Hurricanes Beat Devils and Win Series in Five

The handshake line formed as it always does at the end of an NHL playoff series, and Carolina goalie Cam Ward finally got his first face-to-face meeting with his idol and counterpart, Martin Brodeur.

“He just wished me well and said, ‘Go all the way,’ and I just expressed to him that, in my eyes, he’s the best,” Ward said.

This time, it simply wasn’t true.

Ward steadied himself after a rocky start, Cory Stillman got the go-ahead goal on Carolina’s first power play midway through the second period, and the Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1, Sunday night at Raleigh, N.C., to win the best-of-seven series in five games.

“I think we deserved it,” Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were the better team, we felt it right from Game 1, and now we’re moving on.”

Frantisek Kaberle, Ray Whitney and Eric Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won eight of their last nine games in the playoffs. They finished off a winning series at home for the first time in franchise history -- and will face the Buffalo Sabres next, with the winner advancing to the Stanley Cup finals.

“The feeling is the same, it’s that sense of relief,” Carolina defenseman Aaron Ward said. “If we didn’t do it here, and we didn’t approach this like it was our Game 7, what kind of bed are we making for ourselves? The coaching staff preached this was the end-all, be-all game, and we had to take it right now and seize it.”

Ward finished with 17 saves, including 10 in the first period when Carolina played short-handed for eight minutes. The Devils failed to capitalize on any of those power plays.

Edmonton 6, San Jose 3 -- Boo this, San Jose: The underdog Oilers are one win away from the Western Conference finals.

Fernando Pisani broke a tie with his second goal early in the third period, and Ryan Smyth had two goals and two assists in the eighth-seeded Oilers’ victory over the Sharks at San Jose, putting Edmonton up 3-2 in the second-round series.

Edmonton’s us-against-the-world energy undoubtedly got a boost shortly before the opening faceoff, when fans in the Shark Tank booed the Canadian national anthem. The Oilers were quicker and smarter throughout, even keeping their cool when San Jose rallied to tie it at 3-3 early in the third period.

The Oilers head into Game 6 on Wednesday night with a chance to make the conference finals for the first time since 1992.

The Mighty Ducks are waiting for the winner -- and plans for the first all-California conference final are in big jeopardy.

The Oilers jumped to a 3-1 lead with three goals on their first eight shots, including Shawn Horcoff’s short-handed score 12 seconds into the third period. San Jose rallied to tie it with quick goals from Christian Ehrhoff and Jonathan Cheechoo, but Pisani scored on a 2-on-1 break with Shawn Horcoff with about 15:57 to play.

Jarret Stoll and Smyth added power-play goals in the final minutes. Horcoff had a goal and two assists for Edmonton.

Scott Thornton also scored for the Sharks, who have been just as streaky in the playoffs as in the regular season: They had won six straight postseason games before losing the last three, including this embarrassing effort for their first loss in five home playoff games.

Edmonton managed only seven shots in the first two periods of Game 5, but scored on two of them.

Dwayne Roloson, the veteran trade-deadline pickup who finished with 21 saves, was outstanding behind a penalty-killing unit that held San Jose scoreless on seven power-play chances in the first two periods.