{"id":284401,"date":"2026-04-24T21:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/284401\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:31:09","slug":"how-ducks-have-shut-down-mcdavid-through-first-two-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/284401\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ducks have shut down McDavid through first two games"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM \u2014\u00a0Whether he likes it or not, Tim Washe<\/a> has become the face of Anaheim\u2019s effort to shut down Connor McDavid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washe (pronounced WASH-ee) is a six-foot-three, 212 pound centreman who played five seasons at Western Michigan University, alongside recent Oilers signee Owen Michaels. Both were\u00a0undrafted and signed as free agents.<\/p>\n

Washe ended his college career as the captain at WMU, but has just 41 NHL games under his belt.<\/p>\n

Of the 30:17 minutes of ice time he’s had this series, almost 18 of Washe\u2019s minutes (17:43) have come head to head with McDavid.<\/p>\n

With McDavid going pointless over the first two games, Washe is fast becoming known across the hockey world as \u201cThat Guy Out In Anaheim Who Is Shutting Down McDavid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether he wants the title or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a team thing first and foremost. He’s on the ice against all of us,\u201d said the humble Detroit native. \u201cIt takes everyone on the ice (to) make it as frustrating as possible for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The line is Washe between Rimouski product Jeff Viel and big Ian Moore, formerly a defenceman who has shifted to wing. But you know Washe\u2019s cell phone is buzzing with texts from back home, as this McDavid narrative heats up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of Canadian buddies, actually, who are cheering for the Oilers, believe it or not,\u201d he smiled. \u201cThey like giving me a hard time about it. But it’s fun, man, playoff hockey. So many hockey fans out there watching and supporting their teams. It’s just a blast being a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only the fifth time in McDavid\u2019s career that he has been held pointless in back-to-back playoff games (first time since Games 6-7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final vs. Panthers), and going back to Game 6 of last year\u2019s Final, McDavid has a three-game pointless skid going.<\/p>\n

McDavid has never gone three straight playoff games in the same playoff season without a point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an awesome assignment,\u201d Washe said. \u201c(He\u2019s) having fun with it, trying to do the best we can, our line. We’ve done a good job so far, but we just have to keep building, keep finding ways to be effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDavid looked healthy at the morning skate, flying around at the Honda Center. His folks are in town for the game, which always gives a kid some extra jump.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s always flying around \u2014\u00a0even when he does have something,\u201d head coach Kris Knoblauch said. \u201cSo yes, he’ll be able to play. He\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas will miss his second game of the series while Oilers centre Jason Dickinson \u2014\u00a0who was at the rink Friday morning but did not skate \u2014\u00a0is listed as \u201cquestionable\u201d by head coach Kris Knoblauch.<\/p>\n

This is how the Oilers set up at the morning skate:<\/p>\n

Nugent-Hopkins-McDavid-Hyman<\/p>\n

Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen<\/p>\n

Anaheim\u2019s lineup is identical to Game 2:<\/p>\n

Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke<\/p>\n

McTavish-Poeling-Gauthier<\/p>\n

We always get a different vibe from an Oilers team making its way through a playoff series \u2014\u00a0especially when it shifts to the road as this one has.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve earned a reputation as a team that adjusts well to a series or an opponent, with an ability to enhance what\u2019s working for them and eliminate what\u2019s working for their opponent. You don\u2019t win six series\u2019 in two years if you can\u2019t do that, and on Friday Leon Draisaitl had an all-business air to him as he met the media.<\/p>\n

How confident is he that the Oilers can turn the tide on a series in which they are losing the special team battle, and likely giving up too much defensively as well?<\/p>\n

\u201cVery confident. We know how to play our game,\u201d began Draisaitl. \u201c(Game 2) wasn\u2019t our best in defending. They\u2019re a good team, and they\u2019re going to make their plays and have their push. But I\u2019ve got lots of confidence in this group.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur game has always come from our work ethic, to begin with. Get back to that and we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Edmonton leads the series in shot attempts, slot shots, inner slot shots, chances off the cycle and average O-zone possessions per game (7:05 to 5:05). But the Ducks lead in chances off the rush (8.5 per game to 6) and rebound chances. This is why the Oilers are fixated on slowing Anaheim down through the neutral zone, something opponents are usually concerned with when playing the Oilers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Edmonton is 33-25 all-time in Game 3\u2019s \u2026 Anaheim has outscored Edmonton 6-2 in the second periods of this series. Goals are 9-8 Anaheim overall \u2026 Anaheim lost seven of their final nine home games this season, while the Oilers went 15-8-3 in their final 26 road games.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The last NHL playoff game in thus building was held on April, 2018, Game 2 of a Round 1 series against the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks would get swept, then GM Bob Murray would hang on for a couple more years before Pat Verbeek replaced him and commenced the rebuild that we\u2019re watching come to fruition today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014\u00a0Whether he likes it or not, Tim Washe has become the face of Anaheim\u2019s effort to shut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-284401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284401","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=284401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}