The Carolina Hurricanes are one win away from clinching the Eastern Conference Finals. One win away from playing the Edmonton Oilers iun the Stanley Cup Finals.

Heretofore, this game will be referred to as " The One That Got Away".

Ryan Miller and his Buffalo Sabres stormed into Raleigh and they applied a tremendous amount of pressure on Sunday night. On this night, Miller's Dmates were in his foxhole with him. Miller and his D were in sync. Recchi'sgoalwas a bang, bang shot. The Williams goal was a goal scorer's, five holegoal. There was nothing they could do on Brind'Amour's goal. Lets face it, the stanshions in the glass, and, the boardsat the RBC Center are ridiculously non-compliant with the the majority of the buildings in the NHL. Need eveidence? Cory Stillman's game winner in OT was the result of the puck carening off the wall, like a Super Ball jumps off ashphalt-- good luck trying to judge where the rebound will appear.

Bad breaks aside, Miller and his D mates were on top of heir game all night long. On this night, you'll have to apply the collar to the necks of Buffalo forwards like Max Afinogenov, JP Dumont, Jochen Hecht, and Danny Briere. Max NEVER shoots on breakawys and penalty shots, he always dekes. So why did he feel the need to shoot such a low percenatge shot on Ward with less than five minutes to play in regulation. Opportunity lost. Max owes his teammates a huge apology for crapping his pants on the play that would have sealed the win, and move Game 6 back to Buffalo for a shot at elimination on their home ice on Tuesday night. Max seems to slipped into a coma in these playoffs. He's a shadow of his former self. It was hero time late in the third, on the road,game winner on his tape, one and one with the Ward, and WHAMMO---Max wants nopart of the gravity of the moment. Jochen Hecht had an opportunity to put the game away in OT. To no avail. Danny Briere had a close in chance to win it in OT, however, his wrister hit Ward right in the gloves.

The Sabres forwards better pull their heads out of their asses and make better shot decisions in Game 6. They are getting clean, open looks, but, they are not burying them. The Canes are getting some lucky bounces, and fortuitous hops, however, they are making them count.

That, my friends in the difference in this series: Carolina have experienced forwards who can finish, not Flashdance when they have the puck in a shooting situation. Advantage Carolina.

Goaltending is still Bufffalo's Advantage. The Sabres forward chase Gerber from the pipes, and yet they could not get a spitball within twenty feet of Ward's crease, for what seemed like fifteen minutes. What the Hell is that ? There was blood in the water, and, the Sabres forwards could not/would not exploit galring weakness. Give Carolina D and forwardsfull marks for keeping the Sabres forwards wide. Ward made clean saves off open looks for most of the second and third periods.

Before you point the finger of blame at the Sabres' lack of defense, give your head a shake and look at the facts:

Teppo Numminen could not compete in this game, however, it did not matter. The patchwork Buffalo D corps played like me possessed in Game 5. Toni Lydman logged 26:49 in icetime and score a Brian Leetch-like goal on a breakway, and he blocked 5 shots; Oft maligned, Rory Fitzpatrick chipped in 26:32, clearly his highest icetime toatl of the season, and he added 8 blocked shot; Doug Janik and Jeff Jillson both logged ten minutes and, and, they were both even players; Jay McKee skated 25:47 and was a beast, registering 7 blocked shots; the Mac Daddy on D for Buffalo was Brian Campbell, who skated 32:45- he played teh PP and the PK, and he blocked 4 shots.

Its time for Lindy Ruff to grab a veteran and sit him.I'm all for sittingMax Afinogenov. All I know is, Thomas Vanek has been benched for the past three games. He sat against Ottawa, in place of the more rugged Jiri Novotny. Lindy's tinkering with lines confused The Canes in Game 5, and you'll see the same in Game 6.

Adam Mair was a whirling dervish in Game 6. He hit ecery red sweater within 15 feet of himself. Keep Mair ain and sit Max.

Buffalo has a Finnish problem right now, and they better fix it before Game 6 in Buffalo Tuesday night. Expect Teppo to play in Buffalo on Tuesday.

This series will go seven games.

Ward will have to play the game of his life in Game 6. The Buffalo Sabres wil no doubt bring the kitchen sink.

Garth