Few teams can withstand their best players underperforming and win playoff games. In that sense, the Edmonton Oilers being tied 1-1 with the Anaheim Ducks isn’t so bad.

It’s a good wager that Connor McDavid, shutout in back-to-back games, and uncharacteristically poor with puck decision and execution, will turn it around. His ankle is fine, he says.

It’s a good wager that Evan Bouchard will be more effective and raise his urgency level, although this has been a trend that’s carried over from the conclusion of the regular season.

It’s a good wager that the Oilers power play will start to click, as it muffled momentum in Game 2, and even allowed an inexcusable goal against to finish minus-3 in special teams for the contest.

But what is frustrating is the lack of maturity in the Oilers game.

Learning the same ol’ lessons

For a series with a major storyline being “Experienced” Oilers vs “Inexperienced” Ducks, the lack of maturity shown throughout the regular season reared its head.

Instead of Game 1 being the baseline for mistakes and self-inflicted wounds, the Oilers made more mistakes in Game 2, forcing pucks through sticks, creating danger for themselves where it didn’t exist.

Now, here’s the requisite credit to the Ducks. Game 2 might’ve been one of the best games in terms of active sticks, puck disruptions, that have been played against Edmonton in years.

That’s hard to do and isn’t typically sustainable, but it was excellent. Anaheim didn’t create a ton of their own, but took advantage of point shots with screens, holding pucks in the offensive zone, and creating danger where they didn’t appear to be.

But those are areas that tend to level out. For the Oilers to be successful, they need to apply the lessons they’ve learned from the past few years, or be forced to re-learn them the hard way.

What bodes well is that even with sloppy puck play, the Oilers have the puck an awful lot five-on-five and are getting the better of it. Edmonton has a 4-2 goalscoring advantage five-on-five in each game for a total of 8-4 for the series.

It’s been their disconnected specialty teams, a path I discussed in my series preview in how each team wins this series. Anaheim is 7/17 on the power play against the Oilers this season, allowing just two total Oilers PP goals, and adding a shorty into the mix on Wednesday night.

“I think we’re obviously a little bit rusty,” said Zach Hyman, who’s second period tip jumpstarted a comeback again.

“It’s the first time we’ve been back, all five of us, in a little bit, and sometimes you just need the first one to drop. We’ve had chances, but we can be sharper and much cleaner.”

Patience will be the key. No one should be surprised that this series isn’t a sweep. The Oilers should get some comfortable knowing that rotisserie chickens won’t be thrown on the ice to help kill their momentum.

“It’s playoffs, and we have to start going,” said McDavid.

Penalty killers

Count me as one who thought that Jason Dickinson was just going to be absent from morning skates in the playoffs, but would play in the games. But questionable turned into out of the lineup after his multi-goal Game 1, and the Oilers had two centre positions to fill instead.

The combination of Dickinson and Adam Henrique on the outs meant some players who haven’t killed many penalties much this year were thrown into the mix in Game 2.

Leon Draisaitl, who’s been terrific so far, was used multiple times to take faceoffs, as Kris Knoblauch tried different looks. I’m guessing he wanted to beef up the experience element with Josh Samanski part of the kill.

Zach Hyman has spent a lot of time on the PK in his career, but the last two seasons, it’s a total of just 2:46. He was on the ice with Josh Samanski, Mattias Ekholm, and Evan Bouchard on Alex Killorn’s 3-1 goal.

Hyman’s usage may have been an adjustment after the 2-1 goal was scored on with Samanski and Kasperi Kapanen on the ice together, but stemmed from a point shot on a corner battle puck recovery.

Part of the issue too on the 3-1 marker was the Oilers biggest minute munching PK forward this season was in the penalty box at the time.

Matt Savoie didn’t see the ice for the PK in the 2:05 of penalty killing in Game 1. My suspicion is that Knoblauch likes keeping pairs together and with Henrique out, Savoie was out.

He’s been good though when he’s played, having not been scoring on, and the Oilers should lean on Savoie more when they can. His speed can close gaps.

To Connor McDavid’s credit, this area of his game might be the strongest. He’s played the most minutes on the PK without a goal against with 2:40 played.

Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Josh Samanski, and Kasperi Kapanen, have all been out for two of the four goals against.

Edmonton needs to make overall tactical adjustments to the PK though. Chris Kreider and Beckett Sennecke are parking in front with ease. The Ducks have far too much time and space to make plays.

Connor Ingram needs to improve in this area too. Two point shots with traffic have beat him, the other an unfortunate rebound after a poor pinch at the halfwall.

On Oilersnation After Dark, Devan Dubnyk suggested that Ingram is getting caught looking on the outside of bodies, instead of toward the inside of the net.

Ingram’s save percentage is .700 on the PK in two games. During the regular season, it was .863.

‘Long time coming’

For the Anaheim Ducks, they got to celebrate their first playoff win in eight years. A road split is fine work, especially since the Oilers have struck first blood twice.

“We have the confidence,” said Alex Killorn, who played a whale of a game after a so-so Game 1, potting one goal and three points.

“All season long when games have been tied and we’ve been down goals, we’ve been in some high-pressure moments, we knew they were going to come back with a great push and obviously scoring that goal and tying things up with eight minutes to go.”

If the playoffs is a test, then the Ducks did their homework after taking a lead into the second intermission. They were not shaken after Samanski bullet 4-4 goal.

Joel Quenneville’s switch of Cutter Gauthier into Chris Kreider’s spot on the top-line worked wonders, as the 41-goal scorer popped home his first two playoff goals. That line with Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry is a problem for the Oilers.

The issue few expected was Anaheim’s fourth line. Tim Washe headmans a group with Jeffrey Viel and Ian Moore and have handled their business in defensive zone starts, knowing Connor McDavid was about to appear.

They started 13 shifts together and Washe went 12-for-19 in the faceoff dot. Depth for depth, the Ducks fourth line is trusted and gets the job done. With last change, will Quenneville still this line in obvious McDavid scenarios? Worth paying attention to.

In the meantime, long-suffering Ducks fans will be treated to playoff hockey.

“It’s been a long time coming for this organization, so I’m also very glad that we can get a first win, but obviously it’s a long series,” said Lukas Dostal. “They have a good team, but we show some resilience today. Guys played unbelievable.”

Notes:

There were chances on the power play. Draisaitl loaded up the one-timer twice, including a criss-cross with McDavid on the second PP chance that was dangerous. Bouchard had a couple more shots get through than lately. Overall, the Oilers first man advantage was the most dangerous
Draisaitl’s line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen has been far and away the Oilers best line, outscoring opponents 4-0 with an expected goal percentage of 61.13 per cent, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Kapanen in particular has been a pleasant surprise. Two puck recoveries led directly to goals in Game 2: Draisaitl’s ricochet 1-0 marker, and Connor Murphy’s blast to make it 3-2.
That was Connor Murphy’s first playoff goal. Combined with the regular season, it was his 49th goal in 836 games.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Knoblauch will put Nugent-Hopkins on McDavid’s left wing to bring familiarity and comfort to 97’s game. That already started in Game 2. Savoie would then drop to play with Samanski and Roslovic, the combination on the ice for Samanski’s Bavarian Bomb.
Josh Samanski became the first Edmonton Oiler rookie to score in their first playoff game since Brad Winchester in Game 2, Round 1, against the Detroit Red Wings.
Anaheim has now scored power play goals in six straight games.
Ducks’ opposition scored the first goal 49 out of 82 games in the regular season, and the first two games of this series.
Tim Washe only played three more NHL games than AHL games this season. The 24-year-old played five seasons at Western Michigan with Oilers’ recent signing Owen Michaels, winning a Frozen Four championship to end his collegiate career in 2024-25. He scored two goals and five points in 39 games this season. In total, he’s played just 43 NHL games. He’s also played 6:25 on the PK.
Troy Terry, Leon Draisaitl, and Jackson LaCombe are tied for the series lead in points with four.
LaCombe has been a major difference marker. He’s been on the ice for six of the Ducks’ eight goals, and had three assists in Game 2. He’s on a five-game point streak.
Evan Bouchard was on the ice for five of the six Ducks goals on Wednesday.
Darnell Nurse, for what it’s worth, has been on the ice for three Oilers goals and just one Duck goal.

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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