Oilers Have a Slick Goalie

The last time Dwayne Roloson was in net for a playoff game at the Arrowhead Pond, he watched the end from the bench. Not because he’d played particularly badly, but because his Minnesota Wild teammates could not score a goal in his support and he’d given up three goals to the Mighty Ducks on 16 shots in the third game of the 2003 Western Conference finals.

On Friday, three years and one team later, Roloson made sure he’d have at least a one-goal cushion.

Roloson, acquired by the Edmonton Oilers from the Minnesota Wild on March 7, lofted a backhanded, alley-oop pass into the air that teammate Michael Peca swooped upon for a short-handed breakaway in the first period of the Oilers’ Western Conference finals opener against the Ducks. Peca, who had anticipated Roloson’s pass, slid the puck between the pads of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov for the first goal in the Oilers’ 3-1 victory.

“It’s something I used to do in college all the time,” said Roloson, who played at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell but was not drafted by an NHL team. Peca “knows about it a little bit.”

So he gave it the old college try. Only this time, unlike the 50 or so times in school that he’d made the pass but his teammate couldn’t score, it worked.

“They were caught a little bit by surprise,” said Peca, who previously played with Roloson in Buffalo and recalled the goalie trying his hand at similar long, looping passes there.

“It’s not something you practice, but you know that Dwayne has the ability to get it up ice. We’d never connected on it, but he knows I’m going to look for the ice. As soon as he turned his hand over, I knew where the puck was going.”

Although the Ducks pulled even 28 seconds later, on the same penalty, Roloson’s assist set the tone for his teammates.

If he could do it all, setting up a goal and stopping a shot by Duck defenseman Scott Niedermayer with his chin less than five minutes into the third period to protect a 2-1 lead, they had no excuse not to throw their bodies in front of shots or not to spring back to their feet after absorbing a hip check from Francois Beauchemin or to stop slogging through a playing surface the consistency of an Icee.

Roloson got them started, and he finished the game this time too.

“We’re starting to expect that night in and night out, great goaltending,” Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish said.

But he’s not expecting Roloson to rack up assists like the one he recorded on Friday. “I haven’t seen that backhand [pass] up the middle,” MacTavish said. “It kind of gives the coach a little heart failure when that happens.”

He need not have feared. Roloson was unflappable, withstanding a 14-shot attack in the third period to help the Oilers win a series opener for the first time this spring. It was the kind of performance they envisioned when they acquired him for a first-round pick in this year’s entry draft, but not the kind of performance they saw upon his arrival.

Curtis Joseph had been their first target, but they refused to part with the young players Phoenix demanded in return. They then turned to Roloson, who had shared the goaltending duties with Manny Fernandez but became expendable because he is in the last year of his contract and can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Roloson lost his first three games as an Oiler, finally ending that streak with a 30-save performance against his old Wild teammates. From there, he soared, lifting the Oilers into the top eight in the West.

Acquiring Roloson “was the big turning point in our season,” teammate Shawn Horcoff said. “It’s a lot easier to play when you know he’s going to make those big saves.

“He doesn’t say much. He’s a real intense guy. He made a heck of a play tonight, let’s be honest. It was a great move and a big part of the game for us.”

To Peca, it didn’t matter that he scored while the Oilers were short-handed. It just mattered that they scored first, buoying their spirits and putting to rest any speculation that they might be tired because they’d started this series only 48 hours after they wrapped up their second-round victory over San Jose.

“I think it’s the timing of the goal,” he said. “Obviously, when you’re on the road, Game 1, you want to get the first goal of the game. Our record has been pretty good in the playoffs when we score the first goal.”

The Oilers are 7-2 in games in which they’ve scored first. Roloson, 1-0 this spring in playoff games in which he has scored a point, said he never thought about having been shut out by the Ducks in the 2003 playoffs. “I don’t even remember it, to be honest with you,” he said. “So, whatever.”

Whatever works. If it means stopping the puck with his face, he’ll do it.

“He’s an aggressive goalie and he challenges shooters, so that’s going to happen,” Horcoff said. “It almost seems like it gets him in the game more.”

Roloson’s performance got them a 1-0 series lead, with a day’s rest today before Game 2 at the Pond.

“Both teams were feeling each other out today,” Horcoff said, “and we feel like we’ve got some more.”

Roloson has already given them more than they could have expected.