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Tampa — Soon after arriving here for tonight's seventh and deciding game of the Stanley Cup final, Calgary Flames defenceman Andrew Ference (who is logging some heavy minutes of playing time on behalf of his team) was asked if his team was tired, because they sure looked it.

Photo: Calgary's Martin Gelinas fends off Tampa Bay's Cory Stillman during the third period of Game 6 (Dave Sandford/Getty Images).

Ference fixed his questioner with a wry stare and answered back: "We look tired to you? What does tired look like?"

To laughs all around, Ference continued: "I can only speak for myself, but I am definitely not tired. Any time, throughout the whole playoffs, when we haven't had good games, it hasn't been because of tired legs or guys winded. We play four lines and everybody gets pretty fair ice time which has helped a lot throughout the entire drive here. I think guys are actually physically very well.

"You probably just saw guys, after a five-hour plane ride, with a layer of airplane grease on them."

That's Ference's story and he's sticking too it. And why not?

After tonight, the Flames and the Tampa Bay Lightning, their opponents in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final, have all summer (and maybe well into next fall) to rest. So the fatigue that accompanies two cross-country plane trips, back and forth, across North America, in the last 72 hours, will be put aside as much as possible.

As left winger Martin Gelinas, the Eliminator, the man who almost won the Stanley Cup for Calgary on Saturday night, put it: "The travel takes a toll, but you've got to leave that behind and be mentally sharp. At the same time, it's the same for both teams. We're in the same boat. We're ready to do battle in Game 7."

Tonight's game will mark the first time since 1964 and 1965 that the Stanley Cup has gone to seven games in consecutive years, following the New Jersey Devils' 3-0 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Game 7 last year.

Sadly for the Flames, the home team has posted a 10-2 record overall in Game 7s of the Stanley Cup final.

That, of course, represents the bad news. The good news, from a Calgary perspective, is the Flames have been a very good road team in these playoffs. Defenceman Tommy Albelin played on the New Jersey Devils' 1995 Stanley Cup championship team that, like Calgary, started every series on the road. The 1995 Devils share the NHL record for most playoff road victories with the 2000 Devils and the 2004 Flames.

A win in tonight's seventh game will give the Flames their 11th road win of the playoffs (against three losses) and the record, all by themselves.

"In '95, we were very comfortable with our system," explained Albelin, who is doing colour commentary in this series for Swedish television. "We knew, even if they scored the first goal, everybody stuck to the system. Even (coach) Jacques Lemaire, I talked to him when it was all done, he just had that feeling, that no matter what happens, that this team was going through. He felt it was a very mentally strong group. All the little things that went wrong, we just fought through it.

"It's something where you can't put your finger on a specific thing, you can just feel the confidence from within side and from your teammates."

Albelin, who also played on the Devils '03 championship team, but spent half-a-dozen years in between with the Flames, said he saw a similar attitude developing within his ex-team.

The Flames completed the '04 playoffs with a decidedly mediocre 5-7 home record (they would be the first Stanley Cup champion in history with a losing mark in their own building), but they have been excellent on the road.

Is it just a statistical aberration? Or something more meaningful?

"First of all, when you play at home, you have more pressure to create scoring chances," said Albelin, "so you might gamble a little bit extra.

"Tampa is the same as Calgary. They play their system more on the road. They don't give up many chances, they wait for their opportunities and then they go. In Game 5 (a Calgary overtime win), Tampa was trying to do too much. It's the third period and there are five minutes to go and they give up a three-on-one.

"The game before, on the road in Calgary, they had a 1-0 lead and Calgary almost didn't get over the red line. So have the players changed? No. The mindset has changed."

A key for the Flames will be the availability of defenceman Robyn Regehr, who left the Pengrowth Saddledome with a walking cast on his left foot following Saturday's game.

"He probably won't play," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said Monday after his team's pre-game skate.

If Regehr does not play, then bushy-haired Mike Commodore will return to the line-up.

Right winger Shean Donovan, who missed the sixth game with either a charley-horse or knee injury, depending upon which report you believe, also is not expected to play for Calgary.

"He probably won't play," Sutter said Monday, repeating the same answer he gave for Regehr.

No matter who plays, Iginla will presumably log a lot of minutes again for the Flames. Iginla, who leads the playoffs with 13 goals, admitted he was overly excited for Game 6 and played one of his worst games of the playoffs. He vowed to be better tonight, when most of the distractions that affected Calgary's preparation for the series - friends and family in town, a palpable sense of anticipation in the city - will now shift to the Lightning.

"We all know this is going to be our last game of the year, period," said Iginla. "There's going to be nothing left on the table as far as being tired or anything like that, not a chance. This is what we dream of. This is going to be very intense. I imagine the nerves are going to be going a little bit for everybody. It's about managing those and enjoying it, and playing our best."

Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk will be participating in his 11th career Game 7, tying St. Louis Blues defenseman Al MacInnis for second place among active players.

"I believe the Game 7s are the games that you remember," said Andreychuk. "The lesson that I tried to talk about before our Philly Game 7 was, no matter whether you are at home or on the road, it's one game, and anything can happen. That's the attitude we have to take into this game.

"Obviously we are trying to concentrate on one thing - playing the games of our lives. For us, we have given ourselves a chance by winning in Calgary. By no means is it going to be easy just because we are at home. I think we have to realize that. That's what we're concentrating on now is stopping this little streak of not winning two in a row."

Ever since the start of the Philadelphia Flyers series, the Lightning have had his pattern of alternating wins and losses. The streak is up to 13 games now, an NHL record.

For Andreychuk, tonight's game represents a chance to win the first Stanley Cup of his 22-year career. Andreychuk had previously expressed an interest in continuing on in his career, assuming there is no lockout next season. If he won a championship tonight, would he consider changing his mind and riding off into the sunset in the same way his former Bruins and Avalanche teammate Ray Bourque did?

Bourque telephoned Lighting centre Tim Taylor on Saturday, with Tampa down 3-2 in the series, and offered words of encouragement, citing the 2001 Avalanche, a team which overcame that deficit to win a championship.

Andreychuk said he wouldn't make his decision until after the game, adding: "With Ray, I am not the only one that he knows on this team. Obviously he knows Tim Taylor from playing with him.

"Just the things that he said, it touched me a lot because of here's a guy that I respected a lot; not only as a player, but as a person. A lot of the guys in that room I am sure felt the same way, that this is a guy that took some time out of his day to call us to tell us that it was possible."

There are a handful of former Stanley Cup champions on both teams, including Lighting defenceman Darryl Sydor, who won with the '99 Dallas Stars.

"Both teams are desperate to win that final game," said Sydor, beginning a stream of Game 7 clichés. "It's winner-take-all, you know. I heard their players saying six months ago if they had an opportunity with one game to win the Stanley Cup, they would take it. It's the same with this team. I kind of came in late and enjoyed this ride, but I think for these guys it's really special.

"I think the thing to do is to control our emotion. That has been our downfall here - we want to do so well and get it done. Sometimes less is more. That's what we really have to do here."

Tampa coach John Tortorella, who took pains to heap pressure on Calgary Saturday because it was playing at home for the Stanley Cup, was asked if the pressure now shifted to his team because it is playing under circumstances.

Naturally, Tortorella answered no - even if the real answer was yes.

"I am not going to get into a big conversation about all this pressure stuff," said Tortorella. "I have never liked home ice at the beginning of a series. I have hated opening up in a 7-game series at home. I think when you get to a Game 7, that's when it gets to be your advantage. Having said that, really it doesn't matter. It's a Game 7. Both teams are going to let it all hang out. And again it comes down to making big plays at big times, that's going to decide Monday's game."