The Edmonton Oilers franchise is 19-1 when taking a 2-0 series lead, and they’ve never lost a series when they lead 2-0 on home ice.

A victory tonight won’t guarantee they win the series, but it puts them in a great position. The all-time NHL record for teams who go up 2-0 at home is 270-36 (.882 W%). A win tonight will put Edmonton in a fantastic position.

The Oilers and Anaheim Ducks were content with their overall play in Game 1. Edmonton didn’t like its second period, while Anaheim didn’t like its first period. The third was fairly even, and if Radko Gudas didn’t stumble and create a wide-open lane for Mattias Ekholm that led to the tying goal, who knows what the outcome would have been. Anaheim created two solid scoring chances in the third, but Connor Ingram stopped both of them. Both teams have positives to build on heading into tonight’s tilt.

Edmonton wants another good start and to force the Ducks to play from behind. Even though the Ducks tied Montreal for the most come-from-behind victories in the regular season (26), Edmonton wants to play with the lead, because it  will force the Ducks to take a few more chances. The Oilers couldn’t have asked for a better start in Game 1, scoring twice and limiting Anaheim to three shots on goal. They just need to keep the pedal down rather than let up and play sloppy like they did in the second period.

One main storyline will be if Anaheim can contain Connor McDavid like they did in the series opener. McDavid has been held pointless in consecutive games in a playoff series four times in his career (97 GP): twice in 2017 against San Jose and Anaheim, then against Winnipeg in 2021 and against Florida in 2024. It is possible, but rare. By his standards, he had a quiet Game 1. At times he looked to be forcing things, specifically on the Oilers’ first power play in the second period, where he struggled on zone entries. Give Anaheim credit — they got in lanes to frustrate him — but I felt McDavid’s line, along with Evan Bouchard, was just a bit off with their passes most of the night. I expect all four of them will be better tonight.

“I thought we got into trouble when we were slow and our game slowed down,” said McDavid. “We couldn’t keep anything alive and we gave up chances. We have to play fast, play predictable and simple and when we got away from that we got in trouble. When we played well we controlled the play. Lots to build on from Game 1.”

The one area that was odd was McDavid struggling on zone entries on the power play. He is the best in the NHL at gaining the zone on the man advantage, and he was quick to state those struggles were on him. “That was me not being clean enough. That is an area we are very good at and not concerned about. That being said, they did throw some different things at us, but we will adjust,” said McDavid.

The Oilers only had two power plays, and on one they generated a few good looks, but Leon Draisaitl said post-game he missed those likely due to his time off. He feels once he gets back into a regular routine, he won’t miss on them. The Oilers’ power play is never something I would be concerned about. It has been the best in the NHL for five years, and going 0-for-2 is no reason to panic. They’d like to draw more penalties, and that will happen if they play fast, as McDavid alluded to earlier.

— With two points in Game 1, Draisaitl now has 15 points in eight career playoff games against Anaheim. Draisaitl has had games with five points, four points, and, twice, he’s tallied two points. He loves playing the Ducks.

— Leo Carlsson had 10 shots on goal in the opener, while Troy Terry had six and Beckett Sennecke had five. Those three combined for 21 shots, while the rest of the Ducks’ forwards had five shots, and they got two from the blueline. The Oilers’ forwards had 22 shots while the blue line had 11, led by Darnell Nurse’s five (and he hit the crossbar). The Ducks spoke today about wanting more traffic in front, and will look to get a few more shots from the blue line with traffic to try and test Ingram with traffic.

— Carlsson’s 10 shots on goal were the second most in NHL history in a playoff debut. Only Kevin Shattenkirk had more with 11 shots in 2012 with St. Louis. Carlsson is going to be a star in the future — big, fast, skilled and highly competitive.

— Zach Hyman picked up where he left off last year in the playoffs as he led the Oilers with eight hits. Colten Dach had seven in just over eight minutes of play. Hyman had 111 hits in 15 games last season and will remain physical tonight. The Oilers could also benefit with more traffic around Dostal and create a few rebound chances. Kasperi Kapanen scored on his own rebound in Game 1, and Dickinson banged home his second of the game off of Mattias Ekholm’s hard shot. Dostal’s rebound control wasn’t the best, especially on hard shots from the high slot area.

— Josh Samanski is the fourth of seven Samanski children. In order they are:

Patrick

Tim

Neal

Josh

Noah

Lilly

Lucy