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Roloson, Oilers end Canucks' playoff hopes

Apr 4, 2008 - 6:53 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Two days ago, the Edmonton Oilers officially were eliminated from postseason contention. On Thursday, they inflicted similar pain on the Vancouver Canucks.

Marty Reasoner and Jarret Stoll scored second-period goals and Dwayne Roloson made 37 saves as the Oilers ended their season with a 2-1 victory over the Canucks.

Alex Burrows tallied for Vancouver (39-32-10), which was denied a playoff spot for the second time in three seasons.

"Obviously, this game meant nothing for us," Stoll said. "But for us to come out the way we did and get the win for everybody in here, we finished the season off extremely well and confident. To put them out or not, the most important thing is, we played a good game and finished it off well."

"No bonus at all for us," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish added. "I feel for anybody that's worked as hard as the Canucks have and every team that was down the wire in this race. It's hugely disappointing. There's no positive feeling for me in doing that. They battled as hard as we did and I know what I felt like when Calgary put us out, and I don't derive any pleasure in doing that to them."

Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert, however, was glad to be able to eliminate Vancouver.

"It's always fun being a spoiler, especially against a divisional team," Gilbert said. "It's a great feeling when you knock someone else out."

The loss by the Canucks sealed postseason berths for both the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators, who claimed the last two available spots in the Western Conference.

"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, but still, if you don't win these games, you don't deserve to be in," Vancouver captain Markus Naslund said. "I think we haven't been a sharp team when it counted."

Needing two points to stay alive, Vancouver was unable to solve Roloson until late in the third period. The 38-year-old goaltender turned aside 12 shots in each of the first two sessions and the first 10 he faced in the third before Burrows poked in a loose puck during a power play with 6:57 remaining after it squirted away from Roloson in the crease.

"Lately, he's been great," Gilbert said of Roloson. "He's making that first save and he wasn't giving out many rebounds tonight. He was the backbone for us the last couple of months and he did a great job tonight."

"He played good," MacTavish added. "(Vancouver's Roberto) Luongo made some great saves, but he wasn't nearly as busy as Rolly was. Rolly played exceptional and really gave us outstanding goaltending."

But the Canucks could net produce the equalizer, leaving them with nothing but pride for which to play in Saturday's season finale against the Flames.

"Obviously, we are all very disappointed in the outcome tonight," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "I think we played hard, had a lot of energy, outchanced them badly. (But we) lost."

"It's disappointing to everyone, obviously," Canucks veteran Trevor Linden added. "The opportunity to compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs is a privilege, and every chance you get is a chance to do what you want to do. So to miss out on that is very disappointing."

Reasoner gave Edmonton a lead it did not relinquish at 8:52 of the second period.

After Luongo stopped Fernando Pisani's wrist shot from the right faceoff circle, the puck trickled toward the goal line. Reasoner was there to bang it in for his 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 edge.

"The puck was there, he was in the crease and he didn't mean to swipe it in," Luongo said. "They got a lucky bounce on the first goal."

Stoll netted what proved to be the game-winner with 90 seconds to go in the period. During a power play, Marc Pouliot made a cross-slot pass to Stoll, whose one-timer from the top of the left circle got past Luongo for his 14th of the campaign.

"It feels good to contribute and help the team win, but like I said, this is a great finish to the season and there's a lot to look forward to, for sure," Stoll said.

Earlier in the game, Stoll was hit in the ear with an errant clearing attempt by teammate Steve Staios and received a cut that required 17 stitches to close.

"It was kind of a weird situation there," Stoll said. "I was fine. I just had to get stitched up and ice it down a little bit. ... While they were stitching me up, I was pretty dizzy. I was almost falling asleep there. The doctors did a great job stitching it up.

"I knew exactly what it was, I just didn't know how bad (the ear) was. It didn't start bleeding until 10 seconds or so after. I could feel it pop."

Luongo turned aside 19 shots for the Canucks, who lost for the sixth time in seven games but the first in regulation against the Oilers this season (4-1-3).

"You work so hard for the entire season for a chance to play for the Cup," Luongo said. "It's tough to take when you're not rewarded at the end."