ANAHEIM, Calif. – There will not be a third consecutive run by the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final. There will be an extended stay for the Anaheim Ducks in their return to the playoffs.
A three-goal first period got the Ducks rolling, and they rode that to a 5-2 victory in Game 6 on Thursday to capture their first playoff series win since 2017. The Ducks now await the winner of the Utah Mammoth-Vegas Golden Knights series, which Vegas leads 3-2 with Game 6 on Friday night..
It marked an early end for the Oilers, who lost in the Cup Final to the Florida Panthers the last two years. And it’s another year without an elusive championship for transcendent superstar Connor McDavid.
For the first time in the series, the Ducks scored the game’s opening goal. Ryan Poehling, who had 11 goals during his first season with Anaheim, recorded his fourth goal of the series. The Ducks kept their vow to start better, after they basically lost Game 5 in the first 10 minutes.
Anaheim doubled its lead on a picture-perfect rush that started with Leo Carlsson racing out of his end, getting a return pass from linemate Troy Terry and then feeding a wide-open Chris Kreider coming down the right flank. Kreider buried a one-timer for his first playoff goal with the Ducks and 49th of his postseason career.
Connor Murphy put in a loose puck at the net to get Edmonton on the scoreboard but that did little to shut off Anaheim’s momentum. The Ducks made it 3-1 late in the first period on Cutter Gauthier’s power-play goal. The most effective power play in the opening round continued its tear. It was their eighth power-play goal in 16 opportunities.
From there, the Ducks clamped down defensively and shut down a less-than-optimum McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Goaltender Lukas Dostal had a big response game. After being pulled during the first period of Game 5, Dostal was sharp as he made 25 saves.
Edmonton pulled within 4-2 in the third period on Vasily Podkolzin’s goal, but the Ducks held on and got a late empty-net goal from Carlsson.
Joel Quenneville, in his first season as Anaheim’s head coach, improved to 20-6 in Game 6s. He is also 7-1 through his career when coaching a close-out Game 6.
Tough end for McDavid
After Edmonton’s Game 5 win, it seemed that questions about Connor McDavid’s health temporarily subsided. The best player (and fastest skater) in the NHL didn’t look to be 100 percent, but it seemed like he was at least getting closer. The shot clock was still ugly, but he connected with Draisaitl on a goal and generally appeared to be a close approximation of himself.
Whether it was due to the ankle injury he sustained in Game 2 or not, though, McDavid had himself a brutal night in Game 6. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Oilers were dramatically outshot and out-chanced, and allowed two goals while scoring none. McDavid also lost the puck at the beginning of the sequence that led to Kreider’s goal, when he tried and failed to deliver a reverse hit on Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba.
Not coincidentally, Trouba and partner Jackson LaCombe were primarily charged with limiting McDavid, and once again, they succeeded. LaCombe deserves the lion’s share of the credit there. The series has been a major breakout for Anaheim’s young franchise defenseman and, regardless of how injured McDavid may be, LaCombe enjoyed a reputation-building stretch of games against the best player in the world.
A major momentum swing
A pivotal point came late in the second period, when the Oilers, trailing 3-1, had their best look at a comeback. Having put together one of the few strong shifts, one that hemmed the Ducks in their end, Zach Hyman appeared to pull Edmonton within a goal as he banged in a loose puck. A review showed Hyman delivering a distinct kicking motion.
Less than 50 seconds later, the Ducks broke out on an odd-man rush with the right people leading it. LaCombe’s flip pass and Kreider’s chip to win a puck battle sent Carlsson and Terry in against Oilers blueliner Jake Walman. Carlsson fed Terry, who put a wrist shot past Connor Ingram for a 4-1 lead.
That swing proved critical as Podkolzin brought Edmonton back within two goals less than two minutes into the third as Kasperi Kapanen pounced on a rebound and shot the puck off his fellow winger’s skate. Kapanen and Podkolzin combined for seven goals as each were part of the Oilers’ best line.
A series to forget for Ekholm
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm had something of a bounce-back regular season — there were valid concerns that age and injury had started to catch up with the 35-year-old, as reliable as he’s been over the course of his career. That seemed to be premature, especially after the Olympics, as he and partner Evan Bouchard posted a 64 percent expected-goal share and outscored opponents 23-13.
What’s next for Ekholm remains to be seen, but he had a series, and a Game 6, to forget. He’d already particularly struggled to defend on the rush at various points, and he again appeared to be victimized on Anaheim’s second goal.
In his attempt to provide some degree of support to Kasperi Kapanen, who was backchecking the puck-carrying Leo Carlsson, Ekholm left Chris Kreider completely alone streaking down the right wing. Carlsson pushed the puck ahead to Kreider, who beat Ingram with a snipe from the right circle.
The sequence was a reminder of both players’ age; Kreider, who’d had a quiet series up to that point, turned 35 on Thursday.
An unexpected benefit
Much was made of the Ducks trading Trevor Zegras last summer — and what many felt was a low return for a 25-year-old forward who was on track to be a star in Anaheim until injuries derailed his progress and Anaheim’s offseason acquisitions crowded him out of the Ducks’ top two lines.
General manager Pat Verbeek got back Poehling, a second-round pick in last year’s draft and a fourth-round choice this year. Poehling, a 27-year-old center, did well in a bottom-six role for the Philadelphia Flyers over two seasons after starting his career with the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins.
And while Zegras is thriving with the surprising Flyers, who advanced to the second round, Poehling has emerged as a key piece in the Ducks’ forward mix. Poehling is one of their leading penalty-killers because of his speed and effective stick. He also goes to the net, which was apparent in his Game 4 overtime winner.
That was also the case in the first period on Thursday, when John Carlson’s point shot struck him as he moved in front of Ingram and went into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Sennecke sticking with it
Beckett Sennecke’s first big playoff moment came in Game 3, when he scored early in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and trigger a four-goal eruption in the Ducks’ 7-4 win. The goal held up as the rookie winger’s only point, as he found that offense wasn’t easy to come by, even in a series with plenty of goals.
Sennecke had two shots on goal in Game 6, pushing his series total to 17. The 20-year-old, who emerged as a Calder Trophy candidate, wasn’t deterred by the dry spell.
“Obviously you want to see them go in, but realistically you know not all of them are going to go in,” said Sennecke, who had 23 goals and nearly broke Zegras’s Anaheim rookie record with 60 points. “I think it’s just sticking with the same kind of stuff and just making sure that it’s a good thing that I’m getting those chances and being able to just kind of impact in the offensive zone.”
