Mark Messier gives Edmonton Oilers a lesson in new interview

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Liam McCormick
July 10, 2024 (3:36 PM)

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There's plenty of similarities between the Oilers dynasty teams of old and the McDavid era team today, and in a new interview, Mark Messier gave the team a few lessons.

Before the 80s Oilers went on their dynasty run of Stanley Cup Wins, they had to take a few hard losses along the way. Similar to the Oilers this year, Messier spoke about how losing the Cup Final in 1983 led to their win the next year.

Unfortunately, there are certain things that you have to really understand about winning. That was a tough lesson for all of us. We lose four straight, and now we're thinking to ourselves - we can get there, now we've got to figure out a way, once we get there, how to win.

We got completely schooled in �83 by the Islanders. They took our game away. We didn't make any kind of adjustments, it was a real eye-opener. We came back the next year, more focused, realizing that we had to change.

There's plenty of similarities between the �83 Oilers cup loss and last year's series. In the first three games of the series, the Florida Panthers took the Oilers game away and kicked it up with physical hockey. This year they were able to make the adjustments needed to play their style of hockey again, and it resulted in three wins - but just not enough to complete the comeback. Like Messier said, the Oilers need to draw on these lessons and be better next year - they're already extremely close to winning.

For the Oilers next year, the biggest lesson may be exactly what Hyman said in his exit interviews: Don't got down 0-3. The team wasn't phased heading into game 3 of the Cup Final because they always believed they could battle back, but it's just too daunting of a deficit. Next playoffs, the Oilers need to take command of a series early, and try to avoid as many Game 7s as possible.

Source: Spittin Chiclets

Messier speaks on Cup Final loss