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Pre-Scout: Ducks giving Oilers taste of their own power play medicine and it may be fatal
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Photo credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Apr 28, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 28, 2026, 11:47 EDT
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Now that long-time Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar is retired, you’d love to pick his brain. 
Anze, remember all those first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers? How did it feel when your penalty kill was absolutely helpless against their power play?
If nothing else, the future first ballot Hall of Famer and this current iteration of the Oil could commiserate together. 
The Anaheim Ducks are giving the Oilers a taste of their own medicine: a dominant power play that overcomes okay five-on-five play. 
In the critical Game 4, Cutter Gauthier’s goal gave them renewed life on the man advantage. Nearing the end of the second period, Mikael Granlund made no mistake to equalize. Suddenly, that two-goal lead on the backs of a great start was erased. 
The Anaheim power play proved again to be a major factor in winning the game, as the best Edmonton could do was simply be even in the game. 
In total, the Ducks are 6-for-12 in the series. In Alberta, we’d call that Oilers-esque. Heck, throw in a gutwrenching, momentum-crushing shorthanded goal in Game 2, and the Ducks are a cool plus-4 on special teams. 
Sound familiar?
“We haven’t been able to get the last save, a clear, a blocked shot, or a loose puck or something like that,” said Kris Knoblauch on Monday, an off-day. “It’s unfortunate. Credit to Anaheim…but we have to find a way to be a little bit better.”
Oilers Special Teams: 
  • Game 1: 0-for-2 PP, 1-for-2 PK
  • Game 2: 0-for-4* PP, 1-for-3 PK
  • Game 3: 1-for-2 PP,  2-for-3 PK
  • Game 4: 2-for-2 PP, 2-for-4 PK
  • Total:  3-for-10 PP, 6-for-12 PK

Days of old

Remember the 2023 playoffs? In the last four playoff years, it’s the shortest postseason for the Oilers, but it did feature Jay Woodcroft as the head coach, whose grin walking down the hallway toward the dressing room was captured by ESPN cameras.  
These were the absurd numbers from the opening round against the Los Angeles Kings: 9-for-16 on the power play, 13-for-21 on the penalty kill. The Oilers PK and trips to the penalty box cost them against Vegas in round two. 
In the end, the Oilers were 46 per cent on the power play. 
Anaheim seems to be cooking with similar gas, but the ingredients are different. Two balanced units, each with shooters, are picking corners. Rebounds, screens, tips. 
The unit of Leo Carlsson, Chris Kreider, Mikael Granlund, Troy Terry, and John Carlson has scored three goals. The unit of Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier, Alex Killorn, Beckett Sennecke, and Jackson Lacombe has scored three goals. 
But so much has to do with timing. Of the six goals, three have been when the Ducks are trailing, two when tied, and one when ahead. 
Regardless, it’s working, and the Oilers don’t have an answer, slow to close gaps on shooters especially.  
It dovetails as the Oilers five-on-five performance has gotten a little worse the longer the series has gone on, and the Ducks has gotten better.

McDavid

Connor McDavid played just 19:32 in Game 4, far away his lowest ice-time of the series.
As opposed to the other games, this is the concerning game for McDavid onlookers at five-on-five. It wasn’t a matter of turning over pucks. He had few rushes and scoring chances in general. With that said, Lukas Dostal made his best save with just moments left in regulation, getting his toe on a McDavid rush to the net.
For context, McDavid was the third shift over the boards in overtime. That’s the sign for you that he isn’t right. Not one game in the 2025 playoff run did McDavid play fewer than 20 minutes.
The captain blatantly ignored a question about his health in the post-game presser following Game 4. Along with Leon Draisaitl’s worst game of the series, where his sharpness was dulled, the Oilers look like a team carrying the weight of some 500 hockey games in five seasons.
“Using him differently on maybe the matchups or the players who are playing with him. Those are some of the adjustments that we’ll have to look at that.” said Knoblauch. 
McDavid is taking some heat for his performance in this series, but talk about the absolute grind of playing this volume of hockey. In 2025-26, he set a career high for his highest time-on-ice in a single-season at 22:59 per game, which was 43 seconds more than the second highest forward Nathan MacKinnon.
Mark Messier’s status as an analyst can be debated, but I thought this tidbit insightful from a Sportsnet with Real Kyper and Bourne interview yesterday. It sums up the McDavid-Oilers pickle.
“There’s a price to be paid when you’re playing that kind of hockey with the focus and attention that’s required mentally and emotionally. Everything takes a backseat when you’re on a team that’s in pursuit of a Stanley Cup. Then you add on the physical toll that it’s going to take,” he said.
“The kind of hockey that wins in the playoffs is you have to defend. And if you can’t defend, or figure out a way to defend, you’re going to have problems. You’re not going to outscore your mistakes.”

Who starts?

Tristan Jarry made 30 saves and looked more comfortable in Game 4 than the majority of starts we’ve seen from the in-season acquisition.
Unfortunately, the puck squeaked between his pads after a ricochet off of Darnell Nurse’s skates, in the yes-it’s-the-puck-is-in-but-what-was-the-process controversy of the playoffs thus far. Trent Frederic should rue his inability to get the puck out of the zone.
Knoblauch declared no starter on Monday in his availability. My hunch is he’ll stick to Jarry, since they didn’t acquire him to sit around all the time. I’d lean Ingram.
Overall, I thought the Oilers had a more concerted effort on puck retrievals and cycle play, but that did not last. They’ve led in every game, yet been tied twice, or trailed twice heading into the third period.
Their second periods are another critical difference.
For those that still believe the regular season matters, you’d think back to leads the Oilers blew during the regular season, or almost blown leads. Putting away teams when you’re ahead is the sign of a championship calibre team.
Joel Quenneville won’t be caught napping, the sage voice behind the Cardiac Quacks. The Ducks coach officially moved to second most playoff wins all-time after Sunday night’s win.
“We have a real competitive bunch,” he told reporters Monday. “They’re fighting for their lives and we want to make sure that this is the most important game we face.”
Nevertheless, you have to sow seeds of doubt. Umpteen times in hockey history do young teams with a chance to close out series lose the first try. The psychological side can take over.
This remains a winnable series in my eyes even how the Oilers have played. However possible winning this battle is, this team looks challenged to win the war that would be multiple playoff rounds.

Notes:

  • The puck was most certainly in the net for Ryan Poehling’s game-winner, but the process was bungled. It will live as another memory of questionable calls of playoff past.
  • The way Poehling and the Ducks celebrated has at least a tinge of impact on the officials, who never signalled a goal, but ultimately said that was their call. Considering the officials never saw the puck in the net, every little edge can be factored into that initial call. Reminds me of Mikael Granlund’s disallowed high-stick goal in Game 3. He acted throughout that it was a goal, went to the bench to celebrate, the whole nine yards. Subtle bits of gamesmanship may have had a huge impact.
  • By the way, the Oilers must win this game to keep their season alive. The franchise is 23-22 all-time when facing elimination.
  • In order to comeback, they need to reel off a three-game win streak. We know how that went this season, but there were two such streaks.
  • Jason Dickinson’s return helped buoy the Oilers early. The simple act of holding onto a puck around the net, instead of jamming it through sticks, helped Kasperi Kapanen scored his fourth goal of the series. It’s plays like this that are part of a winning brand of hockey.
  • Jackson LaCombe was the overall playoff point leader after Game 4, with one goal and seven assists. He’s been the main proponent of their improved five-on-five play, outscoring the Oilers 7-4 when he’s out there, and outshooting the Oilers widely 55-30. The Oilers need to make it more difficult on the emerging star.
  • That was Anaheim’s first playoff overtime game since Game 4 of the 2017 Western Conference Final, where the Ducks levelled their series with Nashville. It was the Ducks first home playoff overtime game since Game 1 of that same series, where Nashville won the opener.
  • The Ducks can close out and win their first series since round two against the Oilers in 2017.
  • Seven Ducks have multiple goals.
  • Josh Samanski has seemed overwhelmed at times, taking another bad penalty, which ended up in the Oilers net. After the 2-1 goal, he had only six more shifts in the last 36 minutes of the game.
  • Tristan Jarry became the 22nd goalie to play a game in the playoffs for the Oil.
  • Ty Emberson’s ice times have increased in every game of the series, leading to a high of 14:32. Paul Coffey increasingly trusts him in third periods and he’s earned the ice. I bet you wouldn’t expect him to be Edmonton’s hit leader, but he was on Sunday with five.
  • The biggest free agent move Trent Frederic has been a complete non-factor. This is allegedly the type of hockey Frederic is supposed to thrive in playing, and instead tries to glide out of the zone, turns over the puck, and it’s in the net. He had no points, is minus-3, and has 12 hits in four games. Beyond the counting stats, his inability to forecheck and retrieve pucks has helped make the Oilers fourth line essentially useless compared to the Ducks fourth line.
  • Frederic has played 101 total games (regular season and playoffs) with the Oilers, scoring five goals and 11 points.
  • How good is Connor McDavid? He’s been poor to own his standards, and still has four points in four games. Toronto could only dream..
  • Oilers home record in 2026: 13-11-2
  • Home record vs Pacific Division: 11-2-2
  • If the season ends on Tuesday night, this could be the final game for a few Oilers, including the head coach and beyond. In truth, the best round to lose for the Oilers future Cup prospects is this one. Conversely, bowing out in five like this will not sit well with ownership. Game 5 will be interesting.
Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4. 
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