Ducks @ Oilers RECAP: Ducks drop high-scoring affair to the Edmonton Oilers 6-5
The Anaheim Ducks continued their four-game road trip this evening in a battle against the Edmonton Oilers. A high-scoring and high-event affair ensued, with the Ducks ultimately running out of gas and losing to the Oilers by a final score of 6-5, dropping to 2-2-0 (4 points) on the season.
Injuries Force Changes on 3rd and 4th Lines
Prior to the game, Ducks forwards Mason McTavish and Max Jones were placed on the injured reserve list as a result of injuries sustained in last night’s game against the Flames. Although Sonny Milano and Sam Carrick were recalled from the AHL as a result, neither drew into the starting lineup for tonight’s game. Instead, Sam Steel replaced McTavish as the 3rd line LW, while recently-waived Derek Grant drew in for Max Jones as the 4th line RW. Anthony Stolarz also returned in between the pipes on the 2nd night of a back-to-back for the Ducks. Hampus Lindholm, who was also injured during last night’s game, returned in his regular top-line LHD role.
1st Period
The Ducks struck first around the 15-minute mark of the opening period when Adam Henrique fired a quick pass to Trevor Zegras, who then executed a gorgeous one-touch pass to Kevin Shattenkirk for his 2nd goal of the season, putting the Ducks up 1-0. The Oilers’ first goal came several minutes later and had its roots in a failed clear attempt by Josh Mahura. This was quickly recovered by Oilers winger Warren Foegele, who skated around the net and dished the puck to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He then sent a perfect pass towards a net-charging Zack Kassian, who was not covered by Josh Manson, and easily sniped the puck past Anthony Stolarz, tying the game at 1-1.
The Ducks nearly took the lead again after Adam Henrique teed up a point-blank shot for Trevor Zegras, but he could not put the puck in the back of the net. This missed opportunity then led to a dreaded breakaway chance for Connor McDavid, who received a pinpoint pass through the neutral zone by Leon Draisaitl. Unsurprisingly, he capitalized on this chance, easily beating Anthony Stolarz with a low wrist shot to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead. A mere 15 seconds later, the Ducks entered the Oilers zone and Isac Lundestrom fired a shot on goal. The rebound was recovered by Sam Steel, who then threw the puck back towards the net and past Oilers goalie Mike Smith, tying the game at 2-2.
Edmonton drew two penalties in the Anaheim zone towards the end of the period: a 2-minute cross-check on Rickard Rakell and a 2-minute trip on Cam Fowler. This gave the Oilers, the league’s top power-play unit last season and a top-5 unit thus far this season, a golden opportunity to take back the lead. They wasted no time in doing so, as Leon Draisaitl received a cross-ice pass from Connor McDavid and drilled the puck into the back of the net, giving the Oilers a 3-2 lead with 1:34 still remaining on the power play. The Ducks allowed no further shots for the remainder of the period, keeping their deficit to one goal at 3-2.
The Ducks finished an incredibly eventful first period winning the 5v5 shot percentage battle (51.5% CF%) but being out-chanced at 5v5 (41.4% xGF%). The Ducks also trailed the Oilers 4-1 in 5v5 High Danger Chances For. Notably, the Ducks xGF% was even lower across all situations at 34.8%, indicating the relative quality of the chances Edmonton’s special teams earned throughout the period.
2nd Period
The Oilers began the 2nd period with 1:24 still remaining on their power play. The Ducks successfully killed the remainder of this penalty, but then promptly handed the Oilers yet another power play opportunity due to an untimely tripping penalty from Kevin Shattenkirk. Just 40 seconds into this power play, Oilers forward Kyle Turris was whistled for a tripping penalty of his own. With 26 seconds of 4v4 play remaining, Hampus Lindholm was next up for a trip to the penalty box after being called for a rare Closing Hand on the Puck penalty. The Ducks would ultimately kill off this penalty as well, and the teams were finally back to full strength at 5v5 with 14:47 remaining in the period.
Shortly thereafter, a scary moment ensued when Anthony Stolarz fought off a shot that hit him directly in his face mask. He was thankfully okay after lying on the ice for several minutes in recovery.
With 11:14 remaining in the period, Nicolas Deslauriers tied the game at 3-3, converting on a cross-zone pass from Ryan Getzlaf that was initiated by a controlled zone entry and pass from Troy Terry. Just 1:13 later, Sam Steel scored his second goal of the night on a beautiful backhand shot (assisted by Jakob Silfverberg and Isac Lundestrom) that easily beat Oilers goalie Mike Smith, giving the Ducks a 4-3 lead.
Anaheim returned to the powerplay with 5:58 remaining in the period after a penalty was issued to Jesse Puljujarvi for slashing Trevor Zegras in front of the Ducks net. However, the Ducks were not able to generate many good chances and whiffed on their man-advantage opportunity. While no other goals were scored for the remainder of the period, one of the highlight plays of the game occurred when Trevor Zegras distributed a stunning Getzlaf-esque behind-the-back pass to Adam Henrique that ringed off of the Oilers goal post, nearly extending the Ducks lead to two goals.
Overall, the frenetic pace established in the first period was largely sustained in the second. The Ducks once again won the 5v5 shot attempt battle (53.3% CF%), but were also once again out-chanced at 5v5 (36.6% xGF%). However, the Ducks were able to generate 4 High Danger Chances and finished the period strongly after a slow start.
3rd Period
Just over 3 and a half minutes into the final frame of this contest, Kevin Shattenkirk once again found his way back to the penalty box with a high sticking infraction that put the dangerous Oilers power-play unit back onto the ice. With 9 seconds left on the man advantage, the Oilers converted and tied the game at 4-4 on a deflection near the net from Zack Cassian (his second goal of the game).
The Oilers regained the lead after Josh Mahura and Kevin Shattenkirk were unable to gain control of a loose puck behind the Ducks net. The puck trickled towards Anthony Stolarz, who was not positioned close enough against the post, and it ultimately rolled by him, giving the Oilers a 5-4 lead.
Anthony Stolarz exited the game with 2:07 remaining, and after several quality scoring chances in the Oilers zone, Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the night on an empty netter that made the score 6-4. Just seconds later, Kevin Shattenkirk trimmed the Oilers’ lead to 6-5, also with his second goal of the night. However, the Ducks had dug themselves too deep a hole with too little time remaining to dig themselves out of it and ultimately lost the game 6-5 to the Oilers.
Final Thoughts
In a game bereft of quality goaltending and full of quality and high danger scoring chances, the Ducks came up just short despite outshooting the Oilers 49-43 at 5v5. Anaheim’s 6 penalties proved costly and resulted in 2 Edmonton power-play goals. The Ducks were once again out-chanced at 5v5, posting a 41.1% xGF%. Ultimately, the combination of costly penalties and subpar goaltending proved to be too much for Anaheim to overcome.
3 Stars
1. Sam Steel
2. Cam Fowler (76.4% xGF at 5v5)
3. Trevor Zegras
Up Next
The Ducks fly east for their final game in Canada on this road trip to take on the Winnipeg Jets (0-2-1, 1 point) Thursday night, with the puck dropping at 5 pm PT.
Note: all statistics included in this article are per Natural Stat Trick.