Raleigh, N.C. – Outside the RBC Center on Tuesday afternoon, a car in the parking lot had a homemade foil replica of the Stanley Cup adorned with the Carolina Hurricanes’ logo affixed to its roof.
Inside the arena, the Hurricanes – who hold a 3-1 series lead over Edmonton in the Cup Finals heading into tonight’s Game 5 – did their best to avoid being as presumptuous.
These circumstances – a team leading 3-1 heading into a Game 5 at home – have happened 18 times before in the Finals. The team with the 3-1 lead won the Stanley Cup every time.
That’s a trend.
Carolina coach Peter Laviolette reprised the theme he picked up after talking with San Jose coach Ron Wilson, who used the golf analogy in advising Laviolette and the ‘Canes to keep their collective eyes “on the ball” in the postseason.
“We’ll treat it just like we did any other game and try to keep our eye on the ball, because that’s the most important thing – not to lose sight of the game itself,” said Laviolette, who spent parts of two seasons playing with the New York Rangers’ affiliate in Denver in the late 1980s. “We’ll run our meeting the way we always do, and we’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready.”
He added: “I guess what I’m saying is I don’t want to sit back and enjoy it too much, because we’re not home yet. … There’s really no reason to party, or to celebrate, and the team knows that as well.”
Indeed, the players seemed to have gotten the memo.
“We know they are not going to roll over,” center Eric Staal said. “We know they are going to come out desperate. We want to have this chance to get it done in front of our home fans, and come out with that same desperation. … I mean, you can’t be looking ahead at the prize when the work isn’t done yet.”
Rookie Carolina goalie Cam Ward, who is bedeviling his hometown team, the Oilers, said the Hurricanes “have set ourselves up for good things here and have an opportunity to clinch it at home in Raleigh. … We’re going to do the best we can to finish the job here. But with that being said, we realize the series is a long way from over. It’s going to take another solid effort, like we played in Game 4.”
Ward said that when the Stanley Cup was displayed at a golf tournament run by hockey’s Sutter clan in Red Deer, Alberta, last summer, his foursome had a group picture taken with the Cup, but “everybody advised me not to touch it. And I didn’t.”
If the ‘Canes are hoisting the storied trophy tonight, it would make Carolina the third of the four former World Hockey Association franchises to win the Stanley Cup, joining Quebec-Colorado and the Oilers. The Hurricanes were the Boston/New England/Hartford Whalers in the WHA, and moved from Hartford to North Carolina in 1997.
A Carolina championship also would leave only the Phoenix Coyotes, who played in the WHA as the Winnipeg Jets, without a Stanley Cup victory among the four franchises that joined the NHL in 1979-80.
Laviolette was asked about whether Hartford fans can take some solace in the Hurricanes finally winning the Cup for the franchise with the New England roots. He used another golf reference to illustrate why any talk of Hartford fans getting into this might have sailed over his head.
“My head has been in the sand,” he said. “I just found out that New Jersey got a coach today (Claude Julien). It’s amazing what you don’t hear. I was watching that Tiger Woods is going back to play golf. I didn’t know his father passed away.”
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Carolina vs. Edmonton
(best of seven)
Carolina leads series 3-1
* – if necessary
Game 1: Carolina 5, Edmonton 4
Game 2: Carolina 5, Edmonton 0
Game 3: Edmonton 2, Carolina 1
Game 4: Carolina 2, Edmonton 1
Game 5: Edmonton at Carolina, today, 6 p.m.
Game 6: Carolina at Edmonton, Saturday, 6 p.m.*
Game 7: Edmonton at Carolina, Monday, 6 p.m.*
