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Half empty Many Oilers still looking for that first playoff win
Posted: Saturday April 15, 2000 04:20 PM
By Terry Jones, Edmonton Sun Remember when the Edmonton Oilers were winning Stanley Cups and you were singing, "We're still having fun and we're still The One?'' The singing has stopped. Now the lyrics are more along the lines of, "Who can have any fun when you can't even win one?'' There's almost half a lineup of Edmonton Oiler players who have never won a playoff game. And as this first-round playoff series between the Oilers and the Dallas Stars switches sites for games 3 & 4, I wonder who needs a win most: The players? Or the fans? Tommy Salo is now 0-6. So is Tom Poti. Ditto Georges Laraque. "It's killing me,'' says Laraque. "I can't tell you how much I want to win. I can't tell you how much I want to change that 0-6 now. I want so very badly for us to experience winning in the Stanley Cup playoffs.'' It's not just Salo, Poti and Laraque. Bert Robertsson. Sean Brown. Dan Cleary. Kevin Brown. Dan LaCouture. Boyd Devereaux. They've all played at least one playoff game. They've yet to win one. What good is Stanley Cup playoff experience if the experience is like a visit to the dentist? How do you ask a team to pay the price through 82 games if there is no payoff in the playoffs? Salo has a 2.31 goals-against average. He has a .921 save percentage. Those are numbers from a goalie who is successful in the playoffs, not somebody who has never won a playoff game. LICKING THEIR WOUNDS "I try not to think too much about it,'' said Salo yesterday as the Oilers licked their wounds upon returning back home down two games to none to Dallas, to make it nine straight playoff losses to the Stars. "Last year we played against Dallas and they won the Stanley Cup,'' said Salo. "I think they've all been pretty close games. Hopefully we can win the next game and go from there. You never know. "I want to win every game. I want to play my best and win the hockey games for us. "If I can steal a game I want to do it.'' Salo was your basic burglar in Game 1. But this is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. "You play 82 games to make the playoffs,'' said Salo of the frustration and waiting for his first win. "Hopefully it will come.'' Poti suggests it's kind of a nightmare wrapped around his dream. "Growing up, this is what I dreamed about - playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. "When you get into the playoffs the first time, you look forward to the first win and then the first series win and hopefully making a run at the Stanley Cup. "Obviously, losing four straight in the playoffs last year and two straight this year has been a little disappointing. But I think we have a good group of guys and good character here and we're not going to lie down and die.'' That's the players. What about the fans? AMAZING STUFF Vancouver Canucks fans and Calgary Flames fans haven't watched a playoff game in the last four years, while the Oilers have been involved in some pretty amazing first-round stuff. In 21 years in the league, this is the Oilers' 43rd playoff series and this would only be the 12th series that they've lost. Flames fans who haven't won a playoff series since 1989 and are now being asked to buy 5,000 new season tickets or the club will be sold, would react by saying, "Cry me a river.'' And we won't even mention Winnipeg and Quebec City. Long-term, with five Stanley Cups and six Stanley Cup finals, Edmonton fans have been spoiled. So you lose a couple of games, 2-1 and 3-0 in Dallas? So people are suggesting that for the first time they ever remember, this looks like an Edmonton team unable to be competitive in a playoff series? But this is a what-have-you-done-for-us-lately world. And the Oilers lost both home playoff games last year. Their only win in a five-game series against Dallas the year before was in Texas ... The Edmonton fans, young Edmonton fans whose parents relate to the Stanley Cup years much more than they do, have provided a playoff environment in Skyreach Centre these past few years unmatched anywhere on the Stanley Cup playoff trail. They need a playoff payoff, too.
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