POST-GAME: Perry impresses on 'Hart' line with McDavid & Draisaitl

DALLAS, TX – At the ‘Hart’ of Edmonton’s top line on Saturday afternoon in the Lone Star State?

Corey Perry.

It’s not often you have three players who had earned Hart Trophies on the same line; in fact, it had only occurred once in NHL history during the 1947-48 season with the 'Punch Line’ of Elmer Lach, Toe Blake and Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard on the Montreal Canadiens, who are all in the Hall of Fame.

“If you can get them the puck, they usually do good things, so it's a focus of ours,” said Evan Bouchard, the overtime hero, talking about the talent on Edmonton’s first unit. “Get them the puck in good spaces and just watch what they can do.”

The ‘Punch Line’ stood as the only line with three concurrent Hart winners until Head Coach Kris Knoblauch put a trio of former League MVPs on Edmonton’s roster in Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the recently-arrived Corey Perry together for his team’s tough matinée test against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

“Well, I think it's pretty fun,” Perry said post-game on Saturday afternoon. “They're two tremendous players. They see the ice very well."

Even at the age of 38 years old, that type of pedigree doesn’t just disappear, and Perry was extremely effective in his net-front role on Saturday afternoon by recording a goal and assist in Edmonton’s 4-3 overtime victory.

“I thought he was really good,” Knoblauch said. “Those two guys, they like to have the puck and they're usually on the outside looking to make a play and you need somebody at the net.

“Hymsy’s been really good at that, but we felt to balance our scoring Corey would be an excellent complement to Leon and Connor. And tonight, I thought it was a good game from all three of them.”

Perry picked up a secondary helper on Bouchard’s first of two goals on the afternoon before he positioned himself perfectly in the danger area in front of Dallas’ crease to redirect McDavid’s feed past Jake Oettinger to make it 2-2 at 6:55 of the middle frame.

“I was a beneficiary on that goal,” Perry said. “Leon made a great play across and Connor found me backdoor. So like I said, they’re two world-class players.

Perry battled all afternoon to open the ice for his linemates, leading the line ending the game with a 15-8 advantage in scoring chances in 13:55 of ice time together, as per Natural Stat Trick.

Perry is well accustomed to playing the net-front role and creating openings for his linemates, which helped the unit combine for five points and for Edmonton to claim two valuable points on the road against this former team.

“Just trying to give them time and space,” Perry said, discussing his role on the line.

“Connor is going to be skating and moving around with cutbacks and all that fun stuff, and a couple of times you set a little pick and let him go and then get back to the front of the net.

“I spent a lot of time five feet in front of Ottinger tonight, so I'm no stranger to being there, so it was fun.”