Eric Staal arrived at the RBC Center for Game 2 in a dark black suit driving his silver BMW 700 series sedan. As a middle-aged fan wearing a Carolina jersey chased after his luxury sedan, the 21-year-old Hurricanes center, with one hand on the steering wheel, made a right turn into the players' parking lot.

Three hours later, Staal was weaving through traffic down the center lane of the rink with just as much confidence when he coolly set up the game-winning goal for Andrew Ladd, the youngest player in the finals. Says Staal, who leads the league with 22 points, "Laddie was a little ahead of me when I picked up [the puck], so I had to give it to him. It was a big goal for him."

With a 5-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2, the Hurricanes are now just two shy from claiming the Stanley Cup, but they are far from sitting comfortably in the driver's seat. "If we breathe easy, we're going to be in a situation where San Jose was," said Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward. "The worst mistake you make is underestimate your opponent. I'm not saying San Jose did, but there is an obvious potential."

The Sharks lost in six games after winning the first two to Edmonton in the Western semifinals, and the Hurricanes are fully aware that the plucky Oilers can repeat a sweep again. Carolina dominated all three periods by stumping the Oilers with 24 blocked shots and relying on superb goaltending of 22-year-old Cam Ward, who stopped 25 shots to put him second behind Anaheim's Ilya Bryzgalov for the most shutouts in the postseason (two).

Oilers' backup Jussi Markkanen replaced Dwayne Roloson, who is out with a knee injury. Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said he had full confidence in his backup, who stopped 21 of 26 shots in his first game in three months and didn't get much help from his team that took nine sloppy penalties.

The Hurricanes, though, were cautious of reading too much into the victory as they prepared to fly out to Edmonton on Thursday morning for Game 3. Said veteran Aaron Ward, "It'll be an interesting situation for the young guys [to receive their] christening at Rexall Center. It's pretty crazy. If you take the perspective of the situation, they've got an entire country behind them." Added center Doug Weight, "We know it's going to be a close game on Saturday. We'll have to make a commitment on every shift when we drop the puck."

The Oilers are looking to become the first Canadian team in 13 years to win the Cup, and the meaning isn't lost on a team that hasn't claimed that title since 1990.

"We're not particularly interested in historical percentages on the what the stats are being down two," said Oilers center Michael Peca. "We're the only ones to have been in this spot, so we're going to leave the baggage in the locker room and get prepared the next two days for a home game." And that is what the Hurricanes fear most.