EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Brad Marchand and Corey Perry are by far the oldest players in the Stanley Cup Final. Marchand just turned 37 last month, and Perry is 40.
Naturally, they combined for a third of the goals in Game 2 on Friday night, showing this is indeed a Cup final for old men, not for the earth but certainly in hockey. Marchand scored his second of the game to win it in double overtime for the Florida Panthers after Perry got the latest tying goal in the history of the final in the waning moments of regulation to give the Edmonton Oilers hope.
“You saying he’s old, or what?” teammate Seth Jones said of Marchand. “I’m going to tell him you said that. He’s a dog. He’s a gamer. He’s a competitor. He brings so much energy to our team on and off the ice.”
Where does that energy come from to play 22 important minutes? Anton Lundell hopes it comes from him and fellow linemate Eetu Luostarinen, the pups keeping an older dog like Marchand feeling young.
“He likes to spend time and be around us,” said Lundell, who set up each of Marchand’s breakaway goals. “He’s in great shape, and it seems like nothing is stopping him.”
Marchand is not slowing down in his 16th NHL season and 13th playoff run, the first away from the Boston Bruins. He is in the final for a fourth time, this one 14 years removed from his first when he and Boston also faced a Canadian team, the Vancouver Canucks, and won the Cup to keep the country’s title drought going.
His two-goal game came on the anniversary of scoring short-handed on Roberto Luongo in the 2011 final. Luongo now works for the Panthers in their front office and posted on social media after the game, “Favorite player of all time.”
“Lu is awesome,” said Marchand, whose 10 goals in the final are the most among active players, one more than Perry. “Happy to be on his team.”
Perry even longer ago helped beat a Canadian team in the final when he and Anaheim defeated Ottawa in 2007. He’s playing for the Cup for a sixth time in his career and for the fourth time over the past five years and is still producing at important moments.
His tying goal with 17.8 seconds on the clock in the third period was just the latest example.
“Determination, finding a way to find the puck and then obviously putting it in the net. He’s got a skill for that,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Knowing in the playoffs it’s hard to score and you need guys around the net and finding ways, he’s as good as anybody finding ways to score.”
Plenty of folks might be surprised to see Marchand and Perry doing this at their advanced ages. Paul Maurice, who has coached more games than anyone in NHL history except for Scotty Bowman, is not one of them.
Maurice credits rule changes coming out of the 2004-05 lockout and sports science around the league for paving the way for players to contributed later into their 30s and even 40s.
“I think we’re coming into an age of that,” Maurice said. “A tremendous amount of care for the players, whether that’s the meals that they eat, how we travel — there’s a lot of money that goes into allowing these players to play. The old guys and the young guys benefit from the rule change, and they’re better fit, conditioned athletes over their entire lives.”
Marchand has his own routine, one that goes beyond the Dairy Queen Blizzard jokes that keep swirling around him this playoffs. He rode a stationary bike before overtime, something he likes to do after most periods.
“You’re trying to keep your legs going in overtime,” Marchand said. “Keep them feeling good.”
The Panthers are feeling good after acquiring Marchand at the deadline from Boston and unleashing him for goals in Game 2 that tied the series. Winger Matthew Tkachuk thinks Marchand scored two of their biggest goals during this run, aging like a fine wine.
“Hopefully he can keep it going,” Tkachuk said. Unreal player, unreal competitor. … “He could play till he’s 47 the way he’s going.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
