DUCKS OUT OF LUCK
Plagued by giveaways, they’re shut out in their last game before All-Star weekend.
Anaheim goaltender John Gibson sprawls in front of the net as Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scores in the second period of the Oilers’ 4-0 victory at Honda Center. Draisaitl had another goal in the third period.
The Ducks were on their way out and the Edmonton Oilers were on their way up.
The scenario unfolded predictably once the Ducks fell behind. They were sloppy defensively, couldn’t finish offensively and often looked like a team that was playing its last game before the All-Star break in a 4-0 loss Wednesday at Honda Center.
Anaheim will have four days to stew over it with this weekend’s festivities as the hungry Oilers moved to within one point of them in the Pacific Division with a game in hand Thursday.
“It was stupid mistakes,” Ryan Kesler said. “We beat ourselves. Obviously, we’ve just got to forget about this one and move on.”
The Ducks committed 19 giveaways, at least two of which led to Edmonton goals. Leon Draisaitl scored twice, and the Ducks’ best offensive chances were swallowed by Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot in his 15th career shutout.
Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle counted 17 turnovers alone in the second period in an uncharacteristic game overall by his team.
“We didn’t play well with the puck,” Carlyle said. “We haven’t done that in a while.”
Carlyle said they were aware of a possible letdown before the break but it was difficult to match the youthful Oilers for most of the night.
“These are tough games and we’ve played a lot of hockey, and they had more energy than we did,” Carlyle said. “It was a simple as that. That’s the way it looked out there.”
Ducks goalie John Gibson, who sustained an upper-body injury last week, returned to the net. But the shutdown line was without Jakob Silfverberg for a third straight game because of an apparent head injury.
The Oilers pushed their lead to 3-0 in a span of two minutes late in the second period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins snapped the puck through Gibson’s legs at 17 minutes 55 seconds. Zack Kassian poked the puck ahead to himself and broke in for a slick backhand shot high on Gibson at 19:44.
The Nugent-Hopkins goal happened when Edmonton broke up defenseman Kevin Bieksa’s breakout pass.
The Oilers scored their first goal off a similar Ducks turnover. Draisaitl broke up Bieksa’s pass out of the zone and scored on Connor McDavid’s pass at 5:33 of the second period.
“We just were sloppy with the puck,” Cam Fowler said. “Everybody was a victim of that and we gave them opportunities to score and kind of left our goaltender out to dry.”
Not even an injection of youth lifted the Ducks. Kalle Kossila was recalled and made his NHL debut. The undrafted free-agent signee centered the fourth line.
Perhaps Carlyle knew it wasn’t their night when a Ducks pass hit a broken stick moments before Draisaitl’s first goal.
“That was kind of like a sign that this wasn’t going to go the way we wanted,” Carlyle said.
Silfverberg update
Silfverberg said he passed neuropsychological testing and will next take contact in practice. He will get additional recovery time because the Ducks don’t play until Tuesday. “Hopefully I’ll be ready to go after the break,” Silfverberg said.
His head bounced off the ice after a hit against Colorado last week in a freakish play that drew concern.
“It can be scary,” Silfverberg said. “It’s not something that is, obviously, good. So you try to take every precaution you can. I feel we’ve been doing a really good job with that and I feel comfortable where I am.”
Etc.
Stefan Noesen was claimed off waivers by the New Jersey Devils. … Nate Thompson played the first game of a minor league rehabilitation assignment.