COVERED IN OIL
Edmonton turns lessons from Sharks series into a win over the Ducks
The Edmonton Oilers aren’t just quick — they’re quick learners.
Although they’re considered a young team because of the great amount of young talent they collected during years of participating in the NHL’s draft lottery, they rely on a good number of veterans. But this season’s playoffs are their first postseason journey as a team, so they faced a lot of questions about their poise and if they were experienced enough to handle the pressure and urgency of playoff competition.
There should be no more questions about whether they’ll suffer because they lack extensive playoff experience, not after they opened their second-round series against the Ducks with a 5-3 victory Wednesday at Honda Center.
The Oilers, who eliminated the San Jose Sharks in a six-game first-
round series, withstood a strong third-period push by the Ducks, who scored two goals in 85 seconds to pull even at 3-3. The Oilers prevailed when defenseman Adam Larsson, who had never been confused with Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey, lugged the puck up ice and behind the net and threw it in front, where it struck the skate of Ducks defenseman Josh Manson and eluded goaltender John Gibson with 4 minutes 40 seconds left in the third period.
That was the second goal of the game for Larsson, who was acquired by the Oilers last summer in exchange for Ryan Hall in a deal that was designed to bolster their defense. He has given them that, and more.
“They’re here for a reason. They’re a good team,” said Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour, whose long shot was rebounded by Patrick Eaves at 9:22 of the third period to cut the Oilers’ lead to 3-2. Jakob Silfverberg brought the Ducks even 1:25 later.
“We got down two goals but we’re a resilient team. We’re never out of the fight until the 60 minutes is done. We did a good job of that. They just got a couple more breaks.”
The Ducks, whose last regulation loss occurred March 10 — they had a 15-0-3 streak — held NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid to no shots over the first two periods, thanks to the smothering checking of Ryan Kesler. He had one assist, on the power-play goal that gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead.
Speaking after the Oilers’ morning skate Wednesday, McDavid said he thought having won a wild series against San Jose in the first round would be good preparation for his team against the Ducks. He was right. The Oilers battled the Ducks stride for stride, not at all intimidated by the Ducks’ 46-27 edge in hits or the Ducks’ 38-29 edge in the faceoff circle.
“That first series was a ton of ups and downs, I think as much as you’re going to see in a playoff series,” he said. “We were up 2-1, we lost 7-0, we had an overtime loss, an overtime win. It doesn’t get much more up and down than that. We definitely learned a lot from that, and those are experiences we can use going forward.”
Coach Todd McLellan said the Oilers took a lot from that series, and that was evident Wednesday.
“For a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs for a decade and never together, there were a lot of learning moments, teaching moments in that series,” he said. “No. 1 the energy in the building. Both buildings. All buildings. The home team seems to capture that in the first 10 minutes.
“We learned the officiating standard. We learned a lot about momentum. We learned how to respond from a blowout. We learned how to hold leads. We learned how to play in a closeout-type situation. We understood the rigors, learned a lot about the rigors of the playoffs and how you empty the tank and you find a way to reload it without a lot of practice time, and we’re going to learn more lessons as we go forward.
“I think this is a great opportunity for our team. One, we have the opportunity to win and we’ve won, but we also have the opportunity to play as one of the eight final teams in very intense environment, and that can only help us as we move forward.”
They’ll move forward to Game 2 on Friday with the knowledge they found a way to win even though Kesler was so effective against McDavid. Mark Letestu scored twice, as did Larsson, and Ducks nemesis Leon Draisaitl sealed it with an empty-net goal with 65 seconds to play.
The Ducks know they made mistakes, including the bad line change that allowed Larsson to score his first goal and a neutral-zone breakdown on the second goal.
It’s their turn to learn something, as the Oilers appear to have learned so much from the early stages of this playoff journey.
“We have to get more into the dirty areas and direct more pucks to the net with more people going to the net,” coach Randy Carlyle said.
The Ducks learned something else Wednesday, that the Oilers are opportunistic and balanced and unfazed by pressure. The Ducks learned it the hard way.