EDMONTON, Alberta — The Edmonton Oilers aren’t dead yet.
The Ducks, trying to win a playoff series for the first time in nine years, knew the Oilers would be desperate with their season on the line, and the visitors took quite a punch in the mouth.
The veterans who have helped lead the Oilers to the past two Western Conference titles helped build a three-goal lead in the first period on their way to handing the Ducks a 4-1 defeat on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their best-of-seven first-round series at Rogers Place.
Leon Draisaitl scored two goals, and Zach Hyman and Vasily Podkolzin each scored once for Edmonton. Evan Bouchard had three assists, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two assists each, and Connor Ingram made 29 saves as the Oilers cut the Ducks’ series lead to 3-2. Game 6 is Thursday night at Honda Center.
Alex Killorn scored the Ducks’ only goal, while Lukas Dostal gave up three goals on nine shots and was pulled midway through the first period in favor of Ville Husso (10 saves).
On a night when the Ducks could have won their first playoff series since they knocked off the Oilers in seven games in the second round of the 2017 playoffs – they had a rough night.
The Ducks fell behind 1-0 just 2:22 into the game when Podkolzin drove hard to the net and ripped a cross-ice feed from Bouchard.
Then just 6:11 later, Hyman redirected a shot from Nugent-Hopkins in traffic to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.
Then just 1:40 after that, Draisaitl scored his first of the night, redirecting a point shot after the Ducks failed to clear the puck out of their zone.
That ended Dostal’s night, and the Ducks were in a heap of trouble in a hostile environment.
Second periods have been key for the Ducks in this series, when they have outscored the Oilers 9-4.
Despite finding themselves in a significant hole, the Ducks showed some life in the second period.
After being outshot badly in the opening frame, they started to swing the momentum their way, getting more chances on Ingram, who last played in Game 3.
The Ducks’ red-hot power play got them within striking distance, after Killorn knocked in a rebound to make it 3-1 at the 8:26 mark of the second.
But any momentum gained from Killorn’s goal began to vanish just 16 seconds later when Jacob Trouba took a penalty.
The Oilers’ power play, which has taken some time to heat up in the series, converted. Husso made a huge stop against Draisaitl, coming across his crease to deny him on a one-timer, but the Oilers kept pressing.
The Ducks had a chance to clear the puck out, but Bouchard made a great play at the blue line, and got the puck to McDavid, who skated into the slot and fed a nice pass to Draisaitl, who made no mistake with the one-timer this time.
The goal restored Edmonton’s three-goal lead, and the Ducks, who led the league in comeback victories in the regular season, and in these playoffs, couldn’t muster a rally this time.
In addition to altering their second-period struggles, the Oilers got strong goaltending to boot.
Ingram, who didn’t start Game 4 in favor of Tristan Jarry, stepped up with several big stops to keep the Ducks at bay as they tried to mount a comeback.
The Ducks were outshot 12-6 in the first period, but they outshot Edmonton 11-5 in the second and continued to press in the third, outshooting the hosts 13-3.
Despite outshooting the Oilers 24-8 over the final 40 minutes, the Ducks couldn’t find a way to get to Ingram.
DUCKS’ POWER PLAY STILL CLICKING
Despite the loss, the Ducks continued to produce with the man advantage.
Killorn’s power-play goal was the Ducks’ seventh man-advantage goal of the series. Their power play is running at 50% (7 for 14) through five games. The Ducks finished 1 for 2 on the power play in Wednesday’s loss.
More to come on this story.