The Edmonton Oilers will not be returning to the Stanley Cup Final, after they fell in six games to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the Playoffs.
Edmonton hasn’t lost a playoff series outside of the Stanley Cup final since falling in the second round to Vegas in 2022-23. The Oilers lost to Florida in the Cup final the last two seasons.
Meanwhile, this is Anaheim’s first playoff appearance since 2017-18. The Ducks’ last playoff series win was against Edmonton in 2016-17.
Troy Terry, Leo Carlsson, and Chris Kreider would lead the way for the Ducks in Game 6, each scoring a goal and picking up two assists in a 5-2 win.
The Ducks opened the scoring in Game 6 following an offensive zone draw, the play cycled back toward the blueline, where John Carlson wired a slapshot toward the net got deflected off Ryan Poehling and trickled past Connor Ingram.
Just under four minutes later, Carlsson would break out of his defensive zone, finding Terry with a pass through the neutral zone. Terry would return a pass to Carlsson, who would cut into the Oilers end, before dishing the puck to Kreider, who would make it 2-0.
About a minute and a half later, the Oilers were working the puck around the Ducks’ zone, trying to answer to the latest Anaheim goal, when Connor Murphy would do just that. Colton Dach fired a shot towards the Ducks’ net, but Lukas Dostal mishandled the save. The puck bounced free, and Josh Samanski would pass it through the crease, finding Murphy, who would put it into the wide-open net.
Just over a minute and a half after the Oilers’ goal, the Ducks would capitalize on a power play opportunity. On the man advantage, Mason McTavish would send a pass back toward the blueline to Jackson LaCombe. Lacombe would then slap a pass over to Cutter Gauthier, who would one-time the shot towards the net. Oilers’ defender Darnell Nurse tried to block the shot, but it redirected off his stick, over Ingram’s shoulder to make it 3-1 for Anaheim.
Four and a half minutes into the second period, Zach Hyman would have a chance to cut the Ducks’ lead down by one with a breakaway; however, he wasn’t able to get a decent shot off, and Dostal would end up making the save.
With a minute and a half to go in the second, the Oilers thought they got their second goal of the game, courtesy of Hyman, but a quick second look at the play found that Hyman kicked the puck into the net.
Around 45 seconds later, the Ducks would make it 4-1 after Even Bouchard mishandled a high clearing pass from the Ducks, leading to a rush for Carlsson, who would dish it to Terry, who would score for Anaheim.
The Oilers would finally get their second goal of the game when Kasperi Kapanen scooped up a rebound from a shot from Leon Draisaitl that had bounced off Dostal’s pad. Kapanen would fire the shot off of Vasily Podkolzin into the net.
Carlsson would add an empty net goal to make it 5-2 with about two and a half minutes left in the game.
Oilers fans were seen lining up for the Moss Pit in the Ice District hours before the game. By puck drop, hundreds could be seen at the watch party.
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Ingram would go on to make 26 saves on 30 shots, while Dostal made 25 saves on 27 shots, picking up the win.
Draisaitl would end his playoff run on nine points, leading the Oilers ahead of Bouchard (7), McDavid (6), Podkolzin (4), Kapanen (4) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (4).
Series
- Game 1: Oilers 4-3 Ducks in Edmonton — Oilers take 1-0 series lead
- Game 2: Oilers 4-6 Ducks in Edmonton — series tied 1-1
- Game 3: Ducks 7-4 Oilers in Anaheim — Ducks take 2-1 series lead
- Game 4: Ducks 4-3 Oilers (overtime) in Anaheim — Ducks take 3-1 series lead
- Game 5: Oilers 4-1 Ducks in Edmonton — Ducks lead series 3-2
- Game 6: Ducks 5-2 Oilers in Anaheim — Ducks win series 4-2
Anaheim will next play the winner between the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth. Vegas leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 to be played on Friday.
-With files from the Canadian Press