Edmonton 2 Anaheim 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Patrick Maroon had a power-play goal and Cam Talbot made 39 saves as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.
Andrej Sekera also scored for Edmonton, which also won the first two games on the road in the 2006 Western Conference Finals against Anaheim.
Jakob Silfverberg scored a power-play goal and John Gibson made 21 saves for the Ducks, who have never overcome a 2-0 series deficit in seven previous tries.
Game 3 is Sunday in Edmonton.
A skate sent in the Oilers’ winning goal in the series opener and it happened again, with Maroon in the right place at the right time. Jordan Eberle fired a centring pass towards the crease and it struck Maroon in the right skate. Gibson tried to knife it away with the blade of his stick but the puck still had enough on it to end up in the net 6:41 into the second period for a 2-0 lead.
Maroon had four goals in 16 playoff games at Honda Center during his five seasons with the Ducks. He now has one in two appearances as a visitor.
Silfverberg cut the deficit in half with 4:16 left in the second, unleashing a blast of a shot that Talbot would have struggled to stop even if Patrick Eaves was not expertly blocking his line of sight.
After getting unlikely goals from defenceman Adam Larsson to win Game 1, another unexpected source of offence put the Oilers ahead 1:05 into the game. Sekera fired a slapshot to the short side off Gibson’s right stick hand and in.
It was only Sekera’s second playoff goal, the other came in 2011.
The Oilers returned to their dressing room with the lead despite getting just three shots on goal, compared to 12 for the Ducks. Antoine Vermette had a promising opportunity on special teams, only for Oscar Klefbom to alertly use his stick to prevent Vermette from getting any power on a shot from the foot of the crease.
Vermette’s look came after a goaltender interference penalty waived off a goal for the Oilers. Mark Letestu plowed Brandon Montour right into Gibson and created an open goal for Zack Kassian’s shot. There was little argument from the Oilers and a sheepish Letestu skated directed to the penalty box without objection.