Oilers force Game 7 with Ducks
The Oilers are forcing the Anaheim Ducks to face their Game 7 playoff demons.
Their National Hockey League Western Conference semifinal is going the distance after Edmonton’s decisive 7-1 victory Sunday. The winner of Wednesday’s Game 7 in Anaheim meets the Nashville Predators in the conference final.
Leon Draisaitl led the Oilers with a hat trick and Mark Letestu scoring twice for the hosts. Edmonton also got goals from Zach Kassian and Anton Slepychev in front a euphoric wall of orange at Rogers Place.
Edmonton had sprinted to a sixgoal lead by the first minute of the second before the Ducks countered with a goal from Rickard Rakell.
The Oilers scoring three goals on their first six shots prompted Anaheim to replace John Gibson with Jonathan Bernier, who stopped 24-of-28 shots.
Anaheim has lost a Game 7 at home each of the past four years. The Ducks were eliminated in the first rounds of 2016 (Nashville) and 2013 (Detroit), the second round of 2014 (Los Angeles) and the third round of 2015 (Chicago) in seventh games at the Honda Center. What’s more, the Ducks led each of those series 3-2 before back-to-back losses ended their seasons. Edmonton’s last Game 7 was the 2006 Stanley Cup final, which they lost 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.