Hockey Roundup: Win gives Oilers 2-0 series lead

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Edmonton Oilers, growing accustomed to Dwayne Roloson's solid goaltending, are heading home with a commanding lead in the NHL Western Conference finals.

Roloson made 33 saves Sunday, Fernando Pisani and Chris Pronger scored key goals and Edmonton beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 3-1 for the second game in a row.

The win gave the Oilers a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series and a six-game playoff winning streak. They will take both back home, where they have defeated the Ducks 12 in a row dating to 1999.

Game 3 is in Edmonton on Tuesday and Game 4 is there Thursday.

The Ducks outshot the Oilers again in Game 2, 34-25, but Roloson allowed nothing more than Jeff Friesen's second-period goal.

As he had after the opening victory, Roloson credited the team's defense in front of him, but Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish and other Oilers said the goalie deserves a lot of credit.

"He's giving us terrific goaltending," MacTavish said. "I was saying to the coaches after the game that it's amazing what that quality of goaltending does for your defensive-zone coverage.

"He's really into it."

The Oilers' Ryan Smyth added, "We knew they were going to come out strong, and obviously Rollie is our backbone. He's been doing it all along in the playoffs for us. It's great to see him really step up when he knew they were going to come out a little bit harder."

Although the Oilers seem in great shape with a two-game lead and two games coming at home, MacTavish said they won't take anything for granted.

"We want to go back there with the mentality that we're down 2-0 and have a real hunger," the coach said.

"Not that we won't anyway, but we want to play the type of hockey we played against San Jose [in the previous round] when we were down 2-0."

Sweden captures

world title

RIGA, Latvia — Sweden blanked defending champion Czech Republic 4-0 to take the world title, becoming the first country to earn that status and win an Olympic gold medal in the same year.

It was the eighth world title for Sweden, which had eight 2006 Olympic champions on its roster. In the Olympics, Sweden beat Finland 3-2 in the final in Turin, Italy.

"It's fun to be part of hockey history," Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson said. "I think we played more or less a perfect game today."

Sweden defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who plays for the NHL Detroit Red Wings, was voted the tournament's most valuable player.