Penguins, Ducks advance to conference finals
Anaheim defeats Edmonton 2-1 to end streak of 5 straight Game 7 losses
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nick Ritchie scored the winning goal 3:21 into the third period as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 on Wednesday night to win their second-round series.
Andrew Cogliano also scored and John Gibson made 23 saves for the Ducks, who had lost five consecutive Game 7s.
Drake Caggiula had a goal and Cam Talbot made 28 saves for the Oilers, who fell to 3-3 all-time when playing Game 7 on the road.
Anaheim will host the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the Western Conference final on Friday.
The Ducks hadn’t led at home in regulation since Game 1, but Ritchie changed that early in the third by firing a wrist shot under Talbot’s right arm.
Ritchie’s goal reversed the Oilers’ seeming mastery in Orange County.
After controlling the first three games played at Honda Center up until the final 3:16 of regulation in Game 5, the Oilers got back into that groove 3:31 into the first. Caggiula challenged defenceman Shea Theodore as he took the puck out from behind the Ducks net, with Caggiula’s stick striking the puck to put it over Gibson’s right leg and trickling in.
Playing in Game 7 at home for the fourth straight season, Anaheim has been outscored 8-0 in the first period of those games.
The Ducks finally succeeded in tying the game up 8:55 into the second. Talbot got turned around as Ryan Kesler was attacking the crease before ending up face down on the ice and in no position to stop Cogliano’s soft backhand swat of a loose puck.