NHL: A SMALL PROBLEM: THE RATINGS GAME LITTLE INTEREST IN U.S. EXPECTED FOR CUP FINAL.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

This is the NHL's dream situation and its doomsday scenario, all wrapped up in oneseven-game series.

The Stanley Cup Finals begin tonight, pitting Carolina against Edmonton in a matchup of two franchises that have greatly benefited from the new economic system put in place after the disastrous lockout.

But will anyone care about the league's triumph? Certainly in Canada, where they've been running out of beer at some bars on nights the Oilers play, but the series won't even stir a ripple in the United States.

Miniscule television ratings are expected, which is too bad, since the Hurricanes and Oilers figure to put on an entertaining series, which begins tonight before a raucous sellout crowd in North Carolina.

``Everyone in Raleigh (N.C.) knows hockey a lot more than they did before, and that's a good feeling,'' Hurricanes forward Eric Staal said. ``Obviously they are going to expect us to make the Finals every year. They were there in (2002) and now we're there again, so that's a good thing.''

It's hard to consider the Hurricanes the favorites in this series, even though they have home-ice advantage based on their No. 2 seed in the East compared to the Oilers' No. 8 seed in the West.

Edmonton hasn't resembled the team that made the playoffs by only a three-point margin, especially not after its five-game dismantling of the Mighty Ducks in the West finals, but the Oilers know better than to look past the Hurricanes, who needed sevengames to oust Buffalo in the East finals.

``I don't think anybody is looking past them and celebrating,'' Oilers forward Ryan Smyth said.

That's because this figures to be a fairly evenly matched series, given the teams' similarities.

Both are small-market teams that, in this salary-cap era, had the financial freedom to sign big free agents (Edmonton's Chris Pronger and Carolina's Cory Stillman) and make important midseason trades (Edmonton for Dwayne Roloson and Sergei Samsonov, Carolina for Mark Recchi and Doug Weight).

More importantly, there are on-ice parallels. Both teams play an up- tempo but physical game, and have adjusted well to the crackdown on obstruction penalties, and both have hot goaltenders.

Roloson, acquired in March from Minnesota, has been a rock in the playoffs, with a 12-5record and 2.22goals- against average.

But Carolina's Cam Ward, a rookie, quietly has been just a bit better.

Carolina turned away from Ward briefly in the Buffalo series, but turned back to him in Game 6. Ward lost that game 2-1, but won Game 7 and has an 11-5 record and a 2.07 postseason GAA.

``Hockey doesn't vary that much,'' Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. ``I'm a believer that if you know what you're doing as a team ... and you play as a team, you can find success.

``I don't think there's a whole lot of difference. Montreal mirrored Buffalo, Buffalo probably mirrors Edmonton and all three of them mirror us. I don't think there's a lot of difference between teams.''

Rest -- or too much of it -- might make the difference. The Ducks suffered against Edmonton after a long layoff, but now the Oilers haven't played since May 27, while the Hurricanes last played Thursday.

That could be a hurdle for the Oilers, who seek their first Stanley Cup since 1990.

``(Coach Craig MacTavish) has been putting us through a mini-training camp,'' Pronger said. ``We haven't had too much energy left to go golfing. You just try to relax and recharge your batteries and make sure we're ready to roll and stay focused.''

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