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Post by ocelot on May 17, 2006 22:04:13 GMT -5
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The Edmonton Oilers are in the Western Conference finals for the first time in 14 years. Michael Peca and Shawn Horcoff scored, and Dwayne Roloson made 24 saves in the biggest game of his career as the eighth-seeded Oilers held off the San Jose Sharks 2-0 in Game 6 of the quarterfinal series.
After dropping the first two games in San Jose, Edmonton stormed back with four straight victories. It is the first time the Oilers rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win a series.
They'll face the sixth-seeded Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who will host Game 1 on Friday. The winner of the best-of-seven series will take on the Eastern champion - Buffalo or Carolina - in the Stanley Cup finals.
The Oilers just squeaked into the playoffs but are peaking at the right time. They upset the No. 1 seed Detroit and then took out San Jose, the top team left in the wild West, to reach the NHL's final four for the first time since 1992
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Post by ocelot on May 17, 2006 22:05:55 GMT -5
I'm so happy about this. The Edmonton Oilers are my second favourite NHL team. Go Oilers!
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Post by ocelot on May 18, 2006 11:04:37 GMT -5
EDMONTON (CP) - Dwayne Roloson saved his best game for when it counted most.
Roloson stopped 24 shots Wednesday for his first-ever playoff shutout as the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 2-0 to capture the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal.
The Oilers will make their first appearance in the Western final in 14 years when they take on the Mighty Ducks starting Friday in Anaheim, Calif., in the best-of-seven Western Conference final.
"Good night for Rollie to pitch a shutout. He played unbelievable for us," said Oiler head coach Craig MacTavish. "When you're eliminating passing lanes, it's hard for them to get anything going," he said.
The victory in front of 16,839 delirious pompon-waving fans at Rexall Place capped a remarkable turnaround in a series where the predator became the prey.
The Oilers won four consecutive games after dropping the first two in California.
"No one wanted to go back for Game 7 in San Jose. To come back and win four straight against that team shows a lot about our character," said Oilers centre Shawn Horcoff.
Sharks forward Jonathan Cheechoo labelled the loss heartbreaking. "It's always tough to lose, especially when you have the series lead," he said. "We're going home. It's just really disappointing."
The key to the Oilers win was shutting down the Sharks power play. San Jose was 2-for-27 with the man advantage heading into the game and an anemic 0-for-8 Wednesday.
"We had our opportunities but we never scored," said Sharks head coach Ron Wilson.
"It certainly wasn't for lack of trying or lack of effort. It was one of those nights where we always would seem to be a foot away from a rebound or overskated an open opportunity.
"We were pressing, throwing everything at them, but it just didn't work."
Sharks centre Joe Thornton, the NHL's top scorer in the regular season, agreed.
"Our special teams just didn't get it done for us. That's probably the No. 1 factor in the series. We didn't capitalize on the power play. If we had, we probably could have won the series."
Mike Peca's breakaway goal just over eight minutes into the game turned out to be the game winner.
The play began when he and Sharks defenceman Scott Hannan chased a loose puck over the Sharks blue-line. He outfought Hannan, deposited him on his butt, then raced in and wired a wrist shot past the glove of Sharks goalie Vesa Toskala.
Peca had two other breakaways and had what MacTavish termed an "incredible" game killing penalties, winning faceoffs and jumping on the puck.
"He played as close to a perfect game as you can play," said MacTavish.
Peca said they took advantage of a team that had lost its edge.
"They just seemed to have a lot of guys who weren't committed to making the extra effort at times. That was the difference," he said.
Horcoff scored the insurance marker with just over eight minutes left in the game when he took a Todd Harvey pass from the corner. He found himself all alone in front of the net and with Toskala out of position, fired it into the roof of the cage.
The Oilers, who put 27 shots on Toskala, were bailed out early by Roloson when they took seven minor penalties in the first two periods.
In the first period, Roloson used his whip-fast glove hand to thwart playoff sharpshooter Patrick Marleau on a close-range wrist shot and soon after, on a 5-on-3 power play, leapt in the air like a shortstop to snag a puck flying through the slot.
In the second period, he foiled Nils Ekman on a one-timer in front of the crease and also got a little help when a Steve Bernier shot rang off the crossbar.
This is the second consecutive season the Sharks have been knocked out by an Alberta-based team. They lost the 2004 Western Conference final to the Calgary Flames, also by margin of four games to two.
The defeat is doubly disappointing given their first two victories and the fact they had glorious chances to knock the Oilers off in triple overtime in Game 3.
The turning point in the series came midway through game 4 with the Sharks up 3-1 despite being outshot and outplayed.
The Oilers stormed back in a five-minute span to tie the game. First, Peca slipped a cheesy rebound under Toskala's pads from almost behind the net to make it 3-2. Sergei Samsonov scored the next one after Toskala came out of his net and inadvertently cleared a bouncing puck right to him. The Oilers went on to win 6-3 and never lost again.
"We had our chances in games 3 and 4 to bury them," said Marleau. "But it's a game of inches."
Notes: Edmonton fans put the great anthem flap to bed with a 100-plus decibel explosion of love. The fans had been asked to be on their best behaviour after some San Jose fans booed the Canadian anthem in Game 5. They responded by cheering the Star-Spangled Banner so loudly, they drowned out singer Paul Lorieau. ... The Oiler win means the Stanley Cup will be awarded to either a first-time winner or to the Oilers, who haven't won it all for 16 years. ... More Alberta beef was tossed at the feet of the Sharks during the anthem in what has become a playoff ritual at Rexall Place. ... This was the Oilers 12th playoff game, the most for any team in the 2006 post-season. ... Harvey's assist was his first career post-season point.
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Post by ocelot on May 18, 2006 11:07:09 GMT -5
McKenzie: Oilers showing their mettle
Bob McKenzie
5/17/2006
When the San Jose Sharks were trailing 1-0, you would think they would be the more desperate of the two teams, facing elimination. But in the third period, it was the Edmonton Oilers who proved their mettle. The efforts from the likes of Todd Harvey, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth showed how they won the battles and that was the difference in Game Six. And that was the difference in this series.
And what can you say about Shawn Horcoff? He has five goals in the playoffs. A star is born. This guy is doing it every which way for the Oilers. He blocked shots with his face in the last series and scored big goals in this series. Horcoff and Ryan Smyth outplayed the leading scorer in the NHL in Joe Thornton and the leading goal scorer in the NHL in Jonathan Cheechoo.
Dwayne Roloson is a guy who struggled in the first weeks after he was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline. But he's a veteran guy and that's why the Oilers got him. He's been through the playoff trials with the Minnesota Wild. He knows what it's all about and he was full value for the shutout in Game Six.
Full credit to the Oilers, they deserve it all but by the same token, whether it was the pressure the Oilers put on them or whether it was a case of the yips, there was some bad reads, bad reactions and bad giveaways on the part of the Sharks. There were way too many errors on the part of the Sharks in Game Six. These errors took the form of bad pinches and bad giveaways. As a result, the Sharks created so many opportunities for the Oilers. And it wasn't just the young players who made these unforced errors. It was veteran guys like Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Scott Hannan and Kyle McLaren. The Sharks continually made bad reads or made passes that allowed the Oilers to create six or seven clear-cut breakways.
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Post by achebeautiful on May 18, 2006 17:44:59 GMT -5
Well, I'm happy for you too! And it looks on my map as though you are nicely located in good postion to have opportuinties to see either the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers from where you are. What are the chances that you will be seeking tickets to any games in the future? How exciting would that be?! To see either of your favorite teams on home ice!
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Post by ocelot on May 18, 2006 18:11:05 GMT -5
I doubt I'll be seeing them on home ice anytime soon. Hopefully someday though.
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Post by ocelot on May 19, 2006 17:53:40 GMT -5
Oilers offered moose-dropping necklace
Edmonton Oilers
Canadian Press
5/19/2006 12:53:10 PM
PEACE RIVER, Alta. (CP) - A northern Alberta Cree leader is offering an unusual form of help for the Edmonton Oilers on their quest to capture the Stanley Cup.
Bill Sewepagaham, First Nations co-ordinator for the Peace River School Division, is donating a necklace made out of lacquered deer and moose droppings, which he says will bring good luck to whoever wears it.
According to ancient Cree legend, hunters who had a rough day capturing food would smear their weapons in animal droppings and their fortunes would change.
Sewepagaham says there's no doubt in his mind that if Oilers coach Craig MacTavish wears the necklace, his team will bring home the Stanley Cup.
The magic of the necklace might not work right away. It was still in Edmonton as of Friday while the Oilers were already in Anaheim to face the Ducks in the first two games of the Western Conference final.
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Post by achebeautiful on May 19, 2006 18:27:44 GMT -5
Okay, Leona! I have grown to have great respect for Canada because of you. But you're losing me on this one (LOL)!
Hey, I'm just kidding.
Pretty funny!
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Post by ocelot on May 19, 2006 23:16:41 GMT -5
Oilers Win!!!
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers had enough gas in the tank to ride Ales Hemsky's power-play goal in the second period to a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks Friday night in the opening game of the NHL Western Conference final.
Todd Harvey, into an empty net, and Michael Peca, with a shorthanded goal, also scored for the Oilers, who won their fifth consecutive game of the playoffs. Goaltender Dwayne Roloson made a heads-up play on Peca's goal to earn his first ever playoff point.
Andy McDonald, on the power-play, scored for the Ducks, who saw a six-game win streak snapped.
The second game in the best-of-seven series will be played Sunday.
The Ducks begin applying more pressure in the third period, forcing Roloson to make several good saves. The Oilers also had to kill off a pair of penalties.
Edmonton was playing less than 48 hours after eliminating San Jose from the playoffs in six games Wednesday night. That allowed the Oilers to advance to their first conference final in 14 years.
If the Oilers were tired they didn't show it against the well rested Ducks, who last played May 11 when they finished a four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche.
Hemsky looked like a baseball player trying to drive a shot up the middle on his goal that broke a 1-1 tie at 11:35 of the second period.
Ryan Smyth had blasted a shot from the point that hit the cross bar behind Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Hemsky cruised by the side of the net and whacked the puck out of the air behind Bryzgalov.
The Ducks argued that Edmonton centre Jarrett Stoll had bumped Bryzgalov but the goal stood.
The teams exchanged goals 45 seconds apart in the final 1:35 of the first period.
Peca scored his third goal of the playoffs with the Oilers killing a Chris Pronger penalty. Roloson picked up the puck at his crease then flipped a high backhand down the ice. Peca waited for it to land behind the Duck defence, then skated in alone. He deked Bryzgalov and beat him with a low shot.
The Oilers fans in the sellout crowd of 17,174 were still cheering that goal when McDonald tied the game with a blistering shot.
It's the first time the two times have met in the playoffs and some heavy hits were dealt out.
Ducks defenceman Francois Beauchemin sent a shiver through the crowd when he decked Hemsky with a shoulder in the second period.
NOTES - The Oilers are the first eighth-seeded team to reach the conference finals since the NHL adopted the conference playoff format in 1994. ...Hemsky's score was the first power-play goal allowed by the Ducks in 39 man-advantages. ...This is the ninth time the Oilers have played in a conference final series. Edmonton is 6-2 in their previous eight appearances. ...Edmonton forward Radek Dvorak, out since the second game of the San Jose series, expects to return to the lineup sometime during the conference final.
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Post by achebeautiful on May 19, 2006 23:19:38 GMT -5
Very cool! GO OILERS!
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Post by ocelot on May 21, 2006 23:33:33 GMT -5
Oil downs Ducks; Take 2-0 Series Lead
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CP) - Fernando Pisani scored another big goal and Dwayne Roloson stood tall when his team needed him as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 3-1 Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the NHL Western Conference final.
Roloson made 33 saves, including getting his glove on a puck during a scramble in front of his net in the third period.
Pisani notched his team-leading eighth of the playoffs with the game-winning goal and also had an assist.
Defenceman Chris Pronger, on a power play, and Michael Peca, into an empty net, scored for the Oilers, who won their sixth consecutive game.
Jeff Friesen scored for the Ducks. The Oilers return to Edmonton for games Tuesday and Thursday. Win both, and the Oilers return to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since winning the championship in 1990.
The Ducks face a tough task. Anaheim has lost its last 12 regular-season games in Edmonton dating back to February 1999. The Oilers are also unbeaten in their last four home playoff games.
The Ducks showed more hustle than they did in Friday's 3-1 loss but still couldn't get the traffic they wanted in front of Roloson. The Edmonton defence, anchored by Pronger, cleared bodies from out in front of the net and gave Roloson a clear view of most shots.
The games attendance was announced as a sellout at 17,174, but there were many empty seats in the building. The fans also didn't have the volume or intensity of an Edmonton crowd.
A perfect pass from Sergei Samsonov set up Pisani's 20-footer down the slot. Skating in a crowd near the crease, Samsonov spotted Pisani and backhanded the puck to him. Pisani's one-timer sailed past goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and into the net.
Bryzgalov, a 25-year-old rookie from Russia, made 22 saves. Although he lost for the second game in a row after logging a shutout string of 229 minutes 42 seconds earlier in the playoffs, he still has allowed only four goals in the two losses to the Oilers.
Friesen evened it 1-1 at 6:12 of the second period with his third of the post-season, the goal set up by Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer.
With traffic in front of the Edmonton goal and the puck loose in the crease, Friesen sliced across from the left side, tapped the puck toward the right of the crease, then flipped a backhander that beat Roloson on the glove side.
Pronger opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 13:08 of the first period, with Anaheim's Chris Kunitz off for high-sticking.
The Oilers' six-foot-six, 220-pound defenceman banged a 50-footer from just inside the blue-line that sailed down the slot and past Bryzgalov on the stick side for his third goal and 14th point of the playoffs.
Ales Hemsky, who scored the go-ahead goal for the Oilers in their Game 1 victory, and Ryan Smyth assisted on Pronger's goal.
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Post by ocelot on May 23, 2006 15:40:27 GMT -5
Edmonton Gets Ready for Game 3
EDMONTON (CP) - The Oilers have enjoyed the support of a boisterous home crowd throughout the playoffs. They have the chance to pay back their fans by sweeping a playoff series in Edmonton for the first time in 18 years.
The Oilers returned to Edmonton on Monday just two victories away from their first Stanley Cup final appearance since 1990. Edmonton leads the Western Conference final 2-0 and is riding a six-game win streak heading into Game 3 Tuesday against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Game 4 will be played at Rexall Place on Thursday.
"It's been a good unexpected run," said Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, who addressed the media in an air hangar fresh off the team's charter plane.
Oilers centre Michael Peca, with goals in both of Edmonton's series-opening road wins, reminded the team to make the most of its fleeting chance to claim hockey's top prize. Peca captained the Buffalo Sabres when they lost the 1999 Stanley Cup final to Dallas.
"If you have an opportunity to get to the Stanley Cup, it may be the only time in a 10, 12, or 15-year career that you have to play for it," said Peca. "We all realize, old and young on our team, that this is a great opportunity that we have."
Besides battling the partisan crowd with its' prolonged ear-splitting cheers, the Mighty Ducks will also need to get past having lost 13 of the last 14 games against the Oilers. Anaheim hasn't won in Edmonton since 1999.
"The building is just going to be nuts," said Oilers right-winger Fernando Pisani, an Edmonton native who leads the team with eight playoff goals. "The fans are excited and they will show their excitement."
The Mighty Ducks, however, are no strangers to playoff comebacks. They were down 3-2 to the Flames in the quarter-finals before winning six straight games that included a sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in the semifinals.
"The last thing we want to do is take our foot off the gas," said MacTavish.
Edmonton has not swept a playoff series at home since defeating the Bruins 6-3 for its fourth Stanley Cup on May 26, 1988. Wayne Gretzky scored the winner in game four of a contest played over two nights in two cities because of a power failure in Boston.
The Oilers last played in the Stanley Cup final in 1990 when they beat the Bruins in five games.
Like Edmonton's five Stanley Cup champion teams, with the likes of Grant Fuhr and Bill Ranford, the 2005 Oilers are getting outstanding goaltending.
Dwayne Roloson was the game's first star Sunday after a 33-save performance. The 36-year-old former backup picked up by the Oilers at the trade deadline said he doesn't feel overworked despite having played the most playoff games (14) with the most saves (448).
"There isn't really a grind," said Roloson, who has the NHL's third-best playoff goals-against average (2.01), and is even on a scoring streak with an assist in two straight games. "The coaches have been great giving us days off, and the players whenever they need a rest they take it off."
The Oilers are pumped up - literally - battling a flu bug that started with captain Jason Smith on Friday, spread and prevented fellow defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron and left-winger Raffi Torres from playing in Game 2. First-line centre Shawn Horcoff played Sunday but needed an I.V. between periods to stay hydrated.
"I think the doctor was the hardest working guy on our team," said Oilers defenceman Steve Staios. "Some funny sounds coming out of the stalls before the games."
MacTavish said Bergeron and Torres may draw back into the lineup Tuesday, and Horcoff should be OK, but that Smith is "iffy" and may sit out with the flu.
Notes: Edmonton Police reported a handful of arrests as dozens of officers that included Chief Mike Boyd was able to control an estimated crowd of 10,000 gathered along Whyte Avenue following the win. ... Edmonton stalwart defenceman Chris Pronger, who rocketed his third playoff goal from the point to open the scoring on Sunday, will play his 100th career playoff game Tuesday. ... The Mighty Ducks have five holdovers from the 2003 team that made it to the Stanley Cup final before losing to current captain Scott Niedermayer's New Jersey Devils.
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Post by achebeautiful on May 23, 2006 16:04:36 GMT -5
This is very exciting! I wish them all the best!
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Post by ocelot on May 23, 2006 22:26:26 GMT -5
Oilers Take Commanding Lead Over Ducks
EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers took a 4-0 lead then fought off a late charge by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks Tuesday to move to within a game of the Stanley Cup final.
The Oilers beat the Ducks 5-4 to take a commanding three games to none lead in the best-of-seven NHL Western Conference final.
With a win in Game 4 Thursday, the Oilers would be back in the final for the first time since their Stanley Cup win in 1990.
The Ducks are now 0 for the 21st century at Rexall Place. They have not won in 13 consecutive games in the Alberta capital, dating back to Feb. 24, 1999.
The game was 1-0 for the Oilers when the fireworks began early in the third period.
Oilers forward Mike Peca tipped the puck past Duck defenceman Ruslan Salei at the Oiler blue-line, raced in alone and fired the puck over the glove hand of goalie Illya Bryzgalov just over two minutes in.
Peca is on fire in the post-season. He has scored in four straight games and has points in his last six.
The Oilers went on to score twice more in the next two minutes.
First, speedy winger Sergei Samsonov soared in over the blue-line, cut across the slot to draw Bryzgalov out of his net, then passed it behind his back to defenceman Steve Staios, who slapped the puck into the yawning cage.
With the Oilers on a 5-on-3 power play, Chris Pronger blasted the puck low to Bryzgalov's stick side from the blue-line for the 4-0 lead.
Then the Oilers sat back and the Ducks went to work, scoring three goals in four minutes.
Defenceman Sean O'Donnell scored with a point shot through traffic at 12:45.
Teemu Selanne made it 4-2 when he faked a shot to move around defenceman Jaroslav Spacek and fired the puck low past goalie Dwayne Roloson.
Chris Kunitz then scored to make it 4-3 before Oiler forward Fernando Pisani sealed the win. He took the puck off the faceoff, fought off a check and deked out Bryzgalov with just over five minutes left.
Pisani is now tied with Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks for the lead in playoff goals with nine.
Selanne got his second goal of the night with just over a minute left to cut the lead to 5-4.
Oiler farmhand Toby Petersen opened the scoring with just under eight minutes left in the first period on a misplay by Bryzgalov.
The Russian goalie tried to play the puck behind the net, but Oilers centre Rem Murray arrived at the same time and chipped the rubber away. Petersen swooped in and wrapped the puck around the goalpost and in.
The loss was a crushing blow for Anaheim, which has outshot Edmonton in all three games of the series.
They had the Oilers on their heels for most of the first period, outshooting them 14-6 and banging bodies on the end boards. Only the stellar play of Roloson kept them off the scoresheet. He stopped a number of point-blank shots, including a lightning-fast one-timer from Selanne in the slot that he kicked out with his right goalpad as the 16,839 in Rexall Place chanted ``Rolie! Rolie! Rolie!''
Roloson is now 11-4 in the playoffs.
The game was filled with penalties and was particularly ugly early. There were three fights in the first five-and-half minutes.
Oiler enforcer Georges Laraque and Todd Fedoruk squared off three minutes in. Laraque dropped the winger with two left hooks to the head.
Seconds later, ex-Oiler Todd Marchant started a melee in front of the Oilers net when he pushed Pronger up and over Roloson after the whistle. In the fistic skirmish that followed, Pronger sent Selanne sprawling with a one-handed shove while Jason Smith got Duck Dustin Penner in a turtle hold and proceeded to pound on him. About a minute after that it was a bout between Ethan Moreau and Joe DiPenta; edge DiPenta.
The two teams combined for 16 penalties for 44 minutes in the box in the first period. That beat the sin-bin totals for the first two games of the series combined (21 penalties for 42 penalty minutes).
The Ducks were determined to get to Roloson, running at him and chopping at him after the whistle, leading to numerous scrums.
The Oilers beat the Ducks by identical 3-1 scores in games 1 and 2 in California on the strength of spectacular play by Roloson, a suffocating defence that allowed few rebounds, an opportunistic offence and stellar special teams play.
The Oilers are racking up some big numbers. They have won seven in a row - their longest post-season streak since they won eight in succession in their 1990 Stanley Cup year. They are 6-1 at home this playoff year.
Edmonton has not been behind for a single second of the series and have already gone further than any eighth-seeded team since the introduction of the conference format in 1994.
Notes: Oiler Ryan Smyth got a little payback on the Ducks' Francois Beauchemin. He drilled Beauchemin's head into the boards beside the penalty box in the opening period. Beauchemin hammered Ales Hemsky in Game 1 with an open-ice shot that saw Hemsky's body wobble like a sheet of aluminum in the wind and his head bounce off the ice like a bobble-head doll ... Alpha Oiler Pronger played in his 100th playoff game Tuesday...There wasn't much love lost Tuesday for ex-Oiler Todd Marchant, who played 10 years for the copper and blue and became a local folk hero with a series-winning overtime goal against Dallas in 1997. He ran Pronger early and Todd Harvey took a penalty for swinging a stick at his head after the whistle ... NHL commissioner Gary Bettman took in the game and got a mix of cheers and boos when his visit was announced on the JumboTron ... It was the seventh consecutive playoff sellout for the Oilers.
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Post by ocelot on May 27, 2006 22:44:07 GMT -5
Oilers Advance to Stanley Cup Finals
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers are going to the Stanley Cup final.
The Oilers used second period goals from Ethan Moreau and Raffi Torres for a 2-1 victory Saturday night that eliminated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks from the NHL playoffs.
The Oilers won the best-of-seven Western Conference final 4-1 and advance to their first Stanley Cup final in 16 years.
Edmonton now waits for the winner of the Eastern Conference final between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes. That series is tied 2-2.
Francois Beauchemin, on the power play, scored for the Ducks.
Edmonton, which began the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West, becomes the second consecutive Canadian team to play for the Stanley Cup. The Calgary Flames lost the 2004 final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Facing extinction the Ducks buzzed around the Oilers net like angry bees in the third. The Oilers were forced to play two-men short late in the period and the Ducks pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker but couldn't score the tying goal.
The Oilers trailed 1-0 after the first period but used their gritty worth ethic, and some key saves from goaltender Dwayne Roloson, to climb back into the game.
Moreau tied the game at 3:42 of the second on a great individual effort. He skated behind the Ducks net and tried to jam the puck into the corner. Anaheim goaltender J.S. Giguere made the first stop but Moreau got the rebound and flipped it into the net.
Torres put the Oilers ahead on a deflection less than five minutes later. The Ducks had just managed to kill a penalty when Edmonton defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron blasted a shot from the point that Torres, cutting in front of the net, redirected past Giguere.
The Ducks, fighting for their playoff lives, had plenty of power-play opportunities but couldn't crack the Oilers defence. Anaheim was also guilty of trying to be too fancy, often passing instead of shooting the puck.
Giguere, making his second consecutive start in goal, made some good saves but also coughed up some juicy rebounds.
The crowd at the Pond in Anaheim was announced as a sellout at 17,174 but there were many empty seats in the building.
Sensing the desperation of the situation the fans seemed louder than earlier games. A contingent of Edmonton fans could be heard chanting, ``Let's go Oilers.''
The Ducks took advantage of a hooking penalty to defenceman Jaroslav Spacek to open the scoring at 7:30 of the first period.
The Oilers penalty kill had done a good job of blocking shots and making Anaheim shoot from the outside. Finally Beauchemin, a rookie from Sorel, Que., fired a shot from just inside the blue-line that beat Roloson on the stick side.
The Oilers last played for the Stanley Cup in 1990 when they defeated the Boston Bruins in five games. That was the Oilers fifth Stanley Cup victory in seven years.
The Ducks staved off elimination by winning 6-3 in Edmonton on Thursday night. The only two NHL teams to battle back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders.
NOTES - The Oilers are 18-0 in series they take a 2-0 lead. ... The six goals Edmonton allowed in Thursday's loss was the most the Oilers allowed on home ice since the 1990 playoffs. ... The Oilers longest playoff winning streak is nine games in 1985.
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