. — As the Edmonton Oilers practice came to an end at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday, Corey Perry tapped all of his teammates with his stick as if he were saying goodbye.
Was this, in fact, the message he was trying to send? Will Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Oilers and Florida Panthers (8 p.m. ET; KeynoteUSA, KeynoteUSA+, SN, TVAS, CBC) on Monday be the swan song for the 39-year-old forward, his farewell to an illustrious career? ?
“No way. I have more left in me. I have a lot left in me. I plan to play five more years,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll quit when they have to cut the skates off my feet.”
Whether the veteran forward, known among other things for his sarcastic wit, was joking, well, that remains to be seen.
This much is certain: Perry is tired of coming in second in the finals, something he has experienced three times in the previous five seasons.
After winning the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07, Perry suffered heartbreak in the Finals in three consecutive seasons: with the Dallas Stars in 2019-20, with the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-21 and with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021. -22. It’s a feeling he doesn’t want to go through again.
“It hurts. It hurts the man,” he said. “It’s something that stays with you all summer long. You can’t get rid of it.”
Therefore, he would very much like to change the narrative of recent years.
“I don’t take this opportunity for granted,” Perry said. “I said it before: I didn’t sign here knowing I would be in this position. I signed here hoping that we would be in this position to win a Stanley Cup. When you’re going through free agency and trying to sign somewhere, you can’t just flip a coin on how many teams have a chance. These opportunities don’t come around often and it’s not pleasant to be on the other side.
“The last few years haven’t been fun, so I’m looking for something different.”
In 214 career postseason games, Perry has 127 points (54 goals, 73 assists) and scored the game-winner in Edmonton’s 5-3 win over the Panthers in Game 5. Now, he has a chance to make every Canadian child’s dream come true. even on the cusp of age 40: winning a Game 7 to capture the Stanley Cup.
“You dream of playing in a Game 7, being that hero, whether it’s on the street, on the backyard rink, wherever you are,” Perry said in this, his 19th season. “And now it’s reality. Now it’s exciting. Now you can live that moment.
“There will be someone, and I hope he’s in this room, who will be the hero and go down in history for being that guy.”
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