{"id":631885,"date":"2026-04-27T12:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631885\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:47:09","slug":"oilers-on-the-brink-of-elimination-after-4-3-ot-loss-to-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631885\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers on the brink of elimination after 4-3 OT loss to Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid, right, and right wing Kasperi Kapanen skate back to the locker room after a defeat in overtime of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Sunday, in Anaheim, Calif.Kyusung Gong\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A quality performance by goaltender Tristan Jarry in his first playoff start as an Edmonton Oiler, an efficient power play and a stouter defence weren\u2019t enough to stop the Oilers from sliding deeper into a playoff hole.<\/p>\n

A 4-3 overtime loss Sunday to the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center sent the Oilers home trailing three games to one in the first-round series. Game 5 is Tuesday at Rogers Place in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Ryan Poehling\u2019s overtime goal survived reviews by both on-ice officials and the NHL\u2019s situation room to stand. <\/p>\n

The Oilers hoped Jarry\u2019s skate blade covering the top of the puck on video meant it wasn\u2019t conclusive that it crossed the goal-line completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just looking at it in there and … you really can\u2019t tell,\u201d Jarry said after the game. \u201cI\u2019m sure you could go either way with it. You could say it\u2019s a goal, it\u2019s no goal. There\u2019s going to be opinions about it and obviously on the losing side of it, we didn\u2019t think it went in, but it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t very definitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup final each of the last two years. The Oilers lost in six games to the Florida Panthers last year and in seven to the Panthers in 2024.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Kreider celebrates after a goal by Mikael Granlund of the Anaheim Ducks as Tristan Jarry, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm of the Edmonton Oilers look on.Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Oilers face a much shorter post-season in 2026 if they can\u2019t find a way to contain a Ducks team that rose from the mat again.<\/p>\n

Trailing by one or two goals in each of the first four games, Anaheim has won three straight to tighten its grip on the series. The Ducks were down 2-0 after Sunday\u2019s opening period, but countered with two power-play goals in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a hole. No doubt about it,\u201d said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. \u201cWe have to find a way to get a win at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jarry got the nod after three straight starts by Connor Ingram. The 30-year-old Jarry from Surrey, B.C., posted 34 saves in his first game action since April 8.<\/p>\n

What would have been a triumphant return to Edmonton\u2019s net soured when Poehling\u2019s shot pinged off the leg of Darnell Nurse and between the goalie\u2019s pads, which he closed a hair too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not exactly an oil painting of a goal, but it\u2019s playoff time and if you throw pucks there, sometimes you get rewarded,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cThey obviously were tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDavid assisted on two goals. He rolled his ankle in the second period of Game 2 and continued to look uncomfortable at times Sunday.<\/p>\n

In his one burst of his notorious speed late in the third period, McDavid cut inside on Anaheim\u2019s defence, but Lukas Dostal\u2019s spectacular stretch save with his blade kept the score tied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all doing the best we can out there,\u201d McDavid said when asked about his health. \u201cWe\u2019re all working and trying to get it done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really about Connor McDavid here. It\u2019s about two teams that are trying to figure each other out. They\u2019re playing well and we have another level as a group. I still feel there were some good signs tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oilers defended better five-on-five by getting sticks in Anaheim\u2019s shooting lanes. After giving up seven and six goals to the Ducks in the previous two games, Edmonton managed to hold them to three in regulation.<\/p>\n

Edmonton scored on both its power-play chances, but giving up two to the Ducks in the second period allowed the hosts to climb back into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we played better defensively,\u201d said Edmonton defenceman Mattias Ekholm. \u201cWe have to stay out of the box and be better on the kill, but five-on-five I thought we took a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defenceman Evan Bouchard scored his first goal of the playoffs to give the Oilers a short-lived 3-2 lead in the third period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored in what was the 100th career playoff game for him, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (one assist). <\/p>\n

Kasperi Kapanen scored his team-leading fourth playoff goal 38 seconds after the opening puck drop.<\/p>\n

The Oilers lost the first three games of the 2024 Cup final and managed to push it to a Game 7.<\/p>\n

NHL statisticians say a team that leads a best-of-seven series 3-1 has a .910 winning percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of belief within that room,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been in some pretty poor situations, and this team never quits. They\u2019re resilient. Absolutely a lot of fight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when we\u2019ve seen the best out of them. We don\u2019t have much more room for error right now.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid, right, and right wing Kasperi Kapanen skate back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,23752,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-631885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-edmonton","24":"tag-education","25":"tag-environment","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631885","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=631885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}