‘Obviously, there’s probably a level of gamesmanship that goes on, and that’s not only it this series, it goes on throughout the playoffs’
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Leon Draisaitl might have scored the goal of the game as the Edmonton Oilers struck first blood in the Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-3 overtime win over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
But the meme of the game belongs solely to Jake Walman.
(https://x.com/producerdrew_/status/1930481597922394285?s=46)
The 29-year-old Oilers defenceman could be clearly seen grinning like the Cheshire Cat in the face of Panthers forward Thomas Nosek, who had errantly flipped the puck over the glass to draw a delay-of-game penalty in overtime that led to Draisaitl’s power-play winner.
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While trash talk doesn’t tend to get discussed by players who prefer to leave that part of the conversation out on the ice, the game within the game on display between whistles — both physical and mental jousting — could go a long way to helping determine the winner of this series.
“Obviously, there’s probably a level of gamesmanship that goes on, and that’s not only it this series, it goes on throughout the playoffs,” said fellow Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse. “Any series when you’re playing four to seven games, there’s going to be those moments where the edge takes a hold of the game.”
Especially in overtime of a hotly contested battle of attrition, where it took a mental lapse by one team to finally make the difference, 79:29 later.
“It lived up to the hype, for sure, for me, just dreaming about that,” said Walman, who only had one prior playoff game under his belt before joining the Oilers at the trade deadline, having reached the post-season with the St. Louis Blues during his first full NHL season in 2020-21. “The biggest thing is I probably got a lot more texts from friends and family this game than any other.
“But it’s a great experience. Cool. I wouldn’t want to be doing it with any other group of guys, they’ve been great to me since I’ve been here and I’m looking forward to keeping that going. Every game is going to be a challenge, especially against the team we’re playing.”
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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