| PHOTO OF THE DAY |
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Oilers' defenseman Jason Smith checks Hurricanes' forward Mark Recchi during Game 2.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
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"It is going to be exciting and it is different walking in here knowing that you are going to be on the ice and not in the stands. But as tough as it may seem, you have got to treat it as any other game; we got a job here to finish and it's just going to be exciting to be a part of a hostile environment like it is here."
-- Goalie Cam Ward on playing in his hometown as a member of the Hurricanes
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GAME BREAKERS
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Frantisek Kaberle (CAR):
1 goal,
2 assists
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Matt Cullen (CAR):
3 assists
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Cam Ward (CAR):
25-save shutout
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TODAY'S SCHEDULE
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RECENT EDITIONS
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| Thursday, June 8, 2006 |
| Wednesday, June 7, 2006 |
| Tuesday, June 6, 2006 |
| Monday, June 5, 2006 |
| Friday, June 2, 2006 |
| Thursday, June 1, 2006 |
| Wednesday, May 31, 2006 |
| Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
| Friday, May 26, 2006 |
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Playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, returning to Edmonton to face a homecoming that isn't going to be friendly, and getting married. Your average 22-year-old would be a basket case right about now.
But as Carolina's Cam Ward is proving quite convincingly, he is no ordinary 22-year-old. Ward has been terrific in the Final, following up on some other spectacular efforts during this playoff season.
Ward faces a daunting task Saturday when he will start for the Hurricanes in his hometown of Edmonton, looking to send the Oilers packing.
"It is exciting, and with that being said, I try to do the best I can to treat it like any other road game, even though you are in your hometown," Ward said. "We have got a job here to finish. It's important that we keep our focus."
"It is going to be exciting and it is different walking in here knowing that you are going to be on the ice and not in the stands," Ward said. "But as tough as it may seem, you have got to treat it as any other game; we got a job here to finish and it's just going to be exciting to be a part of a hostile environment like it is here."
How does Ward maintain these nerves of steel?
"You just don't think about it too much," Ward said. "I find that it is a lot easier when you are just going out there and playing and not over-thinking or overanalyzing and trying to hype yourself up."
And it has gone so well that Ward's confidence is booming.
"It's great," he said. "I feel comfortable and confident at the net. Once again, that's a reflection of the team; they played great in Game 2 in front of me. ? I am just going out there to do the best I can to contribute to my hockey team."
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Oilers coach Craig MacTavish has been the picture of calm thus far. He has been realistic and optimistic about the Oilers' plight, noting that the biggest emotion around the Oilers has been one of disappointment thus far.
"We're all disappointed in case anybody was wondering, MacTavish said. "We're disappointed with the two losses, but we have adjustments that we need to make. We missed opportunities. That's maybe the most disappointing thing of the two games is the missed opportunity that we had. And we got to make a few adjustments. As somebody said after the two losses in San Jose, I think it was Gretz, saying that the playoff series never starts until somebody loses a home game. We got to make sure that doesn't happen.
"We put ourselves in a difficult position, but, you know, there are 28 other teams that are in a worse position," MacTavish said. "At least we're alive and kicking, feel like there are definitely things that we can take from the first two games, that are going to help us going into Game 3. Don't feel we got dominated. We gave up too many goals. We were porous at times defensively which we have to shore up. We have done that in the past, and we're going to have to do it again.
"There wasn't a lot of physical rust, but there may have been some mental rust in our game in terms of how we need to play to get back to the same level of success that we had before we eliminated Anaheim."
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Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said one of the secrets to the team's success in the postseason has been to keep to a regular-season routine.
"We haven't changed anything," Laviolette said. "You can catch us on any practice day doing laps, doing nets at the end of practice. We practice hard, play hard, same video meetings. We have made it a point to stay exactly the same in the playoffs as we did in the regular season, whether it be little things, allowing the media into our locker room at 5 o'clock, 5:30 or whenever that time slot is, when we can bring players outside the locker room all year long, allow the media in.
"We talked about it, just leave everything the same, whether it's kids in the locker room, dads in the pre-game skate, travel times or meals that we had, preparation for power play, penalty kill, everything for us, has been the same."
