Roloson's shutout sends Oilers to West finals

Edmonton ousted San Jose and will take on Anaheim for a Cup berth.
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 in front of a sellout crowd of pompom-waving fans Wednesday night, 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.
Eighth seed advances
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.
"This is obviously an exciting day," forward Ryan Smyth said. "We want to go down to Anaheim and give ourselves another chance. ... It's nice to shut another team out."
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.
Insurance goal
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.
"It's starts from your defense up, and we seem to play solid defensive hockey," Smyth said.
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.
"I'm just having fun and enjoying this," Roloson said.
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 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.
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