| PHOTO OF THE DAY |
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The Oilers' Ethan Moreau and Dick Tarnstrom collide with Carolina's Erik Cole during the first period of Game 6 at Rexall Place.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
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"I'm too smart to answer that."
-- Oilers' coach Craig MacTavish, when asked if he would like to see Saturday's referees, Bill McCreary and Brad Watson, do tonight's game.
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GAME BREAKERS
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Raffi Torres (EDM):
1 goal
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Jaroslav Spacek (EDM):
2 assists
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Fernando Pisani (EDM):
1 goal, 1 assist
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TODAY'S SCHEDULE
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Carolina @ Edmonton
8:00 PM (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| -- All times Eastern |
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RECENT EDITIONS
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| Saturday, June 17, 2006 |
| Friday, June 16, 2006 |
| 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 |
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RALEIGH, N.C. -- The days dwindle down to the precious few, actually to this last one, in the 2005-06 NHL season. The Carolina Hurricanes host the Edmonton Oilers here tonight in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final at the RBC Center.
What a season!
It featured new rules and a new standard of enforcement under the direction of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell and NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom. There were 1,230 regular-season games and plenty of action in the Stanley Cup playoffs. You loved it and we love you for loving it. You set new records for attendance -- 20,854,169 fans overall during the regular season and a per-game average of 16,955 -- an increase of 2.4 per cent from the 2003-04 season and 1.2 per cent higher than the old records set during the 2001-02 season.
And, why not. The NHL game was faster, cleaner and more exciting. No lead was safe, games were high-tempo to the finish. Stanley Cup Playoff attendance figures and averages won't be available until after tonight's game but it's clear that you loved those games too.
Almost 12 percent of regular-season games, 145, were decided by shootouts in the innovation's first season. The Dallas Stars won the most games -- 12 -- in shootouts. New York Rangers defenseman Marek Malik had the shootout highlight goal with his between-the-legs flip in the 15th round to beat Washington on Nov. 26.
The Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy for the best regular-season record, 58-16-8 for 124 points.
Joe Thornton won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 29 goals and 96 assists for 125 points while playing for the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks. Thornton was traded to San Jose from Boston in November in a blockbuster, four-player deal.
Other award winners will be announced Thursday in Vancouver at the NHL Awards Dinner.
The Ottawa Senators were the best team in the Eastern Conference and won the Northeast Division. The Carolina Hurricanes triumphed in the Southeast Division and the New Jersey Devils rallied to capture the Atlantic Division on the final day of the regular season. The Red Wings won the Central Division. The Dallas Stars won the Pacific Division and the Calgary Flames won the Northwest Division.
The much heralded Sidney Crosby made his debut this season as did the Washington Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin, who led all rookies in scoring with 52 goals and 56 assists for 108 points, third-best overall among all NHL players.
The Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens, Devils and Buffalo Sabres to advance to the Final. The Oilers downed the Red Wings, Sharks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to get here.
Carolina's Eric Staal, a brilliant second-year player, leads all scorers in the playoffs with 27 points, including a playoff-leading assists. Staal is only two points ahead of teammate Cory Stillman, Edmonton defenseman Chris Pronger is third with 21 points. Edmonton's Fernando Pisani, a hometown hero, leads the playoffs with 13 goals.
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Jim Cain, the former president of the Carolina Hurricanes, were among the 16,839 in attendance at Rexall Place Saturday night. Both men had to be proud when they heard the (mostly) Edmonton fans loudly sing both the Canadian and American national anthems. Hats off to Edmonton anthem singer Paul Laurier for giving up his day in the sun by holding up his microphone to catch the sound.
Fans in Raleigh have been lavish in praise of the Oilers' fans who traveled over 2,000 miles to attend Games 1,2,5 and 7 here and, in many cases, join the 'Caniacs for pregame festivities in the RBC Center parking lot.
In that spirit, if we can help prevent some Canadian media outlets from mispronouncing the name of the host city tonight, we're willing to give it a try. Regardless of how Canadians pronounce the name of the English explorer who introduced tobacco smoking to Western Civilization, the North Carolina city is pronounced "RAW-lee," not "Rally."
When in Rome, eh?
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Oilers coach Craig MacTavish's wit has been on display throughout the Final. He referred to his team Sunday as "factory-tested tough." When asked if he would like to see Saturday's referees, Bill McCreary and Brad Watson, do tonight's game, MacTavish responded, "I'm too smart to answer that."
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A reporter asked him which Oilers' player is the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy, MacTavish played it straight and named his team's leading scorer and 30-plus minutes-a-game defenseman Chris Pronger, adding that an argument could be made for Fernando Pisani, who has a playoffs-leading 13 goals.
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Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette received a supportive call Sunday from an unnamed friend in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. The friend reminded Laviolette that the Lightning, en route to the 2004 Stanley Cup, were soundly beaten by the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals but came back to win Game 7.
Who could that friend be? Your guess is as good as ours, but Laviolette and Lightning coach John Tortorella were both born in Massachusetts, played college hockey in New England -- Tortorella at the University of Maine and Laviolette at Westfield (Mass.) State -- and Laviolette was finishing up his playing career a decade ago with the AHL Providence Bruins while Tortorella was in his first stint as a head coach, with the AHL Rochester Americans. Both men have lent their talents to USA Hockey on numerous occasions, including Laviolette's role as head coach of Team USA at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
They have an even more recent link -- Laviolette was the head coach and Tortorella the associate coach of Team USA at the 2005 IIHF World Championship at Innsbruck and Vienna, Austria. Hurricanes Doug Weight, Kevyn Adams and Erik Cole played for that team as did Oilers goalie Ty Conklin.
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This is the third-straight season that the Stanley Cup Final has gone seven games. That's never happened before. The new NHL: You get more for your money.
