Carolina one away from first Stanley Cup
EDMONTON, Alberta – A flick of the stick. A quick grab with the glove. A perfectly placed shot.
Just like that, Carolina had a goal. Now the Hurricanes find themselves one win away from their first Stanley Cup.
Thirty-eight-year-old Mark Recchi scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, and rookie goalie Cam Ward made it stand up Monday night, leading Carolina to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals.
The Hurricanes got the split they needed in Edmonton and now head home with a commanding 3-1 advantage in the best-of-7 series. Game 5 is Wednesday night in basketball-loving Raleigh, on the cusp of putting a different kind of championship on ice.
“This is going to be the toughest game for us,” said Cory Stillman, who scored Carolina’s first goal and set up Recchi with a nifty bit of forechecking. “This is the one that could close the series. You know what, we’re looking forward to doing that on home ice.”
After Edmonton’s Sergei Samsonov and Stillman scored 29 seconds apart in the first period, the Hurricanes stunned the Oilers with a lightning quick play that began innocently enough.
Chris Pronger tried to clear the Edmonton zone, but Stillman reached out to get his stick on it. The puck popped up in front of the goal, where 6-foot-4 Eric Staal jumped up to knock it down with his glove, got control and sent a pass to Recchi at the side of the net.
“Stiller did a good job pressing Pronger and kind of got a stick on the puck,” Staal said. “Good thing I am 8 feet tall and I caught it, and then put it down. I knew Recchs was kind of back door. I just tried to make a move and throw it back there to him.”
Recchi, who was acquired from Pittsburgh during the season, lifted a shot under the crossbar that beat Oilers goalie Jussi Markkanen with 4:04 left in the second.
“I play with a lot of energy and I play with a lot of passion,” Recchi said. “We’ve got our horses and I just follow behind and keep this thing going.”
Markkanen, making his third straight start in place of injured starter Dwayne Roloson, had another strong game after anchoring the Oilers’ 2-1 win in Game 3. The replacement made 18 saves, several of them downright spectacular.
In the first period, Markkanen appeared to get the shaft of his stick on a shot by Rod Brind’Amour – just enough to send it off the crossbar. The Oilers goalie also turned aside Justin Williams with a brilliant glove save early in the third period, the left hand coming out of nowhere to snatch a puck that was headed for the top right corner.
Ward’s 20 saves didn’t look as acrobatic as Markkanen’s – maybe because the 22-year-old is playing so well he makes everything look easy. His positioning was superb, he rarely gave up a dangerous rebound and Carolina could rest easy with its last line of defense.