Silfverberg scores 45 seconds into OT, but Getzlaf steals the show
EDMONTON, Canada — Ryan Getzlaf made history Wednesday. But more important, he may have also saved the Ducks’ season, scoring two and assisting on two others in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series.
Jakob Silfverberg scored the game-winner 45 seconds into the extra period, one-timing a feed from Getzlaf — who else? — past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot from the center of the left circle.
Getzlaf’s two second-period goals were the 35th and 36th of his postseason career, breaking Teemu Selanne’s franchise record. And with two assists, Getzlaf has 13 points in eight playoff games this season.
But the number he and Ducks really care about is two. Because with back-to-back victories in Edmonton, they knotted the series with the Oilers at two wins apiece, turning the best-of-seven playoff into a best of three, beginning Fri-
Only Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel, with eight, has more.
But the talk in the Ducks’ locker room afterward was all about Getzlaf.
“It’s remarkable,” Silfverberg said. “When he plays like he did tonight, with that aggressive and that physicality, he just kind of pushes the whole team forward with him.
“If you want to be a team that goes far, it’s him that’s going to have to keep playing like that.”
He played well enough Wednesday to even the series with the Oilers at two wins apiece, turning the best-ofseven playoff into a best of three, beginning Friday night in Anaheim.
Home ice hasn’t exactly been an advantage in this series, though — or in this postseason in general. With the Ducks’ second consecutive win in Edmonton, the home team has lost all four games in this series. In the NHL postseason, the home team is 2631.
It appeared as if the Oilers were going to buck that trend, taking advantage of a Ducks mistake and a freak bounce to take a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Milan Lucic got the first goal, collecting a loose puck in the crease and redirecting it off the near post 18 seconds after the Ducks were whistled for too many men on the ice. Connor McDavid doubled the advantage two minutes later with his second goal of the series.
The Oilers captain was acwrister tually trying to get the puck to Leon Draisaitl in the slot, but the pass bounced off the skate of Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore and came right back to McDavid, whose wrister cleanly beat Ducks goalie John Gibson.
But the Ducks shut down the Oilers after that. Edmonton went more than 13 minutes without a shot on goal, at one point sandwiching the second intermission. That gave Getzlaf time to lead the comeback from the 2-0 deficit.
He took over early in the second period, scoring on a from the top of the left circle 97 seconds after the break. The goal was his sixth of this postseason, but he wasn’t done. Four minutes later his pass through the crease found Rickard Rakell on the edge of the faceoff circle, and from there Rakell sent the puck past Talbot to tie the score.
Getzlaf then scored the goahead goal on a brilliant play with less than six minutes to play in the period.
Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his back to Getzlaf when he reached out to control a rebound to the left of the net, and that allowed the Ducks captain to charge in from behind, take the puck off Nugent-Hopkins’ stick and drive it past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot for his first multigoal playoff game.
With the Ducks in sight of the finish line, though, Edmonton pulled Talbot with less than two minutes to play and Drake Caggiula made the move pay off, collecting a rebound in the slot and scoring to send the game to overtime.
The overtime had just started when Getzlaf intercepted a pass, then set up Silfverberg for the game winner.
“It all comes from the experience we have in this room,” Silfverberg said of the Ducks’ composure in the extra period.
“We kind of told ourselves just keep [doing] what we’ve been doing. Just staying with the same patience. Not getting frustrated, not start cheating. And it worked out.”