MATHESON: For this Cup final, Oilers’ Kane is able

With Evander Kane, there is always the game within the game.

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Intimidation, hits, trying to make life skittish for opposition players, like when he went after Matthew Tkachuk when he was in Calgary on that dynamite Flames’ line with Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm in Round 2 of the 2022 playoffs, and maybe now with the disturber Tkachuk in Florida.

In that Calgary series, Kane got in Tkachuk’s grill with some pushing and shoving off a faceoff in one game and there was some colourful verbiage, with Kane getting the last words in at a press briefing.

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“We know what he’s about, there’s never a lot of backup to that talk,” shrugged Kane, the Oilers forward who never forgets a face, especially a guy like Tkachuk, who has tons of skill and has a spin-cycle agitating game.

He wasn’t biting on a Tkachuk question Monday, though, instead going the team-first “they” route.

“They have a bunch of players on their team, guys important to their group who play an in-your-face type of game (Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand). We have a team that can play that way, as well, and garner some attention,” he said.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of game-within-the-game stuff, but that’s what makes the NHL playoffs so exciting. I’ve been in the league for 16 years. I think I’ve shown I enjoy that type of game. Yeah, it’s fun. It’s part of the spirit of the playoffs, but at the same time you have to be smart,” said Kane.

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Last year at this time, Kane wasn’t even a reasonable facsimile of his usual self, though. He had trouble even sitting down on the Oilers’ bench, instead standing at the end of games because of his abdominal tears, never mind skating up and down the ice against the Panthers in the final. The Oilers sorely missed Kane’s physicality against Florida, which preaches aggressiveness.

In Game 7, Kane was in a sweat suit, pacing the hallways at Amerant Arena between periods along with Sam Gagner, nowhere near being healthy enough to contribute.

“Nobody wants to be on the sidelines of a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final. Not just me and him (the recently retired Gagner, now director of development for Ottawa), but all the guys not playing. It’s incredibly nerve-wracking,” he said.

His body was betraying him.

“It was not fun, getting needles on off days just to be able to walk around,” said Kane, who dressed for the first two games of the final but after playing 15:22 in Game 1

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last June, he got just 10:33 and was minus-3 in a 4-1 loss before Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch took him out.

“The uncertainty … not necessarily Game 1. I knew I was going to be playing (in the final) but I wasn’t sure how I would feel out there.”

Not good. But now, deep into his NHL career with no Cup ring, he can actually be in the action instead of “move along, nothing to see here” like he was last June. He has five goals this spring, including that big one to tie it 4-4 in the third period of the hectic Game 3 against Los Angeles during Round 1.

“This group worked really, really hard to get back to this point. I know more than anybody, not knowing if you’ll get another shot to win. I’ve been in the conference final a bunch of times and the one final last year and not being able to help the team the way I knew I could, it was very difficult,” said Kane, who has 10 points in 16 games this spring.

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“Florida plays a certain brand of hockey. The way we’ve been looked at from outside our room is that we’re just this offensive team and we’ve started to change that narrative. Obviously, we can score goals, but we can lock things down. And we can play a physical, in-your-face brand, whatever kind of game you want,” said Kane, who has another big body, Trent Frederic, this year, along with Darnell Nurse.

Is intimidation still a thing this late in the playoffs, with two teams left?

“Yeah, it’s always a factor. It’s important to have that aspect to your group because you never know when it can play in your favour,” he said.

Indeed, playing the game with a snarl can be a winning recipe.

“They know us, we know them. It went down to the bitter end last year. Both teams understand this will be the toughest challenge they’ve faced. Any sort of edge you can create could possibly be the difference,” he said.

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“As a team we’re better equipped, especially up front, a lot more physical players,” said Knoblauch. “We didn’t have Evander last year but for the first two games, and not healthy. Do I think he’ll make a difference now? Absolutely. Physicality, scoring. We missed him last year. But we’ve also added Frederic. He plays a similar game. Not as much offence as Evander but pretty darned physical.”

Knoblauch agreed with the game-within-the-game theme for Kane. Not everybody gets their competitive juices flowing like Kane’s manner of agitation, though.

“Some players talk between the whistles. Other players think that distracts them from their game. Others thrive on it. Like Corey Perry, like Evander Kane. That gets them involved in the game and they can distract somebody else,” he said.

“Yeah, Evander’s a good player and hopefully, he can provide something more that we didn’t have last year (against the Panthers),” said Knoblauch.

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We know Kane will arrive at Game 1 in ill humour, but in which luxury car? He’s been in a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce this spring.

“You’ll have to tune in to find out,” laughed Kane, who told Jeremy Roenick and former NHL referee Tim Peel on a Stars and Stripes podcast that he would be in a Lamborghini here, but in Florida for Game 3?

“Guys were talking like, ‘Do I chopper in in Florida?’ ” he said.

THIS ‘N’ THAT

Knoblauch said Oilers captain Connor McDavid is just fine after he only skated for 10 minutes Sunday before leaving the ice, so relax in Oilers Nation. “He’ll be skating tomorrow (Tuesday).” … Knoblauch said winger Connor Brown will be playing Game 1 which means Jeff Skinner, who scored in Game 5 in Dallas, will be out … Florida captain Aleksander Barkov has just won his third Selke award as the NHL’s best two-way forward. He also won in 2023-24 and is the fourth back-to-back winner over the last 25 years, following on the heels of Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk and Rod Brind’Amour. Barkov beat out teammate Sam Reinhart, with Tampa’s Anthony Cirelli third and Jersey captain Nico Hischier fourth. Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl was sixth behind Vegas’ Jack Eichel.

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