McDavid and Getzlaf set examples

ANAHEIM, California — If not for the final few minutes of the third period, Friday night almost certainly would have been remembered as a breakthrough playoff performance for Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.

Instead, because Anaheim scored three goals in three minutes to produce a historic comeback and overtime win, Game 5 became another testimonial to Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf.

The two leaders of their respective clubs have had a tremendous impact on the second-round series, and it was on display again during the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over the Oilers. Anaheim leads the series 3-2 ahead of today’s Game 6 in Edmonton.

McDavid had a power-play goal and an assist in helping build the Oilers’ 3-0 lead, his first career multi-point performance in the playoffs, only to see Getzlaf score the first goal of the Ducks’ improbable rally and cap it by finding Corey Perry for the winner 6:57 into the second overtime.

“You don’t have to say much about that,” McDavid said. “Definitely disappointing.”

No team had rallied from a three-goal deficit in the final four minutes to send a game to overtime, let alone win.

“We did what we had to do,” Getzlaf said. “We scratched and clawed at the end and found a way to get back into that game to give ourselves an opportunity.”

McDavid vowed that the Oilers would be returning to Orange County, California, for a decisive seventh game on Wednesday.

“When your leader says that, now we’ve got to come out and do it,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said on Saturday morning before the team’s flight back to Edmonton.

McLellan did not have an update on the availability of defenceman Andrej Sekera for today’s game. Sekera played less than two minutes before leaving with an apparent leg injury after a hit from Getzlaf.