RALEIGH, N.C. -- Carolina defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky is quite the trump card for coach Peter Laviolette. But Laviolette decided against playing that hole card in Saturday's Game 6 and has to mull his status over for Game 7. In Game 6, the coach decided to go with an even bigger surprise -- re-inserting injured power forward Erik Cole into the lineup in a completely unexpected move.

Many thought Tverdovsky, who won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003, would be needed in Saturday's Game 6. Defenseman Aaron Ward absorbed a punishing hit from Edmonton's Raffi Torres in the first minute of Game 5 and clearly struggled through the rest of the first period. He missed the entire second period before making a dramatic re-entry in the third period, where he promptly took a Chris Pronger slap shot off his ankle.

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 With Cup on the line, Carolina turns in poor effort Cole makes surprise return to lineup Complete Playoffs coverage Hurricanes official site Oilers official site Hurricanes team stats Oilers team stats Buy your 'Canes merchandise Buy your Oilers merchandise

After Carolina lost that Game 5 in OT, two days of speculation about Ward's health and availability mushroomed quickly into a media circus. Tverdovsky was suddenly put on notice.

He knew he could be called upon to replace the ailing Ward in Game 6, or perhaps dress a seventh defenseman to provide cover for Ward or any of the team's other dinged-up defensemen. Or, in a worst-case scenario for him, he would be left out of the lineup again, forced to watch the action unfold in street clothes -- again unable to help his team in any tangible way as it battled Edmonton for the Stanley Cup.

Saturday, that worst-case scenario unfolded as Tverdovsky was scratched. Now he lives through the same scenario for Monday's Game 7.

"Whatever comes my way, I'll handle," Tverdovsky said. "When you get that feeling (of winning the Cup), you want to do it again and again. When you get this close, you smell it and you want to do it one more time."

Tverdovsky, 30, already has nine NHL seasons under his belt, has won a Stanley Cup, copped an Olympic bronze medal and played in an NHL All-Star Game. On most teams, those credentials would be enough to make the player presenting that resume a top-four defenseman. On Carolina's deep and talented blue line, Tverdovsky is a No. 7.

He was used throughout the regular season, appearing in 72 games and scoring a respectable 23 points while amassing a minus-1 rating. In the postseason, he has been sporadically inserted into the lineup whenever Laviolette felt an inkling to go with an extra defenseman. But, Tverdovsky has only seen very limited action in the Final. He played two minutes and 20 seconds in Game 2, sitting without a shift until the 5-0 victory was well secured. Then, he received a few late shifts.

Despite his lofty playing credentials, Tverdovsky has taken his demotion to healthy scratch in stride, insisting that he will help the team in any way he can.

"We have a lot of guys like this and all we can do is stay in shape," Tverdovsky said, looking around at the stalls of Carolina's other scratches. "If I'm needed, I will be ready. I'm skating more (during practices) and I'll be in the best shape I can. So, if there is a situation, I'm ready to do it if coach needs me. It's good to have a team like us because we have a lot of depth. Somebody goes down and we have a guy to replace him."

"If I'm needed, I will be ready. I'm skating more (during practices) and I'll be in the best shape I can. So, if there is a situation, I'm ready to do it if coach needs me." -- Oleg Tverdovsky

Tverdovsky's low-key attitude in the room, combined with his effective play on the ice, has made him an ideal teammate -- especially in the all-for-one atmosphere propagated by Laviolette. The other defensemen in the room have the utmost confidence that Tverdovsky can contribute if called upon in these crucial moments.

"We played a system pretty much throughout the year, sans three or four games, where we used seven defensemen, so this team is comfortable with that," Aaron Ward said. "You saw the last game, we had five D and everybody played every position, so you throw 'Tver' in there and you still have that continuity that is so essential at this stage of the season.

"He's got a number of games under his belt, he's been in this position before and he has confidence. That's all you can ask for."

Tverdovsky knows his lack of playing time in the Final hurt his chances of appearing in Game 6 and 7. The limited action he saw in Game 2 was hardly enough to get him up to speed with the intense pace this Final has featured throughout the first six games.

Tverdovsky has world-class speed, but his timing is certainly off, a for-certain handicap he readily admitted to -- especially under the new interpretation of the rules that discourage defensemen for using obstruction tactics to gain the upper-hand.

"It's hard to jump in like that obviously," Tverdovsky said. "With the speed of the game, it's the best hockey of the year. Not playing after warm-up (in Game 2) for another 40 minutes or hour, I don't know what it was, obviously your body's pretty cold. You just try to go through the motions, jump in there, take short shifts and jump into the game. It's a tough situation but, you know, you got to do it, no questions about it."

There's also no question that Tverdovsky, despite his limited role has contributed greatly to Carolina's success throughout these playoffs.