RALEIGH, N.C. -- In the spring of 1998, Curtis Joseph led a scrappy, confident bunch of Edmonton Oilers back from the playoff dead against a superior Colorado Avalanche team. Those Oilers, down 3-1 in their series, roared back to eliminate the heavily favored Avs.

	Joseph

Four years later, Cujo appears ready to try a similar trick.

Down 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes in this Eastern Conference final, Joseph backstopped his current team, the scrappy, confident and incredibly resilient Toronto Maple Leafs, to a nail-biting 1-0 win in front of a packed house at Raleigh's Entertainment and Sports Arena (including about 5,000 Leafs fans who went South for their team) on Saturday night.

An easy choice as the game's first star, Cujo turned in his best performance of the playoffs. He stopped 27 shots -- including 15 in the third period when the 'Canes dominated the play -- en route to his 15th postseason shutout.

Joseph's best stop, though, came late in the second period on the 'Canes' fourth power-play opportunity in a span of 10 minutes.

Game 5 Notebook

Leafs head coach Pat Quinn did not make the trip to Raleigh because of his recent health problems. The club had thought of transporting Quinn to the game via an air ambulance, but his doctors thought it would be best for him to stay in Toronto. Assistant coach Rick Ley ran the bench in Quinn's absence. Leafs defenseman Nathan Dempsey returned to the lineup, replacing Anders Eriksson, who committed key blunders in Games 3 and 4. The Leafs made some line changes, moving center Mats Sundin back to the first line with left wing Gary Roberts and right wing Jonas Hoglund. Center Alyn McCauley, who had center that top line, worked with left wing Darcy Tucker and right wing Alexander Mogilny. Hurricanes center Ron Francis enjoyed a great night in the faceoff circle, winning nine of 10 draws. In Stanley Cup playoff history, just 16 of the 186 teams that have been down 3-1 in a best-of-seven series have rallied to win that series. The 2000 New Jersey Devils were the last team to accomplish this feat, when they ousted the Philadelphia Flyers. -- E.J. Hradek

Carolina captain Ron Francis, quarterbacking the power play from the right wing sideboards, spied defenseman Bret Hedican breaking from the left point toward the net. Out of the corner of his eye, Joseph also noticed Hedican. So, when Francis threaded a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Hedican, Cujo was able to slide across and rob Hedican.

"I got over there as quick as I could," Joseph said. "But, it could have went in, also. It just hit me. I got so much of my body over there and fortunately it stayed out."

The Leafs, who didn't get a single bounce in Games 3 and 4 in Toronto, were much more fortunate in this game. In fact, they scored the game's only goal on one heck of bank shot.

The scoring play started when Leafs defenseman Bryan McCabe fired a shot from the right point. The puck pinballed off Hurricanes' defenseman Sean Hill, then Carolina goalie Arturs Irbe's pad, and finally off the skate of Leafs left wing Darcy Tucker and into the net.

The goal left the usually talkative Tucker shaking his head.

"I never saw the puck," Tucker said. "I was just looking for a rebound and it went off my foot.

"This game is so fickle, it's unbelievable."

Tucker found much more to say when asked about the performance of his goalie.

"He's been a huge part of our success, not only in these playoffs, but in the regular season and in the past playoffs," Tucker said. "Obviously, tonight he was huge and in key parts of the game"

If Joseph's teammates didn't give him a ton of support in the final period, they did give him something else -- a lead. The 'Canes scored the first goal in each of the previous four games. With a lead, Carolina is content to trap and counter-attack off neutral-zone turnovers.

Joseph thought it was critical for the Leafs to strike first in Game 5.

"They play such a suffocating style where they try not to make any mistakes and just play great defense," Joseph said. "If we can get a lead we can force them to open up a little bit."

Joseph, who has been playing with his catching glove so heavily padded (to protect his still-healing hand) he can hardly close it and with the weight of his own contract uncertainty hanging over his head, says there are similarities in this Leafs team and his Oiler team that rallied to shock the Avs.

"On that (Oilers) team, we really believed in ourselves," Joseph said. "I see that same feeling with this team.

"When push comes to shove, we believe we can come up with a big game," he added. "We have a lot of confidence and a lot of veterans in that room. I think that's the attitude that you need to be able to come back."

And, you need one other thing. You need a goaltender that can shut the door. As he has shown in the past, Cujo knows how handle that door.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.