Prior to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Mark Messier appeared on OLN and spoke about breaking the opposition’s will to win. It was an incredibly candid moment, allowing fans into the head of the player who understood what it took to win Lord Stanley’s Cup, perhaps more than any player in NHL history. In all, Messier won six Stanley Cups, and is the only player in NHL history to captain Cup-winners for two separate franchises (the Edmonton Oilers and the Rangers).

After Messier spoke in those cold,hard terms about the gritty aspects of winning a playoff hockey series, the Carolina Hurricanes went out and obliterated his former team by a devastating 5-0 score. Without injured goalie Dwayne Roloson – a favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy – the rudderless Oilers looked ripe for a sweeping. Edmonton managed to win Game 3, but a loss in Game 4 appeared to cement their fate; only once, all the way back in 1942, had a team come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a Cup Finals series.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Raleigh for Game 5: The Oilers ignored the memo saying their season was done. Instead, they looked more like a team that had heard Messier’s message loud and clear, and was simply lying in wait,anticipating the perfect moment to strike. Game 5 was a hard-fought battle, with Hurricanes star forward Doug Weight knocked out of the game (and probably the series) by a sandwich check delivered by Chris Pronger and Raffi Torres. In the end, the Oilers prevailed in overtime, sending the series back to Edmonton for Saturday night’s Game 6.

Replacing Weight in the lineup was Erik Cole, a dynamic forward who scored 30 goals for Carolina this year,but had his season interrupted when he was smashed into the boards by Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik and suffered a compression fracture to one of his vertebrae. Cole was not expected to return until next season, but obviously felt that the risk of re-injury was outweighed by his team’s need to have him in the lineup.

When evaluated carefully, however, Cole’s Willis Reed impression more likely served to further boost the Oilers’ swelling confidence. Cole hadn’t played since March 2, so it would have been foolhardy to expect him to step into this series and take control. Were the Hurricanes down 3-2 in the series, it might have provided them with the emotional lift they’d have needed to rebound. But the ‘Canes were up 3-2, and had a glorious opportunity to win the Cup; Saturday night was not the appropriate time for such a desperate maneuver.

The Oilers certainly didn’t hold back when checking Cole in Game 6, but he escaped the game without injury. Still, putting him in the lineup was tantamount to pouring blood in the shark tank; this time, it was the Oilers’ turn to dominate, and by the end, they had dismantled the Hurricanes by a decisive 4-0 score. They outshot the ‘Canes 34-16, a statistic that was partly the re sult of their 20-8 lead in blocked shots. They also outskated Carolina, outplayed them in virtually every way.

The Hurricanes appear to have lost their will to win.Now they head home to Raleigh for a winner-takes-all Game 7 against an Oilers team on a roll. The crowd at the RBC will undoubtedly be bursting, but it’s a safe bet they won’t lead the anthem singer through “The Star Spangled Banner” in the dramatic, ear-splitting fashion the Edmonton fans led Paul Lorieau through “O Canada” on Saturday night.

Perhaps now it’s the Hurricanes who are lying in wait. Perhaps Cole’s Game 6 was simply a warm-up for heroics yet to come.But the Oilers team skating on the Rexall Place ice in Game 6 was decidedly superior. Unless something truly miraculous happens in the Hurricanes’ locker room, it seems that their Cup hopes have been dashed and that the eighth-seed Oilers’ Cinderella season is headed for an exciting,dramatic,and improbably satisfying grand finale.

The NHL is a work in progress, a sports league working diligently to redefine itself following a decade-long downturn that saw profits and excitement levels fall precipitously. That bumpy road will take some time to traverse, but this Cup Finals series exemplifies what the league is striving to become. From start to finish, the quality of play has been extraordinary,featuring the balance between skill and grace that makes ice hockey the perfect blend of rugby and ballet.

For anyone watching this series – really watching – it is abundantly clear that the NHL is on the right track.Win or lose tonight, the Hurricanes have taken a huge step forward in their effort to win over the NCAA Basketball- and NASCAR-mad sports fans of Raleigh.

And up in Edmonton, a team once ripe for relocation is again on terra firma, a treasure for its hockey-mad fans to gush with unbridled affection. More than any other, those two storylines are the best to emerge from his championship series.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.