The Edmonton Oilers will once again lean on their superstars as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will continue to play on the same line for Thursday’s must-win Game 6 against the Anaheim Ducks.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch moved Draisaitl away from his customary position as second-line centre and gave the Oilers a needed spark in Tuesday’s 4-1 win.
The Ducks now lead the series 3-2 with a chance to close it out at home.
“McDavid and Draisaitl have always been good (together),” Knoblauch said after Game 5. “This year, they have not been outscoring (the opposition) like they usually have. Just a lot of it maybe luck, or things just not going their way, whatever it is they just haven’t been able to outscore.
“But there is definitely some chemistry, and going into an elimination game where we need to change our fate, we ultimately felt we were going to put the game in our two best players’ hands and let them dictate where this game is going to go.”
The move, in part, was made to help take pressure off of McDavid, who sustained an ankle injury in Game 2 after colliding with teammate Mattias Ekholm. He assisted on both of Draisaitl’s goals and now has six points in five games this series, all coming in the past three games after he went scoreless in Games 1 and 2.
“Absolutely, it would take a little bit of pressure off him having Leon have the puck a little bit more rather than Connor always having to generate by himself with the pucks,” Knoblauch said.
The Oilers’ captain led the NHL with 138 points (48 goals, 90 assists) this season while Draisaitl added 35 goals and 97 points in 65 games as he missed the final few weeks of the regular season with a lower-body injury.
The series will now shift back to Anaheim for Game 6, where the Ducks took both Games 3 and 4 by a combined score of 11-7 to put themselves on the brink of moving into the second round for the first time since 2016-17.
“We’re still in a tough, tough spot, a really tough spot. We’ve got to find a way to win in a tough building.” said McDavid. “All we did is survive one more day. The pressure’s on us, but it’s a big game for them too. I’m sure they’ll be feeling that too. Closeout games are tough.
“I’m sure they’re not going to want to come back to Edmonton, so pressure on them, but we’ve got to find a way to survive another day.”
After taking the series opener 4-3, the Oilers dropped three straight to put themslves in a 3-1 hole heading back home and now have a chance to send the series back to Edmonton for a deciding Game 7.
“I don’t know what it is with us,” Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard said. “I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times. When our backs are against the wall, we play good hockey.”
