Inside Corey Perry’s first intermission speech that helped push Oilers to Game 4 win

Sometimes, when a team needs a jump, they look to guidance from either a coach or a captain to help them turn things around.

Sometimes, they just need a verbal kick in the pants.

That’s apparently what happened during the first intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Edmonton Oilers found themselves trailing 3-0 for the second game in a row, and it looked like they were on their way to another debilitating loss to the Florida Panthers and moving within one game of their season being finished.

Enter Corey Perry.

The veteran forward, who joined the team last season and was a key presence in getting them to the Cup Final in 2024, reportedly spoke up in the locker room during the break, letting his teammates know that they need to be better if they want to avoid going down 3-1 in the series.

The rallying cry paid off as the Oilers roared back with four unanswered goals to take the lead. Though the Panthers bounced back to tie the game to force overtime, Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl managed to play the hero, scoring his second game-winning goal in the series to give Edmonton a 5-4 win, sending the series back to Alberta tied 2-2.

Defenceman Jake Walman admitted there was a sense of urgency from the leadership group after falling into the three-goal hole once again, especially from Perry.

“Well, I think we learned a lot from the first game,” Walman said. “Kind of in a similar position and we unravelled in the first game. What I noticed was just a bunch of leaders we have in our room. [Perry] gave us a little speech and a couple of other guys spoke up and just the kind of quiet confidence we have in our room, even down 3-0.”

After the game, Drasaitl was asked about what Perry said to the team and the type of impact it made on the group.

“I’m not going to share exactly what he said,” Draisaitl said. “But 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. That’s not his character, so you know when a guy like that with that many games, that much experience, he’s won everything there is to win — he knows how to win when he speaks up, you listen, and it grabs your attention.”

The media also questioned Perry on what type of wisdom was bestowed on the team that sparked the comeback.