diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/utils/tree.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/utils/tree.ts
index ad49901e7a..e325d3c7ae 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/utils/tree.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/utils/tree.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ function findPath<T>(expected: T, c: TreeNode<T>, collected: TreeNode<T>[]): Tre
   for (let cc of c.children) {
     const cloned = collected.slice(0);
     const r = findPath(expected, cc, cloned);
-    if (r) return r;
+    if (r.length > 0) return r;
   }
 
   return [];
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/test/utils/tree.spec.ts b/modules/@angular/router/test/utils/tree.spec.ts
index 311ddccdc5..5534175733 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/test/utils/tree.spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/test/utils/tree.spec.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ describe('tree', () => {
     expect(t.parent(2)).toEqual(1);
   });
 
+  it('should return the parent of a node (second child)', () => {
+    const t = new Tree<any>(
+        new TreeNode<number>(1, [new TreeNode<number>(2, []), new TreeNode<number>(3, [])]));
+    expect(t.parent(1)).toEqual(null);
+    expect(t.parent(3)).toEqual(1);
+  });
+
   it('should return the children of a node', () => {
     const t = new Tree<any>(new TreeNode<number>(1, [new TreeNode<number>(2, [])]));
     expect(t.children(1)).toEqual([2]);