Ducks Finally Know Their Opponent

After an agonizing six-day wait, the Mighty Ducks have an opponent for the Western Conference finals: the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers advanced when Dwayne Roloson made 24 saves in a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 on Wednesday night at Edmonton, Canada.

Edmonton, which overcame a 2-0 series deficit, received goals from Michael Peca and Shawn Horcoff in advancing to the conference finals for the first time since 1992.

“Our team as a whole has raised our game to a level it hasn’t been all year,” Horcoff told CBC after the game. “We just want to continue to get better and make that next step.

“It’s going to be a tough series.”

The Ducks, who completed a sweep of the Colorado Avalanche last Thursday, can now resume their run at a second Stanley Cup finals appearance in three seasons. They will play host to the Oilers in Game 1 on Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter who you’re going to play,” defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “Most guys will be excited to finally focus on an opponent.”

After two intense practices to begin the week, Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle mostly worked on offensive and defensive systems in an hourlong workout Wednesday at the Pond.

Now that they know who they are playing, the issue facing the Ducks will be how soon they can jump back into the frame of mind that powered them through the first two series against the Avalanche and Calgary Flames.

“These are challenges at times that you put out to your players,” Carlyle said. “It’s not easy to mentally stay as focused when you don’t play.”

O’Donnell said regaining their intensity after the time off has been the hot topic in the dressing room.

“I think if you realize it and recognize it, it’s a lot easier to deal with,” he said.

“We’ve had three days to talk about it.”

The Oilers advanced to the Campbell Conference finals in 1992, where they were swept in four games by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Back then, Roloson was a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Peca was an 18-year-old junior player in Ottawa and Horcoff was a teenager growing up in British Columbia.

Thanks to this trio, the Oilers are back.

With four skaters a side because of coincidental minor penalties to Edmonton’s Chris Pronger and San Jose’s Nils Ekman, the Oilers struck first in the opening period on the hustle of Peca.

The gritty center won a faceoff in his own zone and battled the Sharks’ Scott Hannan for the puck along the boards before bulling through the defenseman for a breakaway, which he converted by beating goalie Vesa Toskala with a top-shelf wrist shot.

Roloson, whom the Oilers acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline, made the lead stand up with strong play throughout.

The 36-year-old goalie made his best save when he robbed Patrick Marleau with a glove stop late in the first period.

“I’m just having fun and enjoying it,” said Roloson, who played for the Wild against the Ducks in the 2003 playoffs.

Toskala, who struggled in Games 4 and 5, kept the Sharks in the game with several big saves as the Oilers had seven breakaway chances. Horcoff, however, scored the insurance goal at 11:37 of the third period off a pass from Ryan Smyth.

The rollicking, sellout crowd of 16,839 at Rexall Place had the old arena sounding the way it did in the 1980s when it was called the Northlands Coliseum and the Oilers were winning five Cups in a span of seven years.

“This is obviously an exciting day,” Smyth said. “Obviously, we wanted to go down to Anaheim and give ourselves another chance. We still got a long ways to go. We’re only halfway there.”

Stephens reported from Los Angeles.