The irony is not lost on Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry that they are teammates chasing their Stanley Cup dreams with the Dallas Stars.
Through the glory days of California hockey, they were mortal enemies.
Perry’s Anaheim Ducks were the first of the three California-based NHL teams to win the Cup, back in 2007. Pavelski’s San Jose Sharks rose as a perennial playoff power, making the Cup final in 2016. In between, the Los Angeles Kings won twice.
Whenever the stars met — playoffs or regular season — it was war.
“There have been lots of battles we’ve gone through — regular season, playoffs, internationally,” said Perry. “A lot of hockey played between us.”
Pavelski looked at Perry as they took questions from the media, and chuckled.
“We’ve competed against each other for a long time. It’s fun to be on the same side,” said Pavelski.
It’s safe to say that the Cup final might already be over in Tampa Bay’s favour if not for timely goals by the former rivals.
Pavelski tied Saturday’s marathon Game 5 before Perry won it with his second goal of the night, 3-2 in double overtime. A pair of 30-something veterans unwilling to go home just yet, even as bubble life — with teams hived off from the rest of the world in a COVID-free luxury hotel in Edmonton — continued into its 63rd day.
“There’s a reason they went and got Pavelski, and a reason they went and got Perry,” said Tampa coach Jon Cooper. “It’s for moments like that. Those two delivered for them. Good on them. Good on their management for seeking guys like that out.
“Dallas is a formidable opponent. They are not going to go away quietly. We have to go take it from them.”
Their paths to Dallas were quite different, though their motivations were the same.
Perry, 35, is from Haileybury, Ont. and a product of the London Knights. He’s won just about everything in hockey: Stanley Cup, Memorial Cup, Olympic and world junior gold, world championship, World Cup.
Pavelski, 36, is from Plover, Wis. and was a champion at the state high school and U.S. junior levels, and a silver medallist as an Olympian. He was a highly sought unrestricted free agent who was looking only at bona fide contenders and only considered one other team — Tampa — before signing a three-year, $21-million (U.S.) deal with Dallas.
“For me, if I was going to leave San Jose, I wanted to go to a place that was going to have a good chance to win,” said Pavelski. “I like the goaltending here, I like the structured defence and there’s some high-end talent.”
Perry was an unrestricted free agent for another reason, after suffering the embarrassment of having his contract bought out by the Ducks. Limited by a knee injury, he’d had a bad 2018-19: six goals and four assists in 39 games. He agreed to a one-year deal with the Stars, worth $3.25 million including incentives, after averaging $8.625 million on his last deal.
“That wasn’t the easiest conversation to have,” Perry said of the buyout. “They wanted to go a different way. You have to respect that. There are no hard feelings. It’s a business. You end one chapter and start a new chapter.
“Last year wasn’t easy: knee surgery, getting bought out. A lot of things going on at once. Going through free agency for the first time. It’s a roller coaster, but happy where I am right now.”
As in the Stanley Cup final.
Game 6 is Monday night, with Tampa up three games to two but Dallas believing it has the momentum thanks in large part to the leadership — and goals — from Pavelski and Perry in Game 5.
The first overtime didn’t go well for Dallas, managing just one shot. During the intermission, Perry and Pavelski addressed the team.
“The biggest switch for us was those guys talking in the dressing room about having to go for this,” said centre Tyler Seguin. “We can’t be sitting back and hoping to win. That’s where you saw the change in the second overtime, where we started going after them. That was a great confidence boost for our group.”
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Said Pavelski. “That first overtime, we played not to win, playing safe. The talk was: ‘We’ve got to get legs, get skating. We need to go at them.’ We did a better job in the second overtime.”
The presence of the two veterans is not to be diminished.
“This is why we signed Corey and Joe,” said Stars coach Rick Bowness. “When you get to this point in the playoffs, you need experience. You need guys that have been there and are not intimidated by the situation.”
