EDMONTON -- With the ice crumbling under their skates after two losses in Raleigh, the Edmonton Oilers moved back on to safer ground Saturday night at a frenzied Rexall Place, earning a 2-1 win that closed the Carolina Hurricanes' lead in the Stanley Cup Final to 2-1.

Ryan Smyth and Jussi Markkanen were the heroes for the Oilers, with Smyth's goal at 17:45 of the third period breaking a 1-1 tie and Markkanen stopping 24 of 25 shots to nail down his first victory of the 2006 postseason.

"I felt fine in Carolina and just tried to carry on that feeling to this game," Markkanen said. "I felt really good out there and obviously you can see that we came to play right away from the first minute. It helps a lot for our goaltending, too, when we play good.

"I felt fine and saw the puck really well," Markkanen continued. "The 'D' blocked a lot of shots, especially in the end and that helps. But I got to give a lot of credit to our forwards for coming back and help(ing) because Carolina's forwards are really skillful and if they get a lot of room, they can capitalize on their chances."

Schedule / Links:   Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos Gm. 3: EDM 2, CAR 1 | Photos Gm. 4: June 12, 8:00 p.m. ET at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) Gm. 5: June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) *Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) *Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS)   *if necessary Players battle through Rexall's din For Oilers, practice makes perfect Ward sizzles in Game 3 loss Complete Playoffs coverage Hurricanes official site Oilers official site Hurricanes team stats Oilers team stats Buy your Canes merchandise Buy your Oilers merchandise

"He played well," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said of Markkanen, who was thrust into the starting role in the Final after Dwayne Roloson was lost to a knee injury at the end of Game 1. "It's great for him. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for us. We certainly needed it."

The winning goal by Smyth wasn't without controversy, as Smyth and the puck arrived in the crease with Carolina goalie Cam Ward at the same time. After some pinball-like bounces, the puck found its way behind Ward. The Hurricanes insisted the goal should have been disallowed because Smyth was in the crease, while Smyth insisted that Carolina defenseman Aaron Ward had pushed him into the crease.

"When I got across the line, I dropped it to 'Hemmer' (Ales Hemsky) on that play," Smyth said of the winning goal. "He just fed it through and it went off Cam Ward and popped up and I guess it hit my shaft. All I remember is it hit my chest and it crossed the line. Obviously, it was a gritty goal, but hey, it counts."

The goal was reviewed and allowed to stand, but certainly didn't sit well with an emotional Rod Brind'Amour, the Hurricanes' captain.

"It's not so much the interference, it's the explanation," Brind'Amour complained. "That's what gets me. He said it hit him outside the crease, that's not what happened. That's what bothered me. It's not that he says this is what happened, it hit him outside the crease and went in. That's his explanation, that's what frustrates me. That's not how it went down."

Walkom said the review showed no intent by Smyth to interfere with Ward.

"No, actually the puck was in the air," he said. "Smyth tried to knock the puck out of the air with his stick and at the same time, Ward tried to knock the puck out of the air, was successful in doing so, it bounced off Smyth."

Despite another tremendous effort from Cam Ward, it was a frustrating night for the Hurricanes, who got some good chances, but were unable to dent Markkanen and the Oilers the way they were able to in Games 1 and 2.

"Personal pressure doesn't really seem to affect him," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said of his rookie goalie, who was returning to Edmonton for a homecoming before the hostile crowd. "He played extremely well for us. You can't fault him on either (goal); the first was a re-direct and the second one he wasn't allowed to make the save."

Regarding his team's offense, Laviolette noted his players had the requisite chances to win the game.

"We had some chances, like I said," he said. "They weren't as easy, but we didn't bury them either."

Smyth's goal capped off some intense pressure by the Oilers, who roared to life after the Hurricanes forged a 1-1 tie at 9:09 of the third period on a goal by Rod Brind' Amour.

Jussi Markkanen played spectacular in goal for Edmonton, stopping 24 shots by the Hurricanes to seal the win in front of the hometown crowd.

The Carolina goal came when Brind'Amour took a pass from Cory Stillman and ripped a shot that was blocked by Oilers defenseman Jason Smith, who took the shot in the collarbone area. Stunned for a moment, Smith wasn't able to recover and Brind'Amour converted the rebound.

The goal stunned the crowd and the Oilers, but the home team recovered quickly and carried the play over the remainder of the third period.

"He made a great block there," Smyth said of Smith. "And then it just landed back for Brind'Amour to shoot it. Actually, it was a nice shot. After that, we had to find some energy and, obviously, we fed off the fans there again. We were trying to chat up on the bench, keep the positive attitude going."

Buoyed by the loud crowd, the Oilers jumped to a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the first when Shawn Horcoff re-directed a blue-line shot from defenseman Jaroslav Spacek eluded Ward, who saw the puck slip between pads. For Horcoff, it was his first goal in eight games.

"There was a lot of pressure on our team to score goals," Horcoff said of his line with Smyth and Hemsky. "First and foremost, we put pressure on ourselves to come out tonight and play a good game. We weren't looking for help from any other line, we wanted to come out and produce and help our team. That's our job and we have been able to do it thus far, but we got off to a little bit of a rough spot in Games 1 and 2.

"We got a few breaks tonight," Horcoff said. "That's a positive for us. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come. We did better. I thought we crashed the net a lot harder, as you can attest to Smitty' s last goal. That's the kind of goal we need to get here.

A sloppy change almost cost the Oilers the lead at 4:05 when Justin Williams raced in alone on Markkanen, who got a piece of his arm on the rising shot, tipping it over the net.

"Let's be honest, I think it's really impressive," Horcoff said of Markkanen's play. "To come in and not have a start in a long time and to come in and expect to just all of a sudden get right back to top form in the Stanley Cup Final is obviously a difficult situation, but I think it's a testament to how hard Jussie's worked here for a good three, four months."

Carolina's Doug Weight thwarted another good scoring chance at 5:19 when he threw the body on Hemsky as he was getting ready to put the puck on Ward from the rim of the left circle. But Weight was subsequently boxed for interference at 6:03. On the ensuing power play, Ward made a pair of stops on Smyth from in close.

Chris Pronger went off for tripping at 10:02 and the Hurricanes produced some excellent scoring chances, especially from Brind's building for an extended period of time, it's an opportunity to use that momentum in your favor."

Edmonton had a golden opportunity to double their lead when they had a 5-on-3 power play. Craig Adams was called for tripping at 12:30 and was followed by Kevyn Adams at 13:03. But the Carolina penalty killers, especially Aaron Ward, Glen Wesley and Brind' Amour, were terrific and the Oilers were held to just a single shot.

"I thought that that could be a good turning point for us," Laviolette said. "I think any time you can kill off a 5-on-3 and in somebody else's building for an extended period of time, it's an opportunity to use that momentum in your favor."

But the Hurricanes weren't able to take advantage as Mark Recchi was called for hooking at 15:53, giving the Oilers another man-advantage, but Carolina was superb, allowing a single shot again.

The Edmonton PK unit came to the fore in the latter stages of the period, killing off a high-sticking penalty on Radek Dvorak.

The Oilers nearly went up 2-0 with 2:50 remaining in the second period with the Hurricanes on the power play. Weight lost the puck behind his net to Ethan Moreau, who wheeled out and put a shot on Ward, who made the save and flopped to the ice. Ward made a second stop as players converged and Moreau reached in, pulled the puck away from the goalie and fired the puck into the net, but referee Mick McGeough had blown the play dead after losing sight of the puck.

Both goalies turned in strong efforts doing the second period, with Ward making a big save on Jarret Stoll early and then turning Spacek aside with a pad save on an Edmonton power play. On the same power play, Kevyn Adams saved a goal with a diving stick check on Hemsky. Ward also made a key stop on Raffi Torres, who took a hard cross-ice pass from Michael Peca and put the puck on Ward, who made the save.

Peca was denied at 6:57 when he got behind the Carolina defense and Ward made yet another big save.

Markkanen shone in the latter stages of the period as the Hurricanes intensified the pressure, denying one scramble that saw Wesley, Whitney and Andrew Ladd in succession.