Ducks’ offence takes flight as Oilers struggle at home
The Anaheim Ducks wrested some momentum back in their playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers with a 6-3 win Sunday.
Edmonton still leads the best-ofseven Western Conference semifinal series 2-1.
Edmonton won twice at the Honda Center to kick off the matchup. The Ducks can even up the series by doing the same at Rogers Place.
Jakob Silfverberg scored twice for Anaheim, although his second of the game will irritate Oilers fans until Wednesday’s Game 4. Edmonton challenged it for being offside, but the goal was allowed to stand.
Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist with Anaheim also getting goals from Rickard Rakell, Chris Wagner and Ryan Kesler.
Ducks goaltender John Gibson made 24 saves for the win, while his Oilers counterpart Cam Talbot stopped 22.
Connor McDavid scored his first of the series for Edmonton. Patrick Maroon and Anton Slepyshev also scored and defenceman Kris Russell had a pair of assists for the Oilers.
Kesler swept in a rebound at 10:38 of the third period to pad Anaheim’s lead after defenceman Josh Manson fed Silfverberg in the slot at 4:56 to make it 5-3.
Talbot got a piece of Wagner’s wrist shot, but it deflected off his arm and in for a 4-3 Ducks lead at 9:20 of the second period.
McDavid had tied the game 3-3 at 8:40, spinning and cutting back to lose defender Sami Vatanen and rifling a shot over Gibson’s left elbow. The Oilers had pulled within a goal at 1:28 when a David Desharnais centring pass from beside the net deflected off Slepyshev’s skate and in.
Rogers Place had little to cheer until the Oilers scored in the final minute of the first period after giving up three to the Ducks.
Russell’s shot from the point deflected off Ryan-Nugent Hopkins and Maroon and past Gibson with 40 seconds remaining. Maroon was credited with the goal after it was reviewed for a possible high stick.
Maroon was in the penalty box for knocking down Gibson when Getzlaf beat Talbot with a wrist shot from the hash marks at 11:51.
Anaheim’s captain had corralled a Darnell Nurse clearing attempt around the boards to gain possession of the puck.
Talbot was stellar in Game 2 with 39 saves, but the Ducks got to him early, scoring on two of their first three shots of the game.
Getzlaf ’s long pass sprung Rakell ducking behind the Edmonton defence. Rakell scored on a breakaway 25 seconds into the game for the fastest playoff goal to start a game in franchise history.
Silfverberg got his stick on a loose puck at 5:32 when Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson failed to clear it away from Talbot.