ANAHEIM, Calif. — There are veterans on the Anaheim Ducks’ roster with a ton of playoff experience, and while they have contributed in the first round of the playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers, the larger narrative has been about the Ducks’ young stars.

But as they put the two-time Western Conference champions on the brink of elimination Sunday night, two unheralded Ducks — Ryan Poehling and Jeffrey Viel — grabbed the spotlight in a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 to make more believers of another boisterous overflow crowd at Honda Center.

There will be discourse about Ryan Poehling’s goal 2:29 into overtime. Did the puck completely cross the goal line? What took so long for the officials to make the goal call on the ice? Could a conclusive call really be determined by the review process?

Here is what will be remembered by the Ducks as they put a 3-1 series stranglehold on the Oilers heading into Game 5 on Tuesday: The winning play was accomplished by their third line, with puck battles won from the moment Poehling won the faceoff against Edmonton’s Curtis Lazar. Mason McTavish kept the play alive with extra effort as the Oilers tried to clear their zone, and before Poehling’s shot took a deflection and trickled past goalie Tristan Jarry.

“Before I took that draw, honestly, I remember my college coach always told me like some like 60 percent of the overtime winners — and I don’t know if it was college at the time — come off a faceoff,” said Poehling, who played for Bob Motzko and Brett Larson at St. Cloud State. “It’s a big play to win that draw and bear down. Mac did a great job helping have a good stick on the guy.

“Just trying to go back door to Kreids (Chris Kreider) there and got a lucky bounce off their defenseman’s skate and went in. That was kind of how it happened.”

One big difference that’s materialized between the Ducks and Oilers is how much of a contribution Anaheim is getting from players throughout its lineup in the crucial stage of games. Edmonton did that in its Game 1 victory, as Jason Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen led the way with two goals each.

But with the Ducks, the kids have starred, as have past playoff performers. And in Game 4, the most unsung performed the heroics.

Take the case of Poehling. The speedy center scored twice in Game 2 — the first a pivotal short-handed goal, the second into an empty net to seal the game — to further boost an already confident group. The 27-year-old came to the Ducks in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers last June, when Trevor Zegras was the big name in the swap.

Poehling came up with the Montreal Canadiens after finishing his college career and famously scored a hat trick in his only game with Montreal during the 2018-19 season. He’d play 57 games with the Canadiens in 2021-22 but was moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a multi-player trade in which defensemen Mike Matheson and Jeff Petry were the headline names. You could say that when the Zegras deal went down, the Lakeville, Minn., native was a “throw-in” as well.

In March, the Ducks signed Poehling to a four-year contract extension worth $15 million. That’s how much they think of the contributions he’s made in his first Anaheim season.

“As a player, I think you just — especially in this league — you just always got to believe in yourself,” said Poehling, who had 11 goals and 36 points during the year. “For myself, I think over the last few years, I’ve just worked on being a consistent hockey player. Something that a coach can trust and throw out there in any scenario. Just show that throughout the year and just always believe in yourself. I think it’s the biggest thing.”

When asked about his viewpoint on the winning goal, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville tapped into a favorite memory from the past.

“It looked like it could have gone anywhere, but when I saw Poehls go behind the bench and celebrate like he knew it was in, it reminded me of somebody else that saw something like that in a comparable overtime period,” Quenneville said with a sly grin.

As Quenneville noted, the Ducks have “got a long way to go to dream like that.” It was a reference to Patrick Kane’s overtime goal to clinch the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 — a goal that only Kane initially knew had gone in. But the Ducks might be daring to dream now that they have the pressure-filled Oilers on the ropes.

Take the case of Viel. Edmonton grabbed a 3-2 lead in the third period on Evan Bouchard’s power-play strike. The Oilers were getting a strong game from Jarry after turning to him for a different look against an Anaheim club that scored 15 goals against Connor Ingram in the first three games. The Oilers were playing a more disciplined game in their end with a lead to protect.

But with 6:29 remaining in regulation, Viel got to the front of the net and pounced on a rebound Jarry left after stopping John Carlson’s initial shot. This was Viel’s second goal of the series, and he’s one of 13 Anaheim players making their playoff debut. Both goals have been massive. In Game 3, the hardscrabble winger got the insurance marker late to blunt Edmonton’s rally in a 7-4 triumph.

The Ducks traded a fourth-round pick to the Boston Bruins in January for the 29-year-old Viel, who had played in only 10 games as he had trouble cracking the Bruins’ lineup. Viel is accustomed to being on the fringe of an NHL roster. Or to doing time in the American Hockey League, where he has played 349 games with three organizations. He’s also racked up 688 penalty minutes in the AHL as a willing pugilist.

“That’s been my life,” Viel said. “Just had to battle through everything. Every league I’ve been to, it was always a battle. I think it’s just the way I’m built. I keep working hard every time and staying positive.

“I think when I got traded here, it clicked right from the start. Tough to tell why but I just felt like this group was a good fit. I felt comfortable right from the start. It’s been great.”

The Ducks had 26 comeback victories during the regular season to tie the Montreal Canadiens for the most in the league. After erasing a 2-0 first-period deficit on Sunday, they’ve now won 10 games when trailing by multiple goals, and 13 times after coming back from a third-period deficit.

“We just kind of believe in each other,” said Jackson LaCombe, who added two more assists and has a playoff-leading eight points. “Kind of no matter the score, we just continue to compete throughout the whole 60 minutes. It’s something that’s been used for us all year and something that it’s nice to have in your back pocket there. I thought we did a great job today.”

On his overtime goal, Poehling said he could see a sliver of white ice between the puck and the goal line before Oilers defenseman Connor Murphy pushed it back under Jarry’s skate. He celebrated, as did Kreider, McTavish and the rest of the Ducks who jumped off the bench before they — and a packed arena — waited for the goal to become official.

But Poehling was more excited about what is ahead for his team. This postseason was supposed to be about gaining experience for future runs. Instead, in their first appearance in eight years, they’re one win away from the second round.

“We battled back as a group, and it just shows us that we can do this,” Poehling said. “A 3-1 (series) lead, quite a bit different than 2-2. Obviously, you got to get to four, so it’s not the end goal, but you know it’s a big confidence boost to keep the momentum heading to Edmonton for Game 5.”