Hurricanes 2 Oilers 1

Yeeee Hawww!

Dateline Raleigh: Forward Ryan Smyth expected to crash the net in game five as Oil face SCF armageddon.

Issue Number One: Please assure me Mick McGeough isn't working game five!!!

The Canes demonstrated they could hold a lead without going into a rope-a-dope. They crushed the Oil PP- multiple Oil PP's. Once they quit taking ticky-tack penalties in the first, their team speed, team defense and heady on-ice leadership took over the game. The Carolina Hurricanes were on the attack virtually all night.

Just one more game...ONE. MORE. GAME. Man, after 2002, I never thought the Canes would come this close to winning you-know-what in just four years. One of those rare, RARE moments where I certainly do not mind being wrong.

Now the tough part. They say the 4th win is always the hardest. The Canes get to come home to Raleigh and their fans with what every hockey player dreams of from the time they are little boys, a chance to win the Stanley Cup. I have to believe that the RBC will be louder than it ever has been before. Everything you work for as a player all year long is now just 1 win away. Once again, I am getting that good feeling.

I'm in a strange zone right now, much like I was after Game 6 of the Conference Finals. I just feel so...well, calm. I want to compare it to somebody who knows that they're going to die and has made their peace with the world, but I don't know if that's really accurate in this case. I'm looking forward to this summer, when I can hopefully go out to Denver to visit The Pregnant Motie Warrior and brother-in-law, and (gods willing) hold my nephew for the first time.

A Cup win by the 'Canes would do so much to solidify the fanbase here, it really would. Yes, we've gotten a lot of n00bs in the fanbase this season--but winning it all would really cement the team here, and that would be just a great great thing.

Best comment from a thread on The Wolf Web:

listened to that game on SHITTY ASS am radio all the way from jacksonville to raleigh

god damn i nearly drove off the road when we won

I think that about sums it up.

A sombre drive home, indeed.

The Capilano Mall "GO Oilers GO" sign takes on a rather pathetic quality as I drive by, and only a few dozen Oilers fans were on Whyte Avenue tonight, standing around and vacantly eating donairs. All of these car flags, the smashed windows, the tits -- you mean its all for nothing?

Before Oilers games this year, a few lines from the Nina Simone song "Feeling Good" have been played, followed by "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas. Well, I ain't feeling too good right now. If someone had told me two months ago that the Edmonton Oilers would end up in the Stanley Cup Finals, I would have been ecstatic. I would have been ecstatic if they had told me two months ago that the Whalers/Canes would win the Stanley Cup. Yet now neither scenario pleases me. I never expected the Canes and Oilers to be facing each other for all the marbles, and I sure as hell ain't happy now about the Oilers being one loss away from Finals elimination. Rather than being pleased as plums with both teams, I am now on the brink of being heart-broken by both. The Canes have been the better team, and will now win the Stanley Cup, but I couldn't be unhappier about it. All I can do is sigh.

Ouch. Full credit to the Canes tonight. Their D is incredibly aggressive, and the Oilers just couldn't get anything going towards the net -- although I'm still confused about why they don't just fire everything at Ward, who continues to give up huge rebounds on almost every shot. Samsonov was dynamite, and he didn't get nearly enough ice-time.

In their own zone the Oil managed to stay out of trouble for the most part; but it was pretty damn scrambly and Jussi made a few saves that will show up on TSN. Pronger was . . . shakey. Did I just write that? Pronger? Shakey? Whaaaat? By my count he had three brutal giveaways, including the one that led to Carolina's second goal. And Hemsky? Ahhhh, Hemsky. He is just so close to being a great player, but remains the most frustrating player I've cheered for in decades. My "Shoot the Damn Puck" Meter exploded in the second period. Kudos to the crowd, who -- recognizing that this might be the last time they see the team -- continued to chant "Let's Go Oilers" well after the game had ended.

It is a tough row to hoe now, friends. If there is a team that can do it, I think it is this edition; but they are going to have to find a way to solve that pressure D and to get something going on the powerplay. I have no answers.

Well, that's it ladies and gentlemen, I am outta here. And with more of a whimper than a bang, unfortunately.