DUCKS STUMBLE TO START OILERS DOMINATE GAME 1 TO TAKE EARLY ADVANTAGE EDMONTON 3, DUCKS 1.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Don't be deceived by their No. 8 playoff seed. The Edmonton Oilers are no underdogs.

Detroit and San Jose learned the hard way, after being dismissed by the Oilers in the first two rounds of these playoffs, and on Friday night Edmonton set out to prove its mettle to the Mighty Ducks.

Edmonton sent a strong message. The Oilers, the revelation of this postseason, used an impressive combination of speedy forwards, gritty defensemen and solid goaltending to earn a 3-1 victory over the sixth- seeded Ducks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in front of 17,174 at the Pond.

The Oilers ran their playoff winning streak to five games, and ended the Ducks' streak at six, as they proved to be just slightly better than the Ducks in a number of crucial areas.

``We didn't play our best tonight and we know that,'' Ducks forward Todd Marchant said. ``Give (the Oilers) credit. They played a good, solid road game and came away with a win, but it's a long series and we have to come back with a better game. They capitalized on their opportunities and we didn't.''

Edmonton's Michael Peca and the Ducks' Andy McDonald scored first-period goals, and Ales Hemsky swatted in a power-play goal midway through the second period for the decisive goal.

The Ducks had killed 39 consecutive penalties until Hemsky's decisive goal, and Todd Harvey scored an empty-net goal with 41.6 seconds remaining.

``I can't say they were better than us,'' Ducks winger Teemu Selanne said. ``They scored two more goals than us but we can be a lot better. It's not about anybody else, it's just about us getting better.''

Long stretches of the game seemed sluggish, and while the Ducks had claimed that their week-long layoff wouldn't impact them, it seemed to. The Oilers, meanwhile, took the lead for good in the second period and sat on it, tightening up defensively and limiting the Ducks' quality chances in the last 20 minutes.

At one point, the Ducks had outshot the Oilers 14-4 in the third period, but Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson came up big and made 31 saves overall. Ilya Bryzgalov, the Ducks' rookie goalie and one of the stars of this postseason, also fared well and made 23 saves.

``We will be better on Sunday, and we'll go from there,'' Selanne said. ``We can be so much better in so many areas, but this was just one of those nights.

``It's hard to try to find your game and win battles in practice when you have a whole week off. It's good to see the guys (upset) now but it's OK. It's just one game and we will be better.''

With the Ducks' Sean O'Donnell already in the penalty box for holding in the second period, the Ducks' Vitali Vishnevski was whistled for high sticking against Raffi Torres, giving the Oilers a 5-on-3 advantage for the next 35 seconds.

The Ducks killed the two-man advantage, but 54 seconds into Vishnevski's penalty, and 11:35 into the second period, the Oilers took a 2-1 lead. Bryzgalov made the save on Ryan Smyth's slap shot, but with Jarret Stoll providing traffic in front, Hemsky knocked the puck out of midair and into the net.

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Edmonton's Michael Peca, right, scores between the legs of Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov in the first period Friday.

Robert Laberge/Getty Images