Perry’s play commands respect

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2020 (1997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — As I watched Corey Perry score the game-winning, double overtime goal Saturday night inside Rogers Place to keep his team’s Stanley Cup hopes alive, I couldn’t help but think of broadcast blowhard Mike Milbury.

A strange segue, perhaps. Let me explain.

Milbury, you may recall, stuck his foot in his big mouth earlier these playoffs when, during an NHL on NBC production, he mused about what he believed was one of the luxuries of holding high-stakes hockey games inside a secure environment such as the ones set up in Edmonton and Toronto to keep COVID-19 at bay.

“Not even any women here to disrupt your concentration,” babbled Milbury, the former player turned coach turned general manager turned analyst known for takes that are often scorching hot and completely out to lunch.

The misogynistic comment would be among his last for the network. Milbury was quickly bounced from the bubble, claiming it was his decision to step away and not be a distraction. You know, just like every penalty Perry has taken in his career has been an accident.

In any event, I thought back to that ugly episode as I watched Perry’s wife, Blakeny, celebrating his latest accomplishment inside the mostly empty rink. As a Canadian, she is one of the few who have been allowed by the league, the province and the federal government to join members of either the Dallas Stars or Tampa Bay Lightning as they try to reach the pinnacle of their profession. American and European loved ones had no such luck.

Blakeny arrived in Edmonton earlier this month, served out the required quarantine which included multiple tests, then was able to watch Friday and Saturday night’s games up close. And Perry, who had scored all of two goals in the 24 playoff games without her presence, ended up snapping a 19-game drought by popping three in a 24-hour span.

Some distraction, eh Milbury?

“It’s great to have her here. It was exactly 100 days since I’d seen her or the kid. Still haven’t seen the little guy. She’s a rock back home. She’s done a lot for our family and it’s nice to have her here,” Perry said in a post-game Zoom call with media.

Perry’s emergence on this big stage is a compelling storyline, especially considering he’s not exactly universally loved in the hockey world. Despised might be a more accurate term, including in Winnipeg where Jets fans came to loathe him during the 2015 playoff series against Anaheim for the way he often plays.

The “Katy Perry” chant raining down from the rafters at Bell MTS Place was nothing to celebrate, a rather shameful and sexist trope that has no place in the game. But there’s no question Perry’s name is still mud in many rinks for the “sneaky dirty” way he often plays. Just ask former Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot, who once left an imprint of his stick in Perry’s forehead with a 2017 butt-end that led to a nearly $4,000 fine, which Winnipeg fans began volunteering to pay.

“I think he’s one of those guys where you kind of hate playing against him, but when he’s on your team you see what he’s done out there,” Dallas defenceman Jamie Oleksiak said Sunday.

“He comes up big in big moments. I can’t say enough about that guy. Obviously the competitiveness is the main thing that comes to mind. Night in, night out he’s going to be battling. No matter what the situation is or the score is, he’s going to play hard. He’s a good role model for the younger guys on the team, and definitely someone you can look to for leadership.”

Perry’s career was at a major crossroads last summer when the Ducks bought out the remaining two years of his contract, which paid him US$8.625 million per season. General manager Bob Murray said it was one of the toughest decisions of his tenure, but a necessary move to clear up valuable cap space. Perry’s numbers were in decline after 14 seasons in SoCal, he was having trouble staying healthy and he wasn’t getting any younger.

Enter Dallas GM Jim Nill, who inked the 35-year-old to a one-year, US$3.25 million. He thought Perry — who has a Memorial Cup, a World Junior gold medal, an Olympic gold medal and a 2007 Stanley Cup with the Ducks on his impressive resume — might be just be one of the missing pieces his club needed to get over the hump.

The payoff was anything but immediate, as Perry scored just five times in 57 regular-season games, with 16 helpers. In a game now seemingly dominated by speed and youth, it’s clear his best days are behind him.

But the four-month pause due to COVID-19, combined with what may be his last chance at a second championship, seem to have rejuvenated the grizzled veteran. And that was certainly the case as Dallas faced elimination Saturday night, when he both opened and closed the scoring in a dramatic 3-2 victory that pushes the series to Game 6 tonight.

“You love him on your team. I coached against him long enough and I know he’s a pain in the butt. And that’s where he’s so effective,” said Dallas coach Rick Bowness.

“You can see his puck skills and see how competitive he is. You get him below the tops of the circles around their net, he is one tough guy to handle. He hangs on to the puck, he’s big, he’s strong, he has great reach and great patience with the puck. He’s very good at hanging on and waiting for something to happen and making the right play.”

Nill made a similar big splash by signing free agent Joe Pavelski, another proven playoff performer who leads the Stars with 13 goals this postseason. Like Perry, he also has three in the past two games.

“They went and got Pavelski and went and got Perry for reasons like (Saturday) night. Those two delivered for them. So good on them, good on their management team for seeking guys like that out,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Sunday.

Pavelski said Perry has a mindset that “whatever it takes, he’s going to try to find a way to win… You can feel it in the locker room, on the ice. No matter what it takes. There was no bigger moment for us than (Saturday) night, and he got it done,” he said.

Perry, who was just starting his NHL career when he won with Anaheim at the age of 22, is relishing this newfound lease on his hockey life, unsure of how long it can last or where it takes him.

Whether it ends up with another Stanley Cup, he’s got what really matters to him — his wife at his side, cheering him on. And he’s also serving up a heaping helping of humble pie to a dinosaur like Milbury, which is already a victory in my books.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg