{"id":281091,"date":"2026-04-22T23:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/281091\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T23:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:55:25","slug":"oilers-look-to-take-control-of-series-against-ducks-8-pm-mt-cbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/281091\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers look to take control of series against Ducks (8 pm MT, CBC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> franchise is 19-1 when taking a 2-0 series lead, and they\u2019ve never lost a series when they lead 2-0 on home ice.<\/p>\n

A victory tonight won\u2019t guarantee they win the series, but it puts them in a great position. The all-time NHL record for teams who go up 2-0 at home is 270-36 (.882 W%). A win tonight will put Edmonton in a fantastic position.<\/p>\n

The Oilers and Anaheim Ducks<\/a> were content with their overall play in Game 1<\/a>. Edmonton didn\u2019t like its second period, while Anaheim didn\u2019t like its first period. The third was fairly even, and if Radko Gudas<\/a> didn\u2019t stumble and create a wide-open lane for Mattias Ekholm that led to the tying goal, who knows what the outcome would have been. Anaheim created two solid scoring chances in the third, but Connor Ingram<\/a> stopped both of them. Both teams have positives to build on heading into tonight\u2019s tilt.<\/p>\n

Edmonton wants another good start and to force the Ducks to play from behind. Even though the Ducks tied Montreal for the most come-from-behind victories in the regular season (26), Edmonton wants to play with the lead, because it\u00a0 will force the Ducks to take a few more chances. The Oilers couldn\u2019t have asked for a better start in Game 1, scoring twice and limiting Anaheim to three shots on goal. They just need to keep the pedal down rather than let up and play sloppy like they did in the second period.<\/p>\n

One main storyline will be if Anaheim can contain Connor McDavid like they did in the series opener. McDavid has been held pointless in consecutive games in a playoff series four times in his career (97 GP): twice in 2017 against San Jose and Anaheim, then against Winnipeg in 2021 and against Florida in 2024. It is possible, but rare. By his standards, he had a quiet Game 1<\/a>. At times he looked to be forcing things, specifically on the Oilers\u2019 first power play in the second period, where he struggled on zone entries. Give Anaheim credit \u2014 they got in lanes to frustrate him \u2014 but I felt McDavid\u2019s line, along with Evan Bouchard, was just a bit off with their passes most of the night. I expect all four of them will be better tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we got into trouble when we were slow and our game slowed down,\u201d said McDavid. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t keep anything alive and we gave up chances. We have to play fast, play predictable and simple and when we got away from that we got in trouble. When we played well we controlled the play. Lots to build on from Game 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one area that was odd was McDavid struggling on zone entries on the power play. He is the best in the NHL at gaining the zone on the man advantage, and he was quick to state those struggles were on him. \u201cThat was me not being clean enough. That is an area we are very good at and not concerned about. That being said, they did throw some different things at us, but we will adjust,\u201d said McDavid.<\/p>\n

The Oilers only had two power plays, and on one they generated a few good looks, but Leon Draisaitl said post-game he missed those likely due to his time off. He feels once he gets back into a regular routine, he won\u2019t miss on them. The Oilers\u2019 power play is never something I would be concerned about. It has been the best in the NHL for five years, and going 0-for-2 is no reason to panic. They\u2019d like to draw more penalties, and that will happen if they play fast, as McDavid alluded to earlier.<\/p>\n

SNAPSHOTS\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 With two points in Game 1, Draisaitl now has 15 points in eight career playoff games against Anaheim. Draisaitl has had games with five points, four points, and, twice, he\u2019s tallied two points. He loves playing the Ducks.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Leo Carlsson had 10 shots on goal in the opener, while Troy Terry had six and Beckett Sennecke had five. Those three combined for 21 shots, while the rest of the Ducks\u2019 forwards had five shots, and they got two from the blueline. The Oilers\u2019 forwards had 22 shots while the blue line had 11, led by Darnell Nurse\u2019s five (and he hit the crossbar). The Ducks spoke today about wanting more traffic in front, and will look to get a few more shots from the blue line with traffic to try and test Ingram with traffic.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Carlsson\u2019s 10 shots on goal were the second most in NHL history in a playoff debut. Only Kevin Shattenkirk had more with 11 shots in 2012 with St. Louis. Carlsson is going to be a star in the future \u2014 big, fast, skilled and highly competitive.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zach Hyman<\/a> picked up where he left off last year in the playoffs as he led the Oilers with eight hits. Colten Dach had seven in just over eight minutes of play. Hyman had 111 hits in 15 games last season and will remain physical tonight. The Oilers could also benefit with more traffic around Dostal and create a few rebound chances. Kasperi Kapanen scored on his own rebound in Game 1, and Dickinson banged home his second of the game off of Mattias Ekholm\u2019s hard shot. Dostal\u2019s rebound control wasn\u2019t the best, especially on hard shots from the high slot area.\u2014 Josh Samanski<\/a> is the fourth of seven Samanski children. In order they are:<\/p>\n

Patrick<\/p>\n

Tim<\/p>\n

Neal<\/p>\n

Josh<\/p>\n

Noah<\/p>\n

Lilly<\/p>\n

Lucy<\/p>\n

Noah just signed in the DEL. He was playing with Neal in DEL-2 this year, but signed a contract in DEL for next season. Lilly is at Oklahoma on a pole vaulting scholarship. Talented family. Josh wasn\u2019t sure if all his siblings would watch tonight, but was pretty sure mom and dad would be up. The game will start at 4:20 a.m. in Germany. \u201cI will be excited. It will be special. I\u2019m not really a nervous guy, so I will just be happy to be out there,\u201d said Samanski on his playoff debut tonight.<\/p>\n

LINEUPS\u2026<\/p>\n

Savoie \u2013 McDavid \u2013 Hyman
Podkolzin \u2013 Draisaitl \u2013 Kapanen
RNH \u2013 Dickinson \u2013 Roslovic
Dach \u2013 Samanski \u2013 Frederic<\/p>\n

Ekholm \u2013 Bouchard
Nurse \u2013 Murphy
Walman \u2013 Emberson<\/p>\n

Ingram<\/p>\n

Dickinson will be a game-time decision. If he can\u2019t play Curtis Lazar will play. Lazar was off the ice early, which tells the team is uncertain if Dickinson can go. Usually players who aren\u2019t playing stay out late like Spencer Stastney did. But Lazar did skate at centre in practice between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic. Kris Knoblauch did say if Dickinson can\u2019t play that RNH would be the third line centre. We will see in warmup, but Dickinson clearly aggravated his ankle in the second period last game and I wonder if he woke up in more discomfort yesterday.<\/p>\n

Ducks<\/a><\/p>\n

Kreider \u2013 Carlsson \u2013 Terry
Killorn \u2013 Granlund \u2013 Sennecke
McTavish \u2013 Poehling \u2013 Gauthier
Viel \u2013 Washe \u2013 Moore<\/p>\n

LaCombe \u2013 Trouba
Mintyukov \u2013 Carlson
Hinds \u2013 Helleson<\/p>\n

Drew Helleson will draw in for Radko Gudas who is banged up. He missed seven of the last eight regular season games and tried to go in Game 1, but he was clearly labouring. Helleson is big and can skate, but he and Hinds don\u2019t have a lot of experience. Cutter Gauthier was quiet in Game 1 with only one shot on goal. He is a volume shooter and was sixth in the regular season with 285 shots. He only played 10:22 in Game 1, as Joel Quenneville didn\u2019t play his third line much. They need Gauthier more involved as he led their team with 41 goals in the regular season. You have no chance to win a series if your leading goal scorer isn\u2019t engaged and only playing 10 minutes a game.<\/p>\n

Tim Washe played 11:34 at 5\u00d75, and he played 6:40 of that against McDavid and he played McDavid even with each line only having one shot on goal. Quenneville has confidence in that line. \u201cIt started in San Jose when we were having trouble against Celebrini. I put Tim out against him and he did a pretty good job. It won\u2019t be a hard match (against McDavid), but Tim is good defensively and they had a good opening game.\u201d<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m the Oilers, I\u2019d take that matchup as often as the Ducks want.<\/p>\n

TONIGHT\u2026\"Edmonton<\/p>\n

Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk<\/p>\n

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers take a 2-0 series lead for the 21st time in franchise history with a 4-2 victory.<\/p>\n

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Leon Draisaitl passes Larry Robinson and Chris Chelios and moves into 37th place in playoff scoring with a two-point effort.<\/p>\n

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Colton Dach scores his first playoff goal.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers franchise is 19-1 when taking a 2-0 series lead, and they\u2019ve never lost a series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-281091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}