EDMONTON — Corey Perry returned to the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars at Rogers Place on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old forward, who had been a healthy scratch the previous five games, had not played since Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks.
“The games that we’ve not used him it’s been tempting,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday. “We were looking for a change in the Vancouver series and we had some success. We certainly don’t think we had success because we took Corey out of the lineup and put someone else in.
“You look at the series against Dallas and we felt we were good enough to win each of those games. If we play our best, could the game have gone the other way? Yes. Now we have to make a decision on what does he add?”
After Dallas took a 2-0 lead, Perry had an assist on Ryan McLeod’s goal at 13:30 of the first period. It was his first point of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after he had 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 54 regular-season games. The Oilers tied the game by the end of the period and went on to a 5-2 win that tied the best-of-7 series 2-2.
Perry has 125 points (53 goals, 72 assists) in 207 career postseason games with the Anaheim Ducks, Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Oilers.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007 and advanced to the Cup Final in three consecutive seasons with the Stars (2020), Canadiens (2021) and Lightning (2022).
Perry signed a one-year contract with the Oilers on Jan. 22 after his contract was terminated by the Chicago Blackhawks following an internal investigation that determined he “engaged in conduct that is unacceptable and in violation of both the terms of his standard player’s contract and the Blackhawks’ internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments.”
He had 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 38 regular-season games with the Oilers.
