The Anaheim Ducks hold a narrow 4-3 lead over the Edmonton Oilers after two periods in Game 2 of their first-round series on Wednesday as the Ducks look to even up the series.
The two teams received goals from their top players in the first period with Leon Draisaitl scoring his first goal in this year’s playoffs for the Oilers while Cutter Gauthier recorded his first career playoff goal for the Ducks.
Jacob Trouba gave the Ducks their first lead of the game early in the second period when his seeing-eye shot got past Oilers netminder Connor Ingram and into the net.
The goal is his first of the playoffs after he recorded 10 goals and 35 points in 81 games in the regular season while averaging 22:50 of ice time.
Anaheim doubled their lead three minutes later on the man advantage when Alex Killorn corralled a rebound and beat Ingram.
Killorn’s goal was his 38th of his career as he adds a wealth of playoff experience after helping the Tampa Bay Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021.
Connor Murphy got a goal back for Edmonton halfway through the second period when his point-shot beat Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal to make the score 3-2.
Murphy was acquired prior to the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks and his goal was the first postseason goal in his 13-season career.
Ryan Poehling returned the Ducks’ two-goal lead after tipping Killorn’s pass past Ingram short-handed but it was quickly nullified by Zach Hyman’s goal two minutes later.
Edmonton had an opportunity late in the period on the power play but ran out of time. They will begin the third period with the man advantage for 52 seconds.
Anaheim is taking care of business on special teams going 2-for-3 on the man advantage and added a short-handed goal. Edmonton is 0-for-3 on the power play.
Edmonton continues to outshoot the Ducks 26-22 in the game.
The Oilers got a scare early in the period when captain Connor McDavid left the game with an apparent ankle injury after getting tangled up with teammate Mattias Ekholm.
McDavid returned later in the period but doesn’t appear to be 100 per cent.
The 6-foot-1 superstar centre led the NHL in scoring this season with 138 points and his 48 goals were good for third in the league.
Anaheim is in the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign after going 43-33-6 in the regular season to finish third in the Pacific Division.
The series shifts to Anaheim on Friday where Game 3 will take place from the Honda Centre.
