Oilers take 2-0 lead, head home

On Sunday night, there will surely be lots of breasts bared on Whyte Avenue, because the Oilers defeated the Ducks 3-1, and have taken a 2-0 lead in the series.

Although the series is far from over, it will be a VERY steep uphill climb for the Ducks. I only had the chance to watch the final 10 minutes of game 2, but the visiting Oil seemed to be very much in control of the game. Especially on defense, where they seemed to have tightened the clamps on any opportunities the Ducks had. Like Friday night, the Oil even got some brilliant shorthanded chances against what appears to be a very tired Ducks team.

I won't predict a sweep, but I don't see this series going beyond five games. I just don't think the Ducks have enough in the tank to get to the finish line.

I think my jaw is still somewhere near the floor from the Michael Peca shorthanded goal on Friday night. As corny as this sounds, I think it may have had a big impact on this series. It immediately took the energy away from the home crowd, the buzz out of the building, and the Ducks were off on the wrong webbed foot.

I doubt very much that you're unaware of what I'm talking about, but just in case... Ducks were on the PP. Dwayne Roloson made a routine save, then flipped the puck airborne over everybody and to the far blue line. Mike Peca met the puck there and easily beat Bryzgalev one-on-one to the stick side. You can view the goal here, which I highly recommend. I spent all day Saturday morning talking about how it was one of the coolest goals I've seen in a while.

The two combined again tonight for an empty netter, in which Roloson had the secondary assist. With two assists, Dwayne Roloson has more points than Canes skaters Josef Vasicek, Kevyn Adams, Craig Adams, Chad LaRose, Aaron Ward and Glen Wesley COMBINED. I don't think those guys should put up with having that undubious distinction.

The Ducks are down, but not out. At least not yet. While I think they'll take one of two in Edmonton, I don't see it going beyond five. I never had any faith in the waterfowl, and it looks as though their clock is rapidly approaching midnight.

Back East, the Canes are going to have to do a better job on power play, and do a better job of neutralizing Buffalo's speedy forwards. If they are unable to win game two on Monday night, they'll be on the same slippery slope with the Ducks.

I actually have confidence that they'll do a better job on both of those things, and I've already predicted that the Canes will emerge 4-3 victors on Monday. I went a step further, predicting that the goal scorers for the Canes will be AWard, Dougie Weight, LaRose and Staal. I also predicted that the Buffalo scorers will be Grier, JPom and Afenogenov.

Puck drop at 7:30 on OLN.