EDMONTON –
The Anaheim Ducks are proving they have the ability to trade punches with the Edmonton Oilers — and land the decisive blow.
The Ducks withstood a comeback attempt and defeated the Oilers 6-4 on Wednesday to pull even in their opening-round playoff series.
High-event hockey is nothing new for Anaheim, said Alex Killorn.
“That’s kind of been the way we’ve been the entire year,” said the winger, who had a goal and two assists Wednesday. “It’s stressful playing that way. I think we’re getting used to it, but I think we’d like to be a little bit better with the lead and hold on to some of those leads. But the resiliency in this group is pretty phenomenal.”
Cutter Gauthier scored twice and contributed an assist for the Ducks, while Ryan Poehling had two goals and Jacob Trouba had a goal and a helper. Jackson LaCombe had three assists for the Ducks, who are in the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Gauthier said Anaheim was composed even when Edmonton tied the game 4-4 with eight minutes to play.
“We have the confidence,” he said. “All season long when games have been tied and we’ve been down goals, we’ve been in some high-pressure moments.
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“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. Nothing was said on the bench, we knew what to expect going into the third and I’m happy with how we reacted.”
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Lukas Dostal made 33 stops to capture the win in the Anaheim net.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor Murphy, Zach Hyman and Josh Samanski had a goal apiece for the Oilers. Connor Ingram recorded 22 saves.
Draisaitl continued to make an impact after missing the final 14 games of the regular season. He opened the scoring midway through the first period, banking a shot off of defender Drew Helleson’s skate and in.
The Ducks tied the game up on the power play with 7:12 remaining in the first as Gauthier’s long shot through traffic beat Ingram for his first goal of the post-season.
Anaheim used another screen effectively 2:44 into the second period to take a 2-1 lead as Trouba scored on a point shot.
The Ducks grabbed a two-goal advantage 5:35 into the second on a power play as Killorn had his own return bounce back to him and scored.
Shortly before that goal, the Oilers got a real scare as star forward Connor McDavid left the game after his right leg got tied up with teammate Mattias Ekholm at the Edmonton blueline. He returned a few minutes later and finished the contest.
Edmonton got a goal back with 8:14 left in the middle frame as Draisaitl sent the puck back to Murphy and he put a long shot through a screen to beat Dostal.
Anaheim regained the two-goal edge on a short-handed tally with 4:10 left in the second after a dreadful sequence by the Oilers allowed Poehling to deflect in a Killorn shot.
The Oilers battled back again with 2:12 left in the second when an Ekholm point shot was tipped home by Hyman.
Edmonton tied the game with 6:09 left in the third after a steal by Matthew Savoie led to a quick snipe by rookie Samanski.
Anaheim made it 5-4 with 4:52 remaining as a clearing attempt went off a defender’s skate and straight to Gauthier, who sniped his second of the game into a wide-open net.
Poehling put the game away with an empty net strike with 70 seconds left on the game clock.
McDavid was held without a point for the second game.
“We’ve been in this situation a lot, 1-1 going on the road,” the Oilers captain said after the loss. “We’re comfortable on the road, we like playing on the road. Obviously, we’d like a better outcome tonight and a better product tonight, but we’re comfortable going on the road.”
Game 3 takes place on Friday in Anaheim.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
