Roloson knocked out of finals by knee injury
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson, who played every minute of Edmonton's surprising playoff run to the Stanley Cup finals, was lost for the rest of the series when he injured his right knee late in Monday night's opening loss to Carolina.
Dwayne Roloson
"Goalie's not good. Won't be back in the series," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish moments after Edmonton was beaten 5-4.
The team did not disclose further details on the nature of Roloson's injury.
With the pace frantic and the score tied at 4, Hurricanes rookie forward Andrew Ladd carried the puck into the Edmonton zone and cut across in the front of the net. He was met there by trailing defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron, who unloaded a big hit from behind that drove Ladd into Roloson with 5:54 remaining.
Roloson struggled to get back up after he crouched down.
He was replaced by backup Ty Conklin, who had been stuck on the Edmonton bench for the entire postseason as Roloson played all of the Oilers' first 17 playoff games and the first 54:06 of the finals opener.
Conklin hadn't played since the regular-season finale on April 17 when he allowed two goals on 18 shots in Edmonton's 4-2 victory over Colorado. That snapped a 19-game stretch of inactivity for Conklin, whose previous appearance was on March 7 against Dallas.
After Conklin, Michael Morrison and Jussi Markkanen struggled in net, Edmonton acquired Roloson on March 8 from Minnesota for a first-round draft choice and a conditional pick. Roloson allowed 13 goals in losing his first three games with the Oilers but dramatically improved when it counted.
"Our goaltenders are capable of coming in here and playing well, both Jussi and Ty," MacTavish said. "Just passed on to Rollie that, 'Job well done and it's up to us to take it from here."'
Roloson, who stopped 19 shots Monday, was staked to a 3-0 lead but couldn't protect it. He entered with a 12-5 mark in the playoffs with a 2.22 goals-against average.
Conklin allowed the winning goal with 31.1 seconds remaining after a puck flub behind the goal with teammate Jason Smith led to Rod Brind'Amour's empty net goal.