Edmonton, Alberta ? A flick of the stick. A quick grab with the glove. A perfectly placed shot.

Just like that, Carolina had a goal. Now the Hurricanes find themselves one win away from their first Stanley Cup.

Thirty-eight-year-old Mark Recchi scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and rookie goalie Cam Ward made it stand up Monday night, leading Carolina to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals.

The Hurricanes got the split they needed in Edmonton and now head home with a commanding 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Wednesday night in basketball-loving Raleigh, on the cusp of putting a different kind of championship on ice.

“This is going to be the toughest game for us,” said Cory Stillman, who scored Carolina’s first goal and set up Recchi with a nifty bit of forechecking. “This is the one that could close the series. You know what, we’re looking forward to doing that on home ice.”

After Edmonton’s Sergei Samsonov and Stillman scored 29 seconds apart in the first period, the Hurricanes stunned the Oilers with a lightning quick play that began innocently enough.

The Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Smyth crashes into Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward during the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Carolina won, 2-1, on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Chris Pronger tried to clear the Edmonton zone, but Stillman reached out to get his stick on it. The puck popped up in front of the goal, where 6-foot-4 Eric Staal jumped up to knock it down with his glove, got control and sent a pass to Recchi at the side of the net.

“Stiller did a good job pressing Pronger and kind of got a stick on the puck,” Staal said. “Good thing I am 8 feet tall and I caught it, and then put it down. I knew Recchs was kind of back door. I just tried to make a move and throw it back there to him.”

Recchi, who was acquired from Pittsburgh during the season, lifted a shot under the crossbar that beat Oilers goalie Jussi Markkanen with 4:04 left in the second.

“I play with a lot of energy and I play with a lot of passion,” Recchi said. “We’ve got our horses and I just follow behind and keep this thing going.”

Markkanen, making his third straight start in place of injured starter Dwayne Roloson, had another strong game after anchoring the Oilers’ 2-1 win in Game 3. The replacement made 18 saves, several of them downright spectacular.

Ward’s 20 saves didn’t look as acrobatic as Markkanen’s – maybe because the 22-year-old is playing so well that he makes everything look easy. His positioning was superb, he rarely gave up a dangerous rebound and Carolina could rest easy with its last line of defense.

So could Edmonton. Markkanen was fine; the Oilers were let down again by their ineffective power play, which failed to convert five chances – including a lengthy two-man advantage for the second game in a row – and dropped to 1-for-25 in the series.