Hurricanes win thriller

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes finished off a stirring comeback with the easiest of goals.

Now things really get tough for the Edmonton Oilers.

Rod Brind’Amour scored off a flukey mistake with 31.1 seconds remaining when Edmonton’s backup goalie botched an exchange behind the net, and the Hurricanes rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Oilers 5-4 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals Monday night.

As if blowing the big lead wasn’t bad enough, the upstart Oilers received grim news after the game: starting goalie Dwayne Roloson – who had played every minute of the playoffs until he went down with just under six minutes remaining – is done for the series.

Roloson’s right knee was injured in a collision that knocked the net off its moorings. Ty Conklin, after playing just 18 games during the regular season, committed a major gaffe in his first appearance of the postseason.

With overtime looming, Conklin went behind the net to play the puck on a seemingly routine play. But he appeared to cross up teammate Jason Smith with a backhanded pass, the puck deflecting off Smith’s stick and sliding in front of an open net.

“I just held onto to the puck too long,” Conklin said. “I didn’t make the play quickly, you know? It’s not a mistake I think I would normally make.”

Brind’Amour scored his second goal of the night – and he’ll never get an easier one. Smith dove in a futile attempt to knock the puck away and Conklin was still coming around from behind the net when it crossed the line.

“It wasn’t much that I did,” Brind’Amour said. “I think there was a little mix-up about who was going to get it and obviously the goalie is behind the net. It was just a matter of flipping it into the net. You don’t get too many of those, but I’ll definitely take them.”

Carolina’s rookie goalie, Cam Ward, had another brilliant playoff performance after backing up Martin Gerber through most of the regular season. Ward made 34 saves, including the second of two remarkable stops on Shawn Horcoff at the side of the net with 3.8 seconds left.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Raleigh, then the series shifts to Edmonton for the next two games.

With two small-market finalists and an obscure cable network televising the first two games, the Edmonton-Carolina matchup was expected to draw minuscule television ratings.

But maybe a few more people will flip over if the Oilers and Hurricanes put on another a thrilling display with these types of twists and turns.