Michael Peca and Shawn Horcoff scored and Dwayne Roloson made 24 saves on Wednesday as the eighth-seeded Edmonton Oilers held off the San Jose Sharks 2-0 in Game 6 of the quarterfinal series to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 14 years.
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 today. The winner of the best-of-seven series will take on the Eastern champion -- Buffalo or Carolina -- in the Stanley Cup finals.
PHOTO: AFP
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.
Peca scored when he and Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan chased a loose puck over the San Jose blue line. He outfought Hannan, and sent him down to the ice before racing in and wiring a wrist shot past the glove of goalie Vesa Toskala.
Horcoff doubled the lead with just over 8 minutes left in the game. He took Todd Harvey's pass from the corner and found himself alone in front of the net. With Toskala out of position, Horcoff lifted a shot in under the crossbar.
The Oilers were bailed out by Roloson after taking seven minor penalties in the first two periods. Roloson got stronger throughout and posted his first career playoff shutout.
In the first period, Roloson used his quick glove hand to thwart Sharks captain Patrick Marleau on a close-in wrist shot. Soon after, on a 5-on-3 power play, he jumped in the air like a shortstop to snag a puck flying through the slot.
Roloson also foiled Nils Ekman on a one-timer in front of the crease, and got a little help when Steve Bernier fired a shot off the crossbar in the second period.
Toskala also played well, stopping Peca on two breakaways in the first period and flicking out his right pad to stop Horcoff's breakaway in the second.
The Oilers fans razzed Toskala, who allowed 11 goals in the previous two games after giving up just five in the first three. The crowd serenaded the goalie with mocking chants of ``Ve-sa! Ve-sa!''
The Sharks can also blame their exit on their woeful power play. San Jose was 2-for-27 going into the game and then went 0-for-8 on Wednesday.
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS