EDMONTON, Alberta — At times this year, Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville has gotten flack for having his leading goal scorer Cutter Gauthier on the third line.

After a quiet performance in the Ducks’ Game 1 loss, Quenneville made the switch and moved Gauthier up to the top line with Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry for Game 2.

The move paid off in spades, as Gauthier scored twice, including the game-winner with 4:52 remaining, and added an assist to help lead the Ducks to a thrilling 6-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at Rogers Place. The victory evens the best-of-seven first-round playoff series as it shifts to Anaheim for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday at Honda Center.

Ryan Poehling also had two goals, Alex Killorn had one goal and two assists, and defenseman Jacob Trouba rounded out the scoring for the Ducks. Jackson LaCombe contributed three assists, and Lukas Dostal made 33 saves to help lead the Ducks to their first playoff win in nine years (Game 4 of the 2017 Western Conference finals; they were swept in the first round in 2018).

Leon Draisaitl, Connor Murphy, Zach Hyman and Josh Samanski scored for Edmonton, while Connor Ingram made 22 saves.

“Over the course of a season you’re going to try different things, and in a game and playoff series, you don’t have a lot of time,” Quenneville said. “When you try things, you want to see how it goes.

“I thought we had a lot of guys contribute in the first game, and he didn’t get looks and touches, and we had to try and get him more quantity ice, and he was a factor with his speed.”

Gauthier made the most of his promotion to the top line, and was excited to be able to contribute to the Ducks’ first win of the series.

“Anytime you get to play with two special players like that it makes your job easy,” he said. “I just wanted to get out there and shoot the puck and get open for those two guys because they have great vision. They make a goal scorer’s job real easy.”

The Oilers scored first Wednesday, but Gauthier tied the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal at the 12:48 mark of the first period.

In their Game 1 loss, the Ducks looked tentative in the first period, but they started Game 2 with a lot of jump, despite falling behind 1-0 on a goal from Draisaitl at the 8:58 mark.

And, just like in Game 1, when they scored three times in the second period, they poured it on again in the middle frame.

Trouba’s point shot at 2:44 gave the visitors a 2-1 lead, and Killorn’s power-play effort just 2:51 later made it 3-1.

After Murphy’s goal at the 11:46 mark cut the margin to 3-2, Poehling scored his first of the game, shorthanded, after the Ducks’ penalty kill had the Oilers’ high-octane power play in complete disarray.

“That was a big conversation piece before the series,” Killorn said. “They’re a great power play and they’ve been getting a lot of looks. Dostal has been doing a great job of kicking them out, but we have to continue to play hard and do the right things on the PK. I thought the power play was good as well.”

The Ducks held a 4-3 lead entering the final frame, after Hyman scored with just over two minutes left in the second.

For the second straight game, the Ducks held a lead going into the third period, and they again faced serious pressure from the Oilers. Samanski’s game-tying goal with 6:09 left sent the arena into a frenzy at the thought of another comeback win, but the Ducks punched back quickly with two goals: Gauthier’s go-ahead score and Poehling’s empty-netter with 1:10 left.

“That’s kind of been the way we’ve been the entire year. It’s stressful playing that way,” Killorn said. “I think we’re getting used to it, but I think we’d like to be a little bit better with the lead and hold on to some of those leads. But the resiliency in this group is pretty phenomenal.

“I think Game 1 we kind of sat back a little bit. No one was sitting back today. I think that’s why we ended up getting that goal with Cutter. It was a better third period for us, compared to Game 1. We’re going to learn as we go on here and continue to get better.”

Special teams were always going to be a factor in this series, which most thought would be an advantage for the Oilers, who had the NHL’s top-ranked power play in the regular season, but the Ducks have dominated those units and it’s helped them level the series.

Through two games, they’ve scored three times on the power play, added a short-handed goal, and their penalty kill has shut down the Oilers on all six power play opportunities.

What’s even more impressive is holding the world’s best player off the score sheet for a second straight game.

“It’s nice to get the power play goals, knowing that our biggest concern is their power play,” Quenneville said. “It was a huge goal when we got it. We gave it back quick, but at the same time it was huge getting that two-goal lead (back with the short-handed goal).

“Our penalty killers have been diligent, and there’s a lot of good options that they showed today, but at the same time, everybody has been helping out in little ways and blocking shots and making clears and sacrifices and we’re preventing easy access.”

For a team that doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience, the Ducks are getting contributions from veterans as well as several of their playoff rookies. With the next two games in Anaheim, they’ve put themselves in a good position to take control of the series.

“It doesn’t bother me whether it’s young, old, middle. We’re all in this together,” Quenneville said of the contributions coming from up and down the roster. “I think the older guys, I could sense their readiness all day today.

“They want to win. They haven’t played playoff (games) here in a long time, and I think they feel it, and there’s a responsibility to show how much fun it is to these younger guys, and exchange and share that type of experience with them.”

McDAVID BANGED UP

McDavid was slowed by an apparent leg injury for much of the night.

The three-time Hart Trophy winner appeared to catch an edge at the 4:29 mark of the second period after getting tangled up with teammate Mattias Ekholm and the Ducks’ Ian Moore. McDavid briefly left the game before returning just over three minutes later. He logged 24 minutes on the ice.

LATE HITS

The Oilers were missing Game 1 hero Jason Dickinson, who didn’t dress for Game 2 because of a lower-body injury. Former Duck, Adam Henrique also missed Game 2 due to injury. Both veterans are key members of the Oilers’ penalty kill unit.

Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas missed Game 2 with an injury. He was replaced by Drew Helleson on the Ducks’ third pairing.