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Rod Brind'Amour
Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour won 28 of 34 faceoffs in Game 1, as many as the entire Oilers team.
Inside the Numbers: Game 1
By John Kreiser | NHL.com columnist
June 6, 2006

The Carolina Hurricanes' 5-4 victory in the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final was as wild a game as any fan could ask for.

Some key numbers from Game 1:

1 -- Number of successful penalty shots in the Final. Edmonton's Chris Pronger became the first player in NHL history to score on a penalty shot in the Final when he beat Cam Ward at 10:36 of the second period in the opener. Goaltenders were 8-for-8 on penalty shots before Pronger's goal.

2 -- Margin by which the Hurricanes trailed after two periods. Carolina was the first team to make up a two-goal deficit in the third period since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings, who trailed Washington 3-1 after two periods in Game 2 and rallied for a 5-4 overtime victory.

3 -- Deficit made up by the Hurricanes, who trailed 3-0 with less than three minutes left in the second period. The last team to make up a three-goal deficit and win the game was the 1992 Penguins, who trailed Chicago 3-0 and 4-1 in the series opener before rallying for a 5-4 victory.

John Kreiser, who has covered the NHL since 1975, is NHL.com's man behind the numbers. His column appears each weekend on NHL.com.

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4 -- Minus put up by Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff, the only Oiler on ice for all four of the Hurricanes' even-strength goals.

6 -- Number of teams in the last 15 playoff years that have rallied to win the Final after losing the series opener. In all, teams losing the opener have won only 15 of 66 series (22.8 percent). But Game 1 losers are 6-9 (40 percent) since 1991. The bad news for Edmonton: All six of those teams lost Game 1 at home. No team has lost a Final opener on the road and won the Cup since the 1986 Montreal Canadiens dropped the series opener in Calgary and won the next four games.

9 -- Combined goals by the Oilers and Hurricanes, the most in Game 1 of the Final since 2000, when New Jersey routed Dallas 7-3 in the opener. The last time the Final opened with a 5-4 decision was 1992, when Pittsburgh rallied to beat Chicago 5-4 at home.

12 -- Margin by which the Hurricanes were out-shot (38-26). It was the biggest margin by which an opponent has out-shot Carolina during the playoffs. The 38 shots were also the most allowed by the 'Canes in their 19 playoff games this season.

18 -- Shots by the Oilers in the third period of Game 1, the most in any period of a Finals game since Detroit took 20 against Washington in the third period of Game 2 in 1998.

28 -- Faceoffs won by Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour, in 34 draws. Brind'Amour won as many faceoffs as the entire Oilers team.

29:15 -- Time on ice by Pronger, the most by any skater on either team. That doesn't include the time he spent scoring his penalty-shot goal. Brind'Amour, a forward, led all Hurricanes with 23:48.

38 -- Percentage of faceoffs won by the Oilers in Game 1 (28-45). It was the worst showing by Edmonton in the faceoff circle during the playoffs.

31.1 -- Seconds remaining when Brind'Amour scored the winning goal in Game 1. It's the latest game-winning goal in regulation in a Final game since Mario Lemieux scored with 13 seconds remaining to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 victory over Chicago in the 1992 opener.

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