EDMONTON -- With the Stanley Cup ensconced in its secret location somewhere in the bowels of Rexall Place on Saturday night, just waiting for Carolina to claim it with a winning effort in Game 6, the Hurricanes turned in their worst effort of this Stanley Cup Final.

"It's disappointing that we came out and played that way -- to a man," said defenseman Glen Wesley, who was on the ice for three of the four goals against Saturday night.

Sure the super-charged Oilers, revved up from the opening faceoff, did more than enough to win the game before their amped-up crowd, but Carolina was its own worst enemy in making Monday's Game 7 a reality -- a thought that was unimaginable last Monday when Carolina waltzed away from here with a comfortable three- games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series.

Carolina then lost Game 5 in OT back home, a result that was almost acceptable because of the close nature of the contest and the comfortable lead Carolina enjoyed in the series. But, there were no excuses for Saturday's loss, a dismal 4-0 domination at the hands of the home team.

Schedule / Links:   Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos Gm. 3: EDM 2, CAR 1 | Photos Gm. 4: CAR 2, EDM 1 | Photos Gm. 5: EDM 4, CAR 3 OT | Photos Gm. 6: EDM 4, CAR 0 | Photos Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) Oilers force Game 7 with 4-0 win Oilers' physical play turning the tide Cole makes surprise return to lineup Stanley Cup notebook Complete Playoffs coverage Hurricanes official site Oilers official site Hurricanes team stats Oilers team stats Buy your 'Canes merchandise Buy your Oilers merchandise

Sure, Doug Weight was out, as expected, after suffering an arm injury late in Game 5. But, the Hurricanes welcomed Erik Cole back into the fold, a move designed to give the beleaguered club a lift.

It, like everything else the Hurricanes tried Saturday night, failed miserably.

"We just didn't play the way we can or the way we wanted to," said Eric Staal, who managed just one third -period shot after figuring in the previous five goals Carolina had scored dating back to Game 4.

Carolina, with everything to gain from a top-notch performance, was the inferior team from the outset Saturday night.

The Hurricanes survived the first period, despite being outshot 10-3 in the opening frame. Taking a scoreless tie into the first intermission therefore had to be considered a moral victory for Carolina, but it proved hollow as Edmonton put this contest away with a dominant second period.

The visitors didn't register their first shot in the middle period until the 14:11 mark of the middle frame, a weak attempt by Justin Williams. By then, Edmonton had already established an insurmountable 2-0 lead with some offensive wizardry.

Fernando Pisani, the hero in Game 5 with his shorthanded winner in OT, opened the scoring on the power play Saturday night, just 1:45 into the second period. Jaroslav Spacek started the play by winning a 50-50 puck deep in the offensive zone, and then passed to Ales Hemsky at the point. Hemsky fed Pisani in the high slot from where he fired a seemingly harmless backhander -- harmless until it ticked off the toe of the skate of Wesley and changed directions on befuddled goalie Cam Ward.

"It was nothing-nothing after the first period," center Kevyn Adams said. "They get a deflected goal and get momentum and went from there. I don't think we were flat, they just played better than us."

The 'Canes may be down after dropping two straight, but they have a chance to take home the Cup in Game 7.

Eight minutes later, Raffi Torres spoke with his stick instead of his body, which has been a wrecking ball in each of the past two games. After some hard work by Mike Peca as he gained the blue line, Pisani passed the puck to defenseman Steve Staios, who fired a seeing-eye shot that banked off the shaft of Torres' stick and into the far corner of the net. Wesley, stationed in front of the net, was caught flat-footed on the play as Edmonton controlled in his corner to start the scoring play.

Things got so bad that coach Peter Laviolette burned his only timeout at the 12:37 mark of the second period. At the time, Edmonton held a 21-3 advantage in shots.

"They skated us pretty good tonight," the coach said. "They battled better than we did, skated better than we did. When we are skating, we are tough to handle, and we didn't skate very well tonight. They skated very well."

Ryan Smyth scored early in the third, on another power play, before Shawn Horcoff closed the scoring with Edmonton's third power-play goal of the game.

The three power-play goals, on nine attempts, was just the tip of the iceberg, however. Carolina took too many unnecessary penalties. Of the 10 penalties assessed to the Hurricanes, four were roughing penalties. Another four were clear obstruction fouls. Two unsightly too-many-men infractions were thrown into the mix for good measure.

Edmonton out-hit Carolina 23-11 to continue the physical superiority it established in Game 5 to start taking control of the series. By the time the final horn sounded at Rexall Place to end the carnage, Carolina had been out-shot 34-16.

"We're too talented a team to be kept under 15 shots for the whole game," defenseman Mike Commodore said. "We've got to be better."

But, all of those ugly numbers only tell half the story. The long faces and bruised and battered bodies of the Carolina players that occupied the solemn visitors' room told the rest of the story.

For those players know, as well as anyone that watched Game 6, that they have a little less than 48 hours to turn the incoming Edmonton tide that is now well on its way toward swamping Carolina's Stanley Cup dreams.

"Now, it's down to one game," Commodore said. "You just have to forget about (this). Come Monday, this doesn't matter."