Corey Perry spoke up after disastrous 1st period and had the perfect speech to spark comeback win

In their postgame interviews and pressers following Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, many Edmonton Oilers players revealed after the game that veteran forward Corey Perry is the one who stepped up and spoke to the entire dressing room after the disastrous first period where they trailed by three goals.

In the second frame, the Oilers scored three goals of their own to erase the deficit and took the lead in the last period with the Cats scoring in the final seconds of regulation to send another game to overtime.

Perry was on the ice during the game winning goal by Leon Draisaitl. He was able to immediately feel the impact of his speech on the rest of the team and earning the victory, tying the series at 2-2.

In his press conference afterwards, Draisaitl did not specifically reveal what was said, but when a 40-year old veteran, who has won a Stanley Cup, speaks up, you listen and you make sure to deliver afterwards.

Refusing to reveal what Perry said, Draisaitl explained that the veteran is not one who yells a lot, but when he speaks he has everyone’s attention. He has earned the right with his illustrious career and experience, to speak his mind and get guys motivated.

“Corey spoke up, when he speaks up, you listen, and you do what he says,” Draisaitl said after the game. “We did a great job of grabbing it, grabbing some momentum, and keeping it.

“The message is that he’s been in these moments. He’s not a guy that speaks up or yells at guys all the time, it’s not his character… When he speaks up, you listen, and it grabs your attention. He’s a heck of a leader.”

Perry has the experience to speak up in order to spark a comeback win. In his 20 NHL seasons, he has played in six separate Stanley Cup Finals. Despite that, he has only won one Stanley Cup, which came with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2007. Five of those six Final appearences have come within the last six years, which he has lost each time.

“It was a bit of a ‘Wake up, look at where we are here’… he’s a guy that everyone in that room respects so much,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said of Perry’s speech. “He’s been through it all, so when he speaks up like that, it means a lot, and I thought we did a good job responding.

“We did a great job of putting our heads down and continuing to fight.”

The Oilers will now head back home with the series tied at 2-2 and two of the remaining possible three games of the Stanley Cup Final set to be played in front of their passionate fans.

Game 5 will take place at Rogers Place on Saturday night.