No rest? No problem!

They didn’t have as much downtime as the Ducks, but with less than 48 hours to prepare for game one, the Edmonton Oilers managed to pick up where they left off with the San Jose Sharks.

Edmonton took game one of their best of seven series 3-1 on Friday night, taking a 1-0 lead in Western Final. The Ducks who had been idle for ten days finally began to pour on the pressure in the third period, but the Oilers were more than up to the challenge as Dwayne Roloson continued on with his stellar play in the Edmonton net.

The Oil took the lead in the first period off of a Mike Peca goal, but the celebration was short lived as the Ducks battled back to tie things up fourty five seconds later, on Andy McDonald’s power play marker as the first period was winding down.

Coming out of the dressing room for period two, the Oilers continued to press well in the Anaheim end of the rink, with Ales Hemsky regaining the lead for the Oil with a power play goal midway through the second period. That score would stand until the nineteen minute mark of the third period when Todd Harvey put the insurance goal into an empty Anaheim net.

It was a huge win for Edmonton, who now take control of home ice advantage, the momentum that they’ve carried with them through two series now, seems to want to carry them along just a little bit further. For the first two periods of play the Edmonton attack seemed hard for the Ducks to counteract, both teams had chances to score, but the Oilers seemed to be the more dangerous of the two teams.

By the third the Ducks had finally recaptures some of the form that took them past the Flames and then the Avalanche. They took more of the play to Edmonton and buzzed around the net frequently giving Roloson a bit of a workout to finish off the first game at the Pond.

Game Two goes Sunday night in Anaheim, it provides a chance for the Oilers to take control of the series and bring things back to Edmonton on a winning note. They’ve already accomplished one mission in the Conference final, that of taking a win on the opposition’s ice. Take two and the idea of an Oiler march to the Stanley Cup will gain even more steam than that which fuels the team so far.