TAMPA, Fla. - The Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning have spent two weeks, six games and 21 periods trying unsuccessfully to separate themselves in the Stanley Cup finals. Finally, they must.

No team has established a home-ice advantage, with each winning twice in the other team's arena. Stars for both teams seem to excel one night, only to disappear the next. The longest winning streak either team has is one.

No wonder Lightning coach John Tortorella is pleased the finals will have a proper and perhaps inevitable finish, one he successfully forecast last week: Game 7 on Monday night, for the Stanley Cup, win it or else.

"I think it's a good fit the way both teams have played to have it come down to a Game 7," Tortorella said Sunday.

Even if a seven-game series might not truly distinguish one team from another in one of the most unpredictable finals in NHL history - one where the momentum, intangibles, the upper hand seem to swing erratically not just every game, but sometimes every period.

Calgary took away home-ice advantage by winning 4-1 in Tampa in Game 1; Tampa Bay seized it back with an all-out, Flames-like defensive effort to win 1-0 in Game 4.

The Flames answered by winning what seemed to be the pivotal game, a 3-2 overtime decision in Game 5 in Tampa that gave them the opportunity of a lifetime for a Canadian team: The chance to win the Stanley Cup at home.

But they couldn't pull it off, breaking the hearts of an entire city by losing 3-2 in double overtime Saturday night on Martin St. Louis' goal, after Tortorella all but guaranteed the victory.

Now, it's here, possibly the last game any NHL team plays for months and months, if a long-anticipated labor dispute delays or shuts down the 2004-05 season.

"Game 7s are games you remember, and we're going to remember this game for a long time," Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk said Sunday, after both teams made their second five-hour flight between the two cities in three days.

For Andreychuk, it's his 11th Game 7 in a playoff series, two short of Scott Stevens' record, and perhaps the most special of them all because he can win his first Cup in 22 NHL seasons. His 1,758 games played without winning the Stanley Cup are a record.

That's why Andreychuk appreciated Ray Bourque's phone call to the Lightning's Tim Taylor before Game 6, offering suggestions on how to overcome a 3-2 series deficit. Bourque's Colorado Avalanche did exactly that against New Jersey in the 2001 finals, giving Bourque the Stanley Cup title he had chased since the 1970s.

Now, the Lightning will try to become only the third team since 1971 to overcome such a deficit. Still, Bourque's insight won't help unless the Lightning figure out how to win consecutive games; they have alternated winning and losing for a record 13 consecutive games, and following that pattern would result in a Game 7 loss.

The Lightning also need more production from star Vincent Lecavalier, who has no goals and two assists in the series, both in Game 2. They also must successfully counter the Flames' ability to frustrate opponents with their efficient forechecking and disruptive, physical play. The Flames are a record-tying 10-3 on the road.

Regardless, Tortorella insists home ice in Game 7 truly makes a difference.

"I am not going to get into a big conversation about all this pressure stuff," Tortorella said. "I hate opening a series at home but Game 7, that's when it gets to be to your advantage."

He might be right. Home teams are 10-2 in Stanley Cup finals Game 7s, winning nine of the last 10 times. The only team to win a championship Game 7 on the road in the last 54 years was Montreal in 1971.

The Lightning closed out their last series by winning Game 7 at home, beating Philadelphia 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals. Calgary also has a Game 7 victory on the road, against Vancouver in the first round.

In what will be its league record-setting 26th playoff game this spring, Calgary could be without defenseman Robyn Regehr, who injured his left foot or ankle in Game 5. Flames coach Darryl Sutter declined Sunday to discuss his status.

"It's not easy and it's not supposed to be easy," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "This is tough stuff. It's emotional and it's exciting. A lot of us have played Game 7s in our minds growing up and now we get a chance to play it for real."