On the first anniversary of the most gut-wrenching Edmonton Oilers loss I’d ever seen in person – the Brad Marchand double overtime game-winner of Game 2 – I couldn’t help but put myself in a Carolina Hurricanes fan’s shoes watching that spectacle last night. 

Back on June 6, 2025, it was the only time in my life (full disclosure, I’m in my late 20s) that I felt the Oilers were a team of destiny, as I sat in the upper bowl of Rogers Place and Corey Perry scored the tying goal with 17.8 seconds left. The roar reverberated through the halls. Pure elation. 

How could we ever lose now? That’s what I thought, at least for the overtime intermission, and then your game-watching nerves take over. 

This is fate. It was fate, but of the Greek tragedy type. Marchand? Should’ve been Sophocles on the back of his sweater. 

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All of this to say – what a sickening way to lose Game 3 for the Canes, the type of emotional manipulation that only a drug-addled ex or your favourite sports team can provide. 

The Golden Knights fans, as if they needed any more happiness, as if they needed this, narrowly escaped the worst collapse in Stanley Cup Final history. 

Oh, how good would that disaster be hanging over their heads forever (for the same reason Oilers fans have to see highlights of the Miracle on Manchester to this day). Instead? A collective exhale as they watched the puck bounce off the endboards and Brandon Bussi’s skates to erupt in celebration, instead of commiserating in the Goliath-level humbling about to kick them in the ass.    

They get to savour their Mitch Marner Night, who had evoked the Hockey Gords in the second period: beating Rocket Richard’s SCF record for fastest hat-trick and besting Frank Mahovlich for most playoff points in a season in the first season with a new team. 

When the intermission crew is talking about reaching Newsy Lalonde territory – who held the scoring record for a million years until Rocket broke it, and has many vaguely unofficial records because they predate the NHL – you know something rare is happening. But when you come for Newsy, you best not miss, like Bad Joe Hall tried.

Some say the game has changed in the past century…

Credit: Montreal Star, January 15, 1914.

‘Dramatic thrills’

To steal the Star’s phrase, the incidents simply added dramatic thrills to........

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