{"id":566905,"date":"2026-03-28T16:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566905\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T16:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:36:07","slug":"ducks-visit-edmonton-looking-to-grow-pacific-division-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566905\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks visit Edmonton looking to grow Pacific Division lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

After sweeping this week\u2019s two-game road trip with wins over Utah and Vegas, the Oilers are back at the friendly confines of Rogers Place for the penultimate homestand of the regular season. First up are the Pacific Division-leading Ducks<\/a>, who arrive five points up on Edmonton with only a handful of games left on the calendar.Anaheim Ducks @ Edmonton OilersDate: Saturday, March 28, 2026Start Time: 1:30 PM MTLocation: Edmonton, AlbertaVenue: Rogers PlaceWatch: Sportsnet<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The Ducks arrive in Edmonton on a four-game winning streak. They beat Vancouver 5-3 on Tuesday, then took down Calgary 3-2 in overtime on Thursday after falling behind twice. A win over the Oilers would mean a sweep for Anaheim\u2019s three-game Canadian road trip.<\/p>\n

The Oilers, meanwhile, are looking to reach a three-game winning streak for just the second time this season. The only time they\u2019ve strung three consecutive wins together this season came in late January with victories over Washington, Anaheim, and San Jose.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0This will be the last of three regular-season meetings between Edmonton and Anaheim.<\/p>\n

The Oilers won the first meeting between the two teams by a score of 7-4 at home in January. The Ducks responded with a 6-5 win in Anaheim shortly after play resumed from the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

3. The Ducks haven\u2019t made the playoffs since 2017-18, when they were swept in the first round by the Sharks.\u00a0After nearly a decade of rebuilding through the draft, Anaheim appears poised to be a competitive team in the Western Conference for years to come.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s young core of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gautheir, Jackson LaCombe, and Lukas Dostal has been reinforced by the additions of veteran players like Mikael Granlund, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, and John Carlson.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Leading the way offensively for the Ducks has been Gauthier, who has 36 goals and 63 points through 71 games in his second full NHL season. Carlsson, Anaheim\u2019s second-overall pick in 2023, is right behind with 24 goals and 61 points over 60 games. Kreider has 22 goals, rookie Beckett Sennecke has 21, and Granlund has 19 goals in only 48 games.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Anaheim\u2019s offence has helped to compensate for the team\u2019s challenge in keeping the puck out of their own net. The Ducks rank 28th in the league with 247 goals against.<\/p>\n

Dostal has been carrying the bulk of the load between the pipes, posting a 29-15-3 record with a .893 save percentage in 48 starts. Ville Husso has a .895 save percentage in 17 games as backup, while Perk Mrazek managed a .858 save percentage in 10 appearances before undergoing season-ending hip surgery in January.<\/p>\n

What they said\u2026<\/p>\n

Oilers winger Zach Hyman on Edmonton\u2019s late-season standings battle in the Pacific Division\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery point is magnified. It\u2019s hard to gain points when there are only nine games left. So a big win for us [over the GOlden Knights] to stay ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch on the Oilers finding their form down the stretch\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking more like we\u2019re playing a playoff game, like things matter. Attention to detail and we\u2019re simplifying our game. It\u2019s nice to see. And obviously, the games are so important right now that everyone seems like they\u2019re dialled in and needing to. They know the urgency to play right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oilers goaltender Connor Ingram on the team winning both games on their two-game trip\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two games have been both really good. We found a way to play that\u2019s giving us success and now it\u2019s just not being stubborn and sticking with it, just playing simple. We\u2019re a good enough hockey club where we\u2019re going to get our chances, so as long as we don\u2019t give them any, we\u2019re going to be just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anaheim head coach Joel Quenneville on the team\u2019s comeback victory in Calgary on Thursday\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was one of those games where pucks were bouncing all over the place. When they went ahead, I thought this is one of those nights that we\u2019ve been so fortunate with lately, that our luck is going to run out one of these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducks forward Mikael Granlund on scoring seven goals over Anaheim\u2019s four-game winning streak\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good, I guess I\u2019ll just keep shooting as long as this lasts. The pucks are just going in right now, so obviously it\u2019s a good feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s easier ways to find a way to win a game, but that\u2019s how it\u2019s been. I think we need to try to get better starts and score the first goal. We know in the playoffs that\u2019s going to be really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final word\u2026This is a must-win game for the Oilers to remain in the mix for the Pacific Division<\/a> crown. A win by the Ducks in regulation would put them seven points clear of Edmonton with one game in hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After sweeping this week\u2019s two-game road trip with wins over Utah and Vegas, the Oilers are back at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-566905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}