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Hurricanes vs. Oilers
The Oilers have a tough hill to climb down 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Final.
Inside the numbers (Game 4)
By John Kreiser
NHL.com columnist
June 13, 2006


The Carolina Hurricanes have just one more hurdle to climb. The Hurricanes beat the Oilers 2-1 in Edmonton Monday night and can win the first Stanley Cup in the franchise's 25 NHL seasons at home on Wednesday.

Here are some key numbers from Game 4, and a couple looking ahead to Game 5:

1 -- Number of Finals since 1994, when the current playoff format was adopted, that has been decided in five games. That came in 2002, when Detroit beat Carolina, winning Game 5 at home.

1 -- Number of playoff series won by the Oilers when trailing 3-1. Edmonton beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in the 1990 Smythe Division semifinals after losing three of the first four games. The Oilers have lost the other five series in which they trailed 3-1, four of them in five games.

John Kreiser
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.
More by John Kreiser:
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2 -- Number of playoff series in Carolina's franchise history that have gone exactly five games. Besides the 2002 Finals, the only other five-game series in franchise history was this year's 4-1 victory over New Jersey in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

3 -- Game 5s won by the both the Hurricanes and Oilers this year. Carolina beat Montreal in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, New Jersey in the Eastern semifinals and Buffalo in the conference finals. Edmonton won Game 5 in its series against Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim.

4 -- Number of Game 5s the Carolina franchise had won before 2006, in 12 opportunities.

5 -- Number of Carolina forwards who blocked at least one shot in Game 4 (all six defensemen also had at least one block; the Hurricanes had a total of 16). In contrast, only one Edmonton forward (Michael Peca, with 2) blocked a shot. The other 11 of the Oilers' 13 blocks were by defensemen.

7:23 -- Time remaining in the third period of Game 4 when the Oilers got their last shot on goal, a 50-foot wrist shot by Radek Dvorak.

8 -- Wins by the Hurricanes, in as many games, when leading after two periods in this year's playoffs, including both times in which they've led after 40 minutes in the Finals.

15 -- One-goal games played by the Oilers in their 22 playoff contests. They're 9-6 after the 2-1 loss to Carolina in Game 4.

Cory Stillman
The Hurricanes power play has been lethal this postseason, especially at home.

18 -- Consecutive Edmonton power plays killed by the Hurricanes. Edmonton is 1-for-25 on the power play in the series; the Oilers' only man-advantage goal came on their last power play in Game 1. The Hurricanes are actually plus-1 on the Oilers' power play during the past three games, having scored a shorthanded goal in Game 2.

21 -- Power-play goals scored by the Hurricanes at home in their 12 home playoff games this year, including four in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton. It's the most at home by any team this year. Carolina's 30.4 power-play success rate at the RBC Center is also No. 1.

25:40 --Time on ice by Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour in Game 4, the most by any Carolina player. Brind'Amour, a forward, has led the Hurricanes in ice time in each of the four games in the Final. This was the most he or any other forward has played in one game in this series.

29 -- Percentage of faceoffs won by Brind'Amour (8 of 28) in Game 4. After winning 28 of 34 faceoffs (82 percent) in Game 1, Brind'Amour has declined each game, dropping to 50 percent (10 of 20) in Game 2 and 37 percent (10 of 27) in Game 3.

41 -- Combined shots by the Oilers (21) and Hurricanes (20) in Game 4, by far the lowest of the four games in the Finals.


 



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