Photo: Associated Press
By: Matthew Garcia
Sunday night the Anaheim Ducks had a chance to punch their ticket to the conference finals, as they made a miraculous comeback in game 5 by scoring three goals in the final three minutes of the game before scoring the game-winning goal in double overtime to take a 3-2 series lead heading back to Edmonton. The Ducks would need a complete 60-minute effort if they are to eliminate the Oilers at Rogers Place. The starting goalies would be John Gibson for Anaheim, and Cam Talbot for Edmonton.
Period 1:
The Oilers would come out flying, propelled by a rabid crowd looking to stave off elimination. Edmonton would get off to a very fast start as Leon Draisaitl would find himself in on a breakaway against Gibson, Draisaitl would fan on the shot as Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm would get his stick into the mid-section but the puck would still find its way underneath the pad of Gibson and into the back of the net to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead just 2:45 into the game. Draisaitl would not be done there as just under five minutes later he would find a puck in front of the net and fire a backhand under the pad of Gibson to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead. 1:03 later it would be Zack Kassian‘s turn to victimize Gibson as he would find himself alone on a breakaway and would slide a puck between the pads and into the back of the net to give the Oilers a commanding 3-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Gibson would be pulled after allowing three goals on just six shots, Jonathan Bernier would take to the crease for Anaheim. 3:14 later Bernier would make a save, but would not be able to corral the puck and Mark Letestu would find it sitting directly in front of Bernier and pot it up over the glove to give the Oilers a 4-0 lead. Letestu would be the second Oiler of the night to pot his second of the game as he would fire a one-timer past Bernier to give Edmonton a 5-0 lead with under two minutes left to play in the opening period. The first period horn would sound and the Ducks would find themselves in a deep, deep hole being down 5-0 heading into the second period of play.
Period 2:
The Edmonton Oilers would continue their onslaught as Anton Slepyshev would find himself on a two-on-one break with Patrick Maroon. Maroon would wait off Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour and slide the puck to Slepyshev who would shoot the puck up over the glove hand of Bernier to give the Oilers a 6-0 lead just 45 seconds into the middle frame. The Ducks would show a little sign of life as the Ducks big line would break through for Anaheim as Rickard Rakell would take a feed from Corey Perry before depositing the puck into a yawning 4×6 net at the 8:56 mark of the second period to break the shutout bid of Talbot. The Oilers would have a response to the Rakell goal just over six minutes later as Draisaitl would play give-and-go with Lucic before slapping the puck past Bernier for their second power play goal of the night, his hat-trick, and a 7-1 cushion over the Ducks. Nate Thompson and Maroon would get acquainted with one another at the 16:55 mark of the second period and would each receive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties taking us to some four-on-four hockey. The second period horn would sound and the Oilers would continue their dominance of Anaheim taking a 7-1 lead into the intermission.
Period 3:
The Ducks would not make this game any easier on themselves as the parade to the penalty box would continue early in the third period as Perry would be sent away for two minutes on an interference call against Kris Russell. The Ducks would successfully kill off the penalty moving to three-for-five on the night. Some more of the rough stuff would occur near the end of the third period as Lucic, Kesler, Caggiula, Perry, Manson, and Maroon would all have their nights end at the 16:50 mark of the final frame all receiving misconduct penalties. The Ducks would be unable to break through Talbot the rest of the way through taking us to the final buzzer as the Edmonton Oilers force a game 7 behind a commanding 7-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in game 6.
Final Score: Anaheim-1 Edmonton-7
The Ducks would be unable to close out the series against the young Oilers squad, a lackluster effort on all fronts would spell trouble for Anaheim early as they would allow three goals on six shots and five goals on a total of 16 shots in the opening period. Rakell would be the lone Duck to find the twine. If Anaheim is to find success in game 7 they will need to find a way to shut down the speed of the youngsters in Edmonton and will need a strong goaltending performance in net from either Gibson or Bernier Wednesday night as it is a do-or-die situation for this Anaheim squad.
What’s Next?
Game 7: Edmonton @ Anaheim Wednesday night at 7:15 PM PT. Actual start time could be later due to when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals finish their Game 7.
Click below to watch the lowlights of the Ducks Game 6 loss.
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May 8th, 2017
DucksNPucks 