Oilers blown away by Carolina attack

Published Thursday, June 8, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Carolina Hurricanes appear to have some sort of mystical control over that round piece of rubber.

When the puck is on their side of the ice, it always seems to bounce off an arm, a leg, or Cam Ward. Down at the other end of the rink, the darn thing keeps winding up in the Edmonton goal.

If the Hurricanes can follow the bouncing puck to two more wins, they’ll have their first Stanley Cup championship.

Ward became the first rookie in 20 years to post a shutout in the finals as Carolina blanked the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 in Game 2 last night, taking advantage of a team that was still coming to terms with the loss of playoff star Dwayne Roloson.

Carolina is up 2-0 in the series and off to Alberta, hoping to come back home next week with its name on the cup. Game 3 is Saturday night in Edmonton.

"We’ve still got to win four games, and we’re going to try to do it as quickly as possible," said Cory Stillman, who scored a backbreaking goal seconds before the end of the second period.

Ward turned aside 25 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs and became only the 11th rookie to hold a team scoreless in the finals. Montreal’s Patrick Roy was the last to do it in 1986.

"That was a reflection of the team," the 22-year-old Ward said. "They played great in front of me. There were a lot of instances where we came up with key blocks that probably would have been sure goals."

Indeed, the kid had plenty of help. Twenty-four shots didn’t even get to Ward, whose teammates kept hurling their bodies in harm’s way, willing to take a little pain to help their young goalie.

"It’s always frustrating as a team when you’re getting open looks and the other team is blocking shots," Edmonton’s Michael Peca said. "We have got to find a better way."

If the Oilers were frustrated at the offensive end, imagine how Jussi Markkanen must have felt.

He became the first goalie in 45 years to make his first playoff start in the finals, handed the job after Roloson sustained a series-ending knee injury in Game 1. But Markkanen, playing for the first time since March 1, couldn’t do anything about three deflected shots that wound up in the net.

"I really thought Jussi played a fine game for us," Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish said. "You don’t win a lot of games, even if you get outstanding goaltending, if you don’t score any goals."

Stillman finished off the Oilers by scoring with 2.4 seconds left in the second period to make it 3-0. He flipped the puck over the net, scooted to the other side to pick it up himself and knocked it just under the crossbar on his second try.

Carolina became the 30th team to sweep the first two games of the best-of-seven series at home.

Of course, the Oilers are the first No. 8 seed to make the finals under the current format.

"History doesn’t mean a whole lot to us - what you can and cannot do in certain situations," Peca said. "We’re feeling pretty good about going back home."

The Hurricanes poured it on in the final period, while the frustrated Oilers turned chippy.

Doug Weight redirected a shot into the net with his skate, and the referee waved it off immediately. But, after viewing a replay, it was clear that Weight grazed the puck with a swipe of his stick as it was on the way to the net - making it a legal goal. The call was overturned, and Carolina celebrated and the Oilers fumed.

Shortly afterward, Ethan Moreau threw a left-handed punch to the face of Hurricanes defenseman Glen Wesley as the two came together at center ice. Georges Laraque delivered an even more flagrant hit, pummeling Carolina’s Andrew Ladd with a blow from behind in the closing minutes to get tossed.