ESPN NHL

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes have been nearly unbeatable at home in the playoffs. On Wednesday, they have a chance to celebrate the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history in front of their fans at RBC Center.

Making their second appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in the last four seasons, the Hurricanes took a three-games-to-one lead over the Edmonton Oilers with a 2-1 victory on Monday.

Carolina has won nine of its last 10 home games in this postseason, including both against the Oilers.

Mark Recchi scored the game-winning goal in the second period of Monday's win at Edmonton. Rookie sensation Cam Ward again was stellar in goal for the Hurricanes.

"Our fans have been terrific all year, we feed off them, and I'm really looking forward to getting there and playing another game in front of them," Hurricanes defenseman Glen Wesley said.

Cory Stillman also scored and Eric Staal set up a pair of tallies for Carolina in Game Four.

"This is going to be the toughest game for us that we face, is the one that's going to close the series," Stillman said. "And you know what? We're looking forward to doing that on home ice."

"We can't get over-excited," Hurricanes center Kevyn Adams said. "We know what's at stake, but we need to stay focused on going out on Wednesday night to win a hockey game."

Continuing to show tremendous poise, the 22-year-old Ward made 20 saves and was a major reason why the Oilers went 0-for-5 on the power play, squandering a 72-second 5-on-3 advantage in the first period. Edmonton is 1-for-25 with a man-advantage in the series.

"If we got a couple more power-play goals in this series, a couple more power-play goals, we're at least tied," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "But it's the reason we're in the situation we're in right now, being down 3-1."

The Oilers now are faced with trying to become just the second team to overcome a three-games-to-one series deficit since the Finals went to the best-of-seven format in 1939.

"I will continue to maintain that we're a team that's not getting dominated," said MacTavish, whose team can only lean on the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as proof a comeback can be completed. "I know we haven't played our best game in the series, so I guess that's a positive - that we can execute at a higher level and we're going to need to."