Oilers hold off Ducks for 3-0 lead



Edmonton goes for the sweep of Anaheim Thursday.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Fernando Pisani and the Edmonton Oilers are a win away from the Stanley Cup finals.
Pisani's team-leading ninth goal of the postseason helped the Oilers withstand a late rally by the Anaheim Might Ducks, and Edmonton won Game 3 of the Western Conference final 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Edmonton will go for the sweep and their first trip to the finals since 1990 on Thursday at home.
The Oilers roared out to a 4-0 lead on goals by Michael Peca, Steve Staios and Chris Pronger in the first five minutes of a wild third period.
But Anaheim came right back on goals by Sean O'Donnell, Teemu Selanne and Chris Kunitz to make it 4-3.
Insurance goal
Pisani gave Edmonton some insurance. It turned out to be a huge goal after Selanne scored his second of the game to bring Anaheim back within 5-4.
Toby Petersen scored in the first period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
Eighth-seeded Edmonton, which eliminated Detroit in the first round, has won seven straight since falling behind 2-0 to San Jose in the second round.
The Ducks have lost 13 consecutive games in Edmonton, dating to Feb. 24, 1999.
Peca started the Oilers scoring binge in the third, tipping the puck past Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei at the blue line and racing in alone on goalie Illya Bryzgalov. Peca beat Bryzgalov to the glove side just over two minutes into the period.
Peca has scored a goal 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 set up Staios, who slapped the puck into an the net.
Pronger finds net
With the Oilers on a 5-on-3 power play, 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.
O'Donnell scored with a point shot through traffic at 12:45.
Selanne made it 4-2 when he faked a shot to move around defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and fired the puck low past goalie Dwayne Roloson.
Kunitz then scored to make it 4-3 but 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.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.