ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Edmonton Oilers are coming of age with every passing game they play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Despite being outplayed throughout by a favored opponent, they found a way to take a commanding lead in their series against the Anaheim Ducks by riding a stellar goaltending performance to victory.

Patrick Maroon scored the decisive goal and Cam Talbot stopped 39 of 40 shots as the Oilers defeated the Ducks 2-1 on Friday at the Honda Center.

The Oilers now head home to Edmonton for the next two games with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal series is Sunday.

Anaheim outshot Edmonton 40-23, including 16 shots in the third period, but Talbot was the difference.

The Ducks' lone goal came off the stick of Jakob Silfverberg. John Gibson made 21 saves for Anaheim.

Oilers coach Todd McLellan knew that the Ducks would be desperate to salvage a split of the first two games. An early goal by Andrej Sekera prevented them from chasing the game throughout. Despite being outshot by a wide margin, the Oilers never trailed.

"You have to find different ways to win," McLellan said. "The early goal took the energy out of the building but after 10 minutes of play, Anaheim was the better team. Goaltending is a must in this league, it's like pitching in baseball."

Maroon agreed with his coach's assessment of the win.

"It was not our best effort," Maroon said. "They don't ask how you win. Special teams play is huge in the playoffs and our penalty kill came up big tonight."

The Oilers continue their red-hot play that commenced in the final weeks of the regular season. They are 18-4 in the last 22 games. Talbot has beaten Gibson five straight times in their head-to-head meetings.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle felt that his team's effort was an improvement over its sloppy effort in a 5-3 loss in Game 1 but felt that the disparity in shots in favor of his team was misleading.

"We need more traffic in front of Talbot," Carlyle said. "He got to see a lot of pucks and he did not give up many second chances."

The Ducks have picked an inopportune time to hit a cold streak after sweeping the Calgary Flames in the first round. Their losses in Games 1 and 2 of this series are their first back-to-back regulation losses since Oct. 13-15 this season.

Despite having to win four of the next five games to advance to the Western Conference Finals, Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler still believes his team has the resolve to turn the series around in Alberta.

"The situation is tough. They came in and stole two, but by no means is it impossible," said Fowler. "There's a lot of fight in this group."

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead on Sekera's unassisted goal, his first of the playoffs, at 1:05 of the first period. Sekera's goal came on the first shot of the game when his wrister beat Gibson on the short side at the right post.

Edmonton extended its lead to 2-0 on Maroon's power-play goal, his second of the playoffs, at 6:41 of the second period. Jordan Eberle's wrist shot deflected off Maroon's right skate and past Gibson with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins drawing the secondary assist.

Anaheim drew to within 2-1 on Silfverberg's power-play goal, his fourth goal of the playoffs, at 15:34 of the second period. Silfverberg took a feed from Fowler and beat Talbot cleanly with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle with Ryan Kesler drawing the additional assist.

NOTES: The teams will get an extra day of rest after Sunday's Game 3, with Game 4 scheduled in Edmonton for Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time. ... Edmonton scratched D Mark Fayne, D Griffin Reinhart, C Matt Hendricks, RW Iiro Pakarinen, C Anton Lander, LW Jujhar Khaira, D Eric Gryba, D Jordan Oesterle, D Joey Laleggia and G Nick Ellis. ... The last Edmonton player to record a playoff hat trick was Bill Guerin, currently the assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin potted three goals on April 6, 2000, vs. Dallas. ... Anaheim did not dress D Kevin Bieksa, LW Nick Ritchie and D Sami Vatanen. Bieksa suffered a lower-body injury in Game 1 and may not return until later in the series. Ritchie was a last-minute scratch due to flu-like symptoms. Vatanen has yet to appear in this round due to an upper-body injury.