| PHOTO OF THE DAY |
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Game 5 hero Fernando Pisani checks Carolina's Matt Cullen.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
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"We just feel like we can't lose this year, for whatever reason, in the playoffs. We've had that confidence throughout. In Game 5, it really went up a notch. I think we found our game. We found that edge that has made us successful. We're looking to keep it up."
-- Oilers' center Michael Peca
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GAME BREAKERS
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Fernando Pisani (EDM):
2 goals,
OT-winner
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Eric Staal (CAR):
2 goals,
1 assist
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Chris Pronger (EDM):
2 assists
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TODAY'S SCHEDULE
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RECENT EDITIONS
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| Wednesday, June 14, 2006 |
| Tuesday, June 13, 2006 |
| Monday, June 12, 2006 |
| Sunday, June 11, 2006 |
| Saturday, June 10, 2006 |
| Friday, June 9, 2006 |
| Thursday, June 8, 2006 |
| Wednesday, June 7, 2006 |
| Tuesday, June 6, 2006 |
| Monday, June 5, 2006 |
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The Edmonton Oilers' confidence on the day before Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final is high. They're down, three games to two, but they gained a lot of confidence, to say nothing of staving off elimination, in Game 5 and feel the series has turned their way.
They believe they can win in their building, Rexall Place, Saturday night, gain more confidence and shake the faith of the Hurricanes, who would then be facing the possibility of losing three-straight games in which they could have won the Stanley Cup. One more win, the Oilers believe, would wipe out the Hurricanes' home-ice advantage Monday night at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
Their faith is based on winning three prior series in which they were the underdog. The Detroit Red Wings won the first game against the Oilers in the Western Conference Quarterfinal and everyone assumed Detroit would emerge victorious. Instead, Edmonton won five of the next six games. The San Jose Sharks took a two-game edge into Edmonton in the conference semifinal, then Edmonton won in six. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim could win only the game where the flu bug hit the Oilers.
Edmonton blew a three-goal lead in Game 1 in Raleigh and lost, 5-4, and lost their goalie, Dwayne Roloson, to injury. They were wiped out in Game 2, 5-0, and split two 2-1 games in Edmonton before rallying to win Game 5, 4-3, in Raleigh, in overtime.
From their perspective, there's no evidence that says any team is better than they are. It's a quiet confidence, not resembling false bravado or whistling past the graveyard, but there's also no conceit. They respect the opponent as much as they respect themselves.
"We just feel like we can't lose this year, for whatever reason, in the playoffs," center Michael Peca said. "We've had that confidence throughout. In Game 5, it really went up a notch. I think we found our game. We found that edge that has made us successful. We're looking to keep it up."
They respect their opponent and thus the Stanley Cup Final has been refreshingly free of acrimony. They don't blame their problems on the referee, soft ice or global warming. They take full responsibility for their predicament and look to themselves for a way out. Under questioning from the media, Coach Craig MacTavish has repeatedly rejected opportunities to adopt an "us-against-the-world" attitude. By focusing on hockey and eliminating distractions, the Oilers now have the momentum in the Final.
"I think third period (of Game 5) we had a pretty good period," he said. "This series for us has been about regret and remorse, a little bit, and we really felt like we hadn't played our best hockey and we had our legs and we played better. I think a lot of our regret can be attributed to Carolina's fine positional play and the way that they are playing.
"We'll see. That's the course of the series and now it's up to us to continue that and up to Carolina to answer back and crank their game up another notch and that's what makes it unpredictable and exciting."
MacTavish laughed about the course of the series and how some analysts and fans are struggling to get back on the bandwagon.
"We're off, we're back, we're in, we're out," he said with a laugh.
Defenseman Chris Pronger doesn't believe the fans ever lost faith.
"I don't know. I didn't see that many broken ankles out there," he cracked.
Just ask Pete -- Craig MacTavish isn't the guy to ask about goalie Jussi Markkanen's mental state or physical strength or style of play.
"I don't direct the goalies at all," he said. "I leave that to Pete Peeters, but we have conversations. You know, I ask him how he's doing, and obviously he's playing very well for us. The conversation was after -- Game 1 in Carolina, when I told him that -- I thought it was important that they knew quickly who was playing and, you know, I was really impressed from how calm he was from the outset."
The Oilers need a three-game winning streak to capture the Stanley Cup. They won one of those games in Raleigh and need two more. Peeters is a guy who knows about streaks. Playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, Peeters went 35-straight games without a loss. Later in his career, he went 31 games without a loss for the Boston Bruins.
A superstitious lot -- We knew players had superstitions, but we didn't know teams did. Turns out, some NHL teams find alternate routes to Rexall Place, which is located on Wayne Gretzky Drive. Other teams don't allow the bus driver to back down the driveway to the player's entrance. Nor, will they allow them to drive face-in to pick up players after games and practices and then back out. So, the bus drivers go face-in to drop the team off, back out the driveway, turn around and back down the driveway so that they pick up the players facing-out.
