PHOTO OF THE DAY

This Pug shows some Oilers pride prior to Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"You've got to continue to push them. They do have a couple of injuries back there and you got to work their 'D,' be physical and wear them down, and hopefully that pays dividends as the series goes on." -- Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal

GAME BREAKERS

Scott Niedermayer (ANA): 1 assist, +3 rating Dustin Penner (ANA): 2 goals Chris Pronger (EDM): 2 assists

TODAY'S SCHEDULE

Carolina @ Buffalo 7:30 PM (OLN, CBC) -- All times Eastern

RECENT EDITIONS

Thursday, May 25, 2006 Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Monday, May 22, 2006 Friday, May 19, 2006 Thursday, May 18, 2006 Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Monday, May 15, 2006 Friday, May 12, 2006 Thursday, May 11, 2006

Attrition has historically played a big role in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Some teams have overcome the loss of an important player or players and some have succumbed.

The Buffalo Sabres will find out tonight whether they can overcome the loss of three starting defensemen in the last two weeks. First, Dmitri Kalinin went out with a broken ankle. Then, Teppo Numminen suffered a groin strain. Henrik Tallinder, leading the team in Stanley Cup Playoffs plus-minus, suffered a broken wrist Wednesday and won't return this season.

Numminen has been resting his injury and skipping practice in the hope he can return tonight for Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes in Buffalo's HSBC Arena.

The Sabres have responded by giving power-play specialist Brian Campbell more five-on-five time. Jeff Jillson, a first-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft who has struggled to secure an NHL job with three teams, was promoted from the AHL Rochester Americans and played 10:31 minutes Wednesday night. Rory Fitzpatrick, a healthy scratch earlier in the playoffs, was on the ice for 18:5 minutes Wednesday.

If Numminen can't play, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff will turn to either Doug Janik, who played four minutes in Game 2, or Nathan Paetsch, who played one NHL game in January. Janik led the Amerks this past season with a plus-8 rating while scoring a career-high 24 goals and adding 19 assists in 71 games. Janik was Buffalo's second-round pick, 55th overall, in the 1999 Entry Draft.

Paetsch was a second-round pick of the Washington Capitals, but he didn't sign with the club and was taken by Buffalo in the seventh round, 202nd overall, in the 2003 Entry Draft. He had 11 goals and 39 assists with Rochester this season and was plus-15.

Ruff may go with Paetsch over Janik because Paetsch is described as a Tallinder-like player. If that's true, that might be the most seamless way to approach the injury-depletion problem.

But then, as Bill Clinton liked to say, there's a third way: Ruff has the option of dropping right wing Jason Pominville, who plays a point on power plays, back to the defense. Sami Kapanen has done it several times in recent years in Philadelphia and Ruff may go for the faster, more experienced skill puck handler. That could be a dangerous move because Pominville had 18 goals and 12 assists in 57 regular-season games. Pominville has picked up the pace in the Playoffs, scoring five times and adding five assists in 14 postseason games. So, his greatest value is probably on the wing.

***

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim put on a show in the first period last night and then held on for a 6-3 win. Held on? Yes, the sixth goal was an empty-netter. The visiting Ducks out-shot the Oilers in the first period, 25-3. The Oilers righted the ship in the second period, after falling behind, 3-0. They out-shot Anaheim, 13-10 and outscored them, 3-2. The Oilers had several good bids in the third period but the Ducks held them off until Joffrey Lupul scored an empty-netter with 1:10 remaining.

The Ducks have forced the series back to Anaheim for Game 5 Saturday night. They must win four-straight games to get to the Stanley Cup Finals but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and they did what they had to do Thursday night.

Mighty Ducks coach Randy Carlyle surprised a lot of people by starting Jean-Sebastien Giguere, after benching the 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy winner in the first round this year. Giguere was the last player to leave the bench Tuesday night after the Mighty Ducks' third-straight loss. He stared all around the rink and up into the crowd. Perhaps he'd already been given the word that he was going back in net?

Giguere gave up three goals on the Oilers' first nine shots, but he was rock-solid at crunch time, stopping the last 14 shots he saw.

"It's not the best situation when you haven't played for a month. It doesn't matter if you ride the bike real hard. Nothing duplicates a playoff game," Giguere said. "But it was easy to be motivated for this game."

"Who isn't nervous if you haven't played for a month? It's a lot of pressure, but I thought he handled it pretty well," Mighty Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei said.

"Jiggy played well," defenseman Sean O'Donnell said, "and he's the one that brought us here."

It was a smart way to maintain the value of the team's investment in the player. If Giguere had stayed shelved and the Mighty Ducks were swept, the goalie's value would have dropped in the eyes of his own team and any team contemplating a trade for a veteran goalie. The coach gave the goalie an opportunity to remind us of his ability in critical situations and Giguere took advantage.

***

Cute line from Jerry Sullivan in the Buffalo News regarding the importance of having the last line change at home: "Of course, when you talk about the last change in Carolina, they assume you're talking about the oil in the Dodge."