The Edmonton Oilers forced game 7 in Carolina, beating the Hurricanes 4-0 in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals.
The NHL's Cinderella team, the Edmonton Oilers, just plain outplayed and outworked the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in Edmonton. The shutout was in front of their hometown fans of 16,839 in the last game of the season in Edmonton.
Nothing went right for Carolina tonight. Goaltender Cam Ward didn't look like the superman he previously was in the playoffs, letting in 2 of 11 shots in the 2nd period and 2 of 13 shots in the 3rd.
The return of forward Erik Cole didn't help much and the loss of Doug Weight certainly hurt their cause.
Sure, they had Rod Brind'Amour, Mark Recchi and Eric Staal on the roster, but were they even playing tonight? Believe it or not, they were. Brind'Amour was on the ice for 19:57, Recchi for 17:27 and Staal was on the ice for 21:49. They each had one shot on goal.
The most exciting play of the 1st period came late when Edmonton goaltender Jussi Markkanen came out of crease to the top of the face off circle to clear the puck from oncoming Hurricanes. Markkanen and his teammates quickly scrambled to proctect the net.
Less than two minutes into the 2nd period and on the power play, Edmonton Oiler Fernado Pisani backhanded a shot that deflected off of Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley for the first goal of the game.
Halfway into the 2nd period, Oiler Steve Staios shot the puck from the point and teammate Raffi Torres deflected the puck past Cam Ward.
At the end of the 2nd period, Edmonton had blocked 16 shots while Carolina had blocked 6. Markannen was and had been well proctected by his team.
Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff scored for Edmonton in the 3rd period, sending the crowd into a blissful chant of, "We want the cup".
If the Edmonton Oilers can win the Stanley Cup in Raleigh on Monday night, they will be only the second team in NHL history to have comeback from a 3-1 deficit. The last team to do so was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942.
Game notes:
- Three of the four Edmonton goals were scored on the power play.
- Carolina forward Erik Cole returned to the ice tonight after missing 45 games with a neck injury. The last game Cole played was March 4th.
- Carolina played without the services of Doug Weight, who is out with a shoulder injury.
