Oilers set up showdown

Three power-play goals and a low maintenance 16-save performance by Edmonton netminder Jussi Markkanen forced NHL officials to pack up the Stanley Cup championship trophy once again, this time for a trip back to Raleigh, North Carolina.

The best-of-seven final series is tied at 3-3, with the winner-takes-all Game Seven set for Monday at Raleigh's RBC Centre.

"It's a really exciting time for me," Markkanen told reporters on the heels of his first career NHL post-season shutout.

"These couple of weeks have been an unbelievable time and the best time in my hockey career, so far. Hopefully, they (Oiler team mates) come with another effort like this on Monday."

Moving up from third-string netminder to starter after Oilers' number-one Dwayne Roloson injured a knee in Game One, Markkanen would only need one goal by his team mates to record his third victory of the series.

Fernando Pisani provided him with that, scoring on the Oilers' third power-play attempt at 1:45 of the second period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. The goal was Pisani's 13th of the 2006 post-season campaign, giving the hometown hero sole possession of the playoff goal-scoring lead.

Raffi Torres, whose bone-jarring check in Game Five left

Hurricanes' forward Doug Weight sidelined with an undisclosed arm injury, deflected a Steve Staios blast from the right point to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.

The goal ignited a thunderous celebration from the sold-out crowd of close to 17,000, which included a group of orange-and-blue painted fans high-fiving Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who was also at Rexall Place.

"I thought the start was going to be huge for us," said Torres, who also made his presence known physically in the first period with punishing hits on Hurricanes Glen Wesley and Cory Stillman.

"We had the crowd going early, and we wanted to make sure we came out and established our fore-check pretty much the way we finished off Game Five," he added. "I think that was the big key for the way the game panned out."

Edmonton dominated the Canes in all aspects of the game, especially on offence, where the Oilers out-shot the visitors 21-7 by the end of the second period and 34-16 overall.

A pair of power-play tallies in the third period, the first by Ryan Smyth who beat Carolina goalie Cam Ward with a backhand shot to his stick side and the second by Shawn Horcoff off a beautiful feed from Radek Dvorak, rounded out the scoring.

A deafening chant of "We want the Cup...We want the Cup" filled the building as the Oilers headed to the dressing room before a late-night flight back to Carolina.

Edmonton head coach Craig MacTavish said special teams would decide the Stanley Cup.

"We know that the power play is going to play a tremendous role in the next game and you know, whoever wins the specialty team in that next game is going to have a huge advantage," he said.

Going home to Raleigh, however, Carolina head coach Peter Laviolette likes his club's chances.

"There's one game left for the Stanley Cup, and it's in our building. No place we would rather be," Laviolette said.

The Oilers are attempting to become just the second club in league history to capture Lord Stanley's Cup after trailing the final series 3-1. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs came back from the same margin to defeat the Detroit Red Wings.

This marks the third consecutive time the Stanley Cup champions will be decided in Game Seven.

The New Jersey Devils defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 3-0 in Game Seven of the 2003 series, and the Tampa Bay Lightning recorded a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in 2004, prior to the lockout 2005 season.