Canadian Press

5/19/2006 12:53:36 PM

ANAHEIM, Calif. (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers are no longer afraid of saying they are capable of winning the Stanley Cup.

"You can't be afraid to talk about winning the Stanley Cup or you're not going to have the chance," coach Craig MacTavish said Thursday. "You have to really have the belief in your ability to win it. There's the smell of opportunity in the air."

A couple of months ago such talk would have produced chuckles, but no one is laughing now as the Oilers prepare to battle for their first division title since 1992.

The Oilers squeaked into the NHL playoffs as the eighth team in the Western Conference. Since then, they have knocked off the Detroit Red Wings, who had the NHL's best regular-season record, and the San Jose Sharks, the fifth seed in the West.

Edmonton opens the Western Conference final against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks Friday at the Arrowhead Pond. The second game of the best-of-seven series will be played Sunday.

The Oilers are the last Canadian team left standing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They'd love to be the first team since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens to bring the Cup home to Canada and the first Oiler club since 1990 to celebrate an NHL championship.

But first the Oilers must deal with the Ducks, the sixth seed in the West that finished three points ahead of them in the standings.

"Little things are going to go a long ways in determining this year's Stanley Cup champions," said MacTavish, who won three Cups as a player with the Oilers and another with the New York Rangers.

"We want to make sure we're covering all those details and are giving ourselves the opportunity so it's us at the end of the day who has the Cup."

The Ducks are led by the scoring of a rejuvenated Teemu Selanne and the strong defensive work of Scott Niedermayer. But the biggest obstacle between the Oilers and advancing to the final could be Anaheim goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

Edmonton won all four games against the Ducks during the regular season but faced J.S. Giguere each time.

Since taking over in goal in Game 6 of Anaheim's opening-round series against Calgary. Bryzgalov has a playoff-leading 0.87 goals-against average, a .967 save percentage and three shutouts. The 25-year-old Russian has a 6-0 record and allowed just five goals.

Edmonton's Ryan Smyth, who has four goals and 11 points in the playoffs, said Bryzgalov is a bit of a mystery to the Oilers.

"I don't know a whole lot about him," said Smyth, a 10-year NHL veteran who is playing in his first conference final. "I've seen some of the playoffs games. He's a big goaltender, he covers a lot of the net.

"No goalie likes traffic. Hopefully we can create a little bit more, get traffic to the net and get pucks to him and through him."

The Oilers know something about extinguishing hot goaltenders.

San Jose netminder Vesa Toskala seemed to have the Oilers number when the Sharks won the first two games the Western Conference semifinal by 2-1 scores.

Edmonton then rolled over the Sharks, outscoring them 17-8 in the next four games.

MacTavish wants to see how Bryzgalov reacts to adversity.

"The challenge for us is to peck way at the confidence level he has, much like we had to do with Toskala," he said. "We know he's hot right now. We also know he has a history of being hot and cold.

"We have to make sure we get the quality chances that get the puck behind him, so he starts doubting himself because he doesn't have a lot of experience at this stage."

The Oilers will have less than 48 hours rest after dispatching the Sharks in a hard-hitting, fast-skating series. The well-rested Ducks last played May 11 when they swept the Colorado Avalanche in four games.

Ethan Morrow said fatigue won't be a factor for the Oilers.

"We're on a high right now," said Morrow. "We can't wait to get back to the rink. We're at the top of our game. We look at it as an advantage that we can get right back to the rink where we are playing well."

Edmonton comes into the series confident. But Chris Pronger cautioned it takes more than eight wins to lift the Stanley Cup.

"We're only half way there," said the workhorse defenceman who is averaging 32:37 minutes a game. "Anaheim stands in the way of getting to the finals.

"It's there but it's not there. We've only accomplished half of what you want to do in getting 16 wins. We've got eight, Now we've got to go through Anaheim to get 12. We have to stay focused and not get too far ahead of ourselves."