2006 Stanley Cup Finals The 2006 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Eastern Conference champions Carolina Hurricanes and the Western Conference champions Edmonton Oilers . It was the Hurricanes second appearance in the Final , the other being in 2002 Final when they lost to the Detroit Red Wings . It was the Oilers first appearance since they won their fifth Stanley Cup in team history in the 1990 Final . Carolina defeated Edmonton four games to three to win the franchise ' s first Stanley Cup and second league championship ( the club , known then as the New England Whalers won the 1973 Avco World Trophy final ) . Paths to the Final . Carolina defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4 – 2 , the New Jersey Devils 4 – 1 and the Buffalo Sabres 4 – 3 to advance to the Final . Edmonton defeated the Western Conference No . 1 seed Detroit Red Wings 4 – 2 , the San Jose Sharks 4 – 2 and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4 – 1 to advance to the Final . This marked the first time since the current Conference - based playoff format , debuted in 1994 , that a team seeded # 8 made it to the Finals . The series . This series marked the first time that two former World Hockey Association teams played against each other for the Stanley Cup since they merged with the NHL in 1979 . The Winnipeg Jets / Phoenix Coyotes team is the only former WHA club to have never contested an NHL Final . As a result of the new scheduling formula that was implemented before the 2005 – 06 NHL season , the Hurricanes and the Oilers did not meet during the regular season . These were also the first ever Finals contested by two teams that had both missed the playoffs the previous season ( assuming one skips the unplayed 2005 Stanley Cup playoffs ) . Even more interestingly , it would also prove to be the first Finals contested by teams that would both go on to miss the following years ' playoffs . Prior to these Finals , only the 1938 – 39 Chicago Black Hawks had ever missed the playoffs one year , then played in the Stanley Cup Final ( win or lose ) the following season , and then missed the playoffs again the season after that . Both the Hurricanes and Oilers have now accomplished this dubious feat . Game one . In game one , Carolina tied the biggest comeback in Stanley Cup Finals history , overcoming a three - goal deficit to win , 5 – 4 . Edmonton scored first , 8 : 18 into the first period , with a goal from Fernando Pisani . In the second period , Chris Pronger scored the first penalty shot goal in Stanley Cup Finals history after defenceman Niclas Wallin illegally covered the puck inside his own goal crease , and Ethan Moreau ' s goal at 16 : 23 gave the Oilers a 3 – 0 lead . But at the 17 : 17 mark , Rod Brind ' Amour scored the Hurricanes ' first goal of the game . Carolina then tied the game in the third period with two scores by Ray Whitney . The Hurricanes jumped ahead , 4 – 3 , on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Justin Williams , but Edmonton ' s Ales Hemsky scored on a power play to tie the game with 6 : 29 remaining . Late in the final period , Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson suffered a series - ending knee injury in a collision and was replaced with Ty Conklin . With 32 seconds to go in regulation , Conklin misplayed the puck behind his own net , and it deflected off Jason Smith ' s stick to the front of the empty net , allowing Brind ' Amour to score the winning goal . Hurricanes ' netminder Cam Ward had to make the last of his 34 saves with 3 . 8 seconds remaining , robbing Shawn Horcoff for the second time in the third period with a glove save to preserve the victory . Game two . With Roloson ' s injury , Jussi Markkanen started for the Oilers in game two . Although Markkanen had played 37 games in the regular season - sharing the job with Ty Conklin and Mike Morrison - he had watched the entire post - season from the press box ( Conklin sat on the bench as the backup ) ; he also had not played in a game since March 1 , 2006 . The Hurricanes shut out the Oilers , 5 – 0 , with five different Carolina players scoring goals . Markkanen was Edmonton ' s third goaltender in the series . It was the first time three goaltenders had been used in a Cup Finals since May 1970 , when the St . Louis Blues employed Jacques Plante , Glenn Hall and Ernie Wakely on their way to being swept by the Boston Bruins . Game three . Markkanen once again started in net with Roloson still out . Shawn Horcoff scored just over two minutes into the first period . During the second period , a short - handed goal was waved off by the referee , because he had lost sight of the puck and had blown the whistle , despite the fact that the puck had not yet been covered . The Hurricanes responded midway through the third period with their captain , Rod Brind ' Amour , taking a rebound off a blocked shot past Markkanen . However , with 2 : 15 left in the game , Edmonton ' s Ryan Smyth scored the winning goal after crashing into Ward inside the crease as they both tried to get control of a rebound off of a shot by Ales Hemsky . Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette and many other Carolina players complained that Smyth should have been penalized for interference , but no penalty was called since the referees felt that he did not make enough contact with Ward to prevent him from attempting a save . Game four . Edmonton got off to a good start when Sergei Samsonov opened the scoring at 8 : 40 of the first period . However , the lead was short - lived as Cory Stillman replied just 29 seconds later to tie the game , 1 – 1 . Stillman also made a fine defensive play on Chris Pronger late in the second period , tipping the puck away in the Edmonton zone to the front of the net , where Eric Staal fed a nice pass over to Mark Recchi , who slammed home the game - winning goal with 4 : 08 to go in the period . Once again Edmonton ' s power - play was futile , failing to capitalize on five chances , including a 2 - man advantage in the first period . When the game ended , the Oilers were 1 - for - 25 on the power play to this point in the series . Game five . Carolina had a 3 – 1 lead in the series and a chance to win the Stanley Cup on their home ice . However , Edmonton scored first on Fernando Pisani ' s redirect of a Pronger slapshot 16 seconds into the game . The Hurricanes then went ahead , 2 – 1 , on two power - play goals by Staal and Whitney before the Oilers scored on the power play with a beautiful one - timer by Hemsky to tie the game . Peca then gave Edmonton a 3 – 2 lead with 17 . 4 seconds left in the first period . In the second period , Staal poked one between Markkanen and the post to tie the game . Early in the third period , Hurricanes ' center Doug Weight got sandwiched by Pronger and Raffi Torres , separating his shoulder and ending his night early . Weight would not return to play the next 2 games , though he would eventually raise the cup . Carolina defenceman Aaron Ward also was injured in the third period , and with Carolina running out of fresh bodies , the Hurricanes were desperate to close out the game . With 7 : 47 remaining in the third period , Whitney missed what might have been the Hurricanes ' best chance to win the series with a shot that just hit the post . The game went to overtime , and Recchi drew a penalty early in the period to put the Hurricanes on the power play . But Pisani picked off an errant pass from Stillman and beat Ward top shelf , glove side for the first short - handed overtime goal in Finals history , giving the Oilers the upset win . Game six . Despite the emotional boost of Carolina winger Erik Cole returning to the ice for the first time since breaking his neck in March , Edmonton dominated for the entire sixty minutes , shutting out Carolina , 4 – 0 , in front of a raucous crowd at Rexall Place , scoring three power - play goals and limiting the Hurricanes to only 16 shots on goal . Edmonton held Carolina to seven shots through 40 minutes of play . Fernando Pisani got his post - season high fifth game winning goal ( and 13th in total , also tops amongst scorers in this playoffs ) . This game also marked Markkanen ' s first career playoff shutout . Game seven . However , the Hurricanes returned to the RBC Center to defeat the Oilers in game seven , 3 – 1 , to win the Stanley Cup . Aaron Ward and Frantisek Kaberle gave Carolina a 2 – 0 lead before Pisani scored for Edmonton at 1 : 03 of the third period to cut the lead . With just over a minute to go in regulation , the Oilers pulled the goalie in hopes of forcing overtime . A loose puck wound up on the stick of Bret Hedican . He fed it to Eric Staal , who threw it down the ice to Justin Williams . Williams sprinted down the ice and tapped the puck into the empty net , sealing the Stanley Cup for the Hurricanes . Cam Ward became the first NHL rookie goalie to win a Stanley Cup Finals series since Patrick Roy lead the Montreal Canadiens in 1986 , and he was also the first rookie since the Philadelphia Flyers ' Ron Hextall in 1987 to be awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player in the playoffs . Cory Stillman earned a Stanley Cup title for the second straight season , having won in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning , becoming the first player to win back - to - back titles with different teams since Claude Lemieux ( 1995 New Jersey Devils , 1996 Colorado Avalanche ) . The Hurricanes ' victory ended Glen Wesley ' s 18 - year drought without winning the Cup . He had played close to 1 , 500 regular season and playoff games before winning the Cup , the longest such drought in the NHL . Wesley was the last player remaining from the franchise ' s days as the Hartford Whalers . Other notable veterans to win their first Cup were Rod Brind ' Amour , Doug Weight , Ray Whitney , and Bret Hedican . Mark Recchi won the second Cup of his career , having won 15 years prior as a member of the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins . The Hurricanes became the third former World Hockey Association franchise to win the Stanley Cup , following the Oilers and Quebec Nordiques , who won as the Colorado Avalanche . The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs marked the second time in a row that an Alberta - based team had made it to the NHL finals only to lose in seven games to the Southeast Division champions as the Oilers weren ' t able to complete their Cinderella run , having entered the playoffs seeded # 8 ; the Calgary Flames were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 . This also marked the third straight occurrence of the " Curse of Detroit " , where since the last time the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2002 , the Western Conference team that defeated the Detroit Red Wings during the playoffs went on to the finals , and lost the series to the Eastern Conference team in seven games . The curse would be lifted in 2007 by the Anaheim Ducks , who defeated the Red Wings in the West final and went on to win the Stanley Cup Finals over Ottawa . In each game of the Finals , the team that won the opening faceoff went on to win that game . This was the first major - league professional championship for the state of North Carolina by a men ' s team ( the Carolina Courage of the defunct Women ' s United Soccer Association won the 2002 Founders Cup ) . Rosters . Edmonton Oilers . Goaltenders Forwards Carolina Hurricanes . Goaltenders Defensemen Forwards