RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson was knocked out of the Stanley Cup final opener late in the third period Monday night when he was injured in a collision during Edmonton's 5-4 loss to Carolina.

With the pace frantic and the score tied at 4, Hurricanes rookie forward Andrew Ladd carried the puck into the Edmonton zone and cut across in the front of the net. He was met there by trailing defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron, who unloaded a big hit from behind that drove Ladd into Roloson with 5:54 remaining.

It was unclear what the injury was, but Roloson struggled to get back up after he crouched down.

He was replaced by backup Ty Conklin, who had been stuck on the Edmonton bench for the whole post-season as Roloson played every minute of the Oilers' first 17 playoff games and the first 54:06 of the finals opener.

Roloson has been a key player in Edmonton's surprising post-season run. The Oilers sneaked into the playoffs by clinching the eighth seed in the Western Conference on the second to last day of the regular season.

After Conklin, Michael Morrison and Jussi Markkanen struggled in net, Edmonton acquired Roloson on March 8 from Minnesota for a first-round draft choice and a conditional pick. Roloson allowed 13 goals in losing his first three games with the Oilers but dramatically improved when it counted.

Roloson, who stopped 19 shots Monday, was staked to a 3-0 lead but couldn't protect it. He entered with a 12-5 mark in the playoffs with a 2.22 goals-against average.

Conklin allowed the winning goal with 31.1 seconds remaining after a puck flub behind the goal with teammate Jason Smith led to Rod Brind'Amour's winner into an empty net.