The Carolina Hurricanes won their first Stanley Cup title by beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 in the decisive seventh game of the National Hockey League Finals.
Aaron Ward, Frantisek Kaberle and Justin Williams scored for the Hurricanes at RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina last night. Ward and Kaberle gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead and Williams scored an empty-net goal with 1:01 left after the Oilers had pulled within 2-1.
Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward, a 22-year-old rookie, made 22 saves and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the finals. Ward wasn’t Carolina’s starter to open the playoffs, having replaced an ineffective Martin Gerber during the first round against Montreal.
“Everybody knows we had the best goalie in the playoffs,'’ Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour said at his post-game news conference. “We got to raise the cup because of that kid.'’
There have been 14 series deciders since the NHL’s championship went to a seven-game format in 1939 and the home team has now won 12 of them. The past three Stanley Cup Finals have all gone seven games.
Fernando Pisani had the lone goal for the Oilers, who were denied a sixth Stanley Cup title.
Brind’Amour, a 17-year NHL veteran, was the first player to lift the Cup after the game. He then handed the trophy to 18- year veteran defenseman Glen Wesley, who raised it above his head and skated around as confetti fell and Queen’s “We Are the Champions'’ blared on the arena’s sound system.
Early Goal
Carolina, which let slip a three-games-to-one lead in the series, scored just 86 seconds after the opening faceoff, as Ward one-timed a centering pass from Mark Recchi through traffic and under Edmonton goaltender Jussi Markkanen.
The first period ended in controversy after a near-goal by the Hurricanes with five seconds left.
On a delayed penalty, Carolina broke into the Edmonton zone and Craig Adams got off a back-hand shot that bounced over Markkanen and rolled down his back. As the puck neared the goal line, Oilers defenseman Steve Staois crashed into the crease and landed on the puck.
Officials ruled it wasn’t a goal after a review and also said a penalty shot wouldn’t be awarded because the delayed penalty took effect when Staois gloved the puck and took possession. NHL rules state a player other than the goaltender isn’t permitted to cover a puck in the crease.
“On a delayed penalty, when there is possession and control, the play dies,'’ NHL Director of Officiating Steve Walkom said in a televised interview with NBC. “When (Staois) gloves it, it was whistled dead.'’
Rookie in Goal
Carolina scored its second goal 4:18 into the second period and just eight seconds after Edmonton’s Jaroslav Spacek was sent to the penalty box for holding.
Kaberle took a cross-ice pass from Cory Stillman off a faceoff and ripped a slapshot that hit the hip of diving Edmonton winger Ryan Smyth and skipped past Markkanen. It was Kaberle’s fourth goal of the postseason.
Pisani made it 2-1 less than two minutes into the third period, stuffing a second rebound past Ward for his playoff-best 14th goal. It was the only score Edmonton would get against Ward, who is the third rookie goaltender to lead his team to a Stanley Cup title in the past 35 years after Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden.
“Cam Ward shut the door on the few chances we had in the third period,'’ Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said as his post- game news conference.
Ward finished with 15 wins during the playoffs after winning 14 games during the regular season as Gerber’s backup.
Formerly the Hartford Whalers, the Hurricanes moved to North Carolina from Connecticut in 1997. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2002, losing in five games to Detroit.
“Peter Karmanos had a dream that hockey would work in Carolina, and guess what? He was right,'’ NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the trophy presentation ceremony.
