Penner, Lupul help Anaheim stay alive
EDMONTON, Alberta -- With the offense clicking like this, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks probably would have stayed alive in the Western Conference finals no matter who was protecting their goal.
Dustin Penner and Joffrey Lupul each scored twice and the Ducks extended the series by beating Edmonton, 6-3, last night.
The Ducks return home to Anaheim, Calif., for Game 5 tomorrow night still facing long odds. The Mighty Ducks cut the Oilers' series lead to 3-1 but know that only two NHL teams have dug out of an 0-3 hole to win.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere was in goal, making his first start since April 29 -- a span of nine games. He stopped 20 shots and helped snap the Oilers' seven-game winning streak.
The Ducks, who had only six goals in the opening three losses, took a 3-0 lead in the first period when Penner scored twice and fellow rookie Ryan Getzlaf also tallied.
``I don't know if you could go through our lineup and find a guy who didn't do something great for our team," Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer said. ``It's what you need at this time of year."
Marc-Andre Bergeron got Edmonton on the board early in the second period, but Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei made it 4-1 less than two minutes later.
Edmonton got within one when Ryan Smyth and Georges Laraque scored in the second period, but Lupul made it 5-3 with only 1:38 left in the frame and then added an empty-netter.
Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson lost for the first time since Game 2 of Edmonton's second-round series against San Jose.
Giguere hadn't started since he was replaced by rookie Ilya Bryzgalov in Game 5 of the first-round series against Calgary. He showed some rust in allowing three goals on the first nine shots he faced, but was good enough to improve to 3-2 in this postseason.
``It was pretty hard. It's been a month since I played," Giguere said. ``I'm just happy that I was able to go through and that we got the win."
Giguere wasn't surprised to get the call with the Ducks facing elimination.
``I was sort of expecting it," he said. ``When you are down, 3-0, you have to make some changes and see what happens." 