discourse about Ryan Poehling\u2019s goal<\/a> 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?<\/p>\nHere 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\u2019s Curtis Lazar. Mason McTavish kept the play alive with extra effort as the Oilers tried to clear their zone, and before Poehling\u2019s shot took a deflection and trickled past goalie Tristan Jarry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I took that draw, honestly, I remember my college coach always told me like some like 60 percent of the overtime winners \u2014 and I don\u2019t know if it was college at the time \u2014 come off a faceoff,\u201d said Poehling, who played for Bob Motzko and Brett Larson at St. Cloud State. \u201cIt\u2019s a big play to win that draw and bear down. Mac did a great job helping have a good stick on the guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to go back door to Kreids (Chris Kreider) there and got a lucky bounce off their defenseman\u2019s skate and went in. That was kind of how it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
One big difference that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But with the Ducks, the kids have starred, as have past playoff performers. And in Game 4, the most unsung performed the heroics.<\/p>\n
Take the case of Poehling. The speedy center scored twice in Game 2 \u2014 the first a pivotal short-handed goal, the second into an empty net to seal the game \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019d 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 \u201cthrow-in\u201d as well.<\/p>\n
In March, the Ducks signed Poehling to a four-year contract extension worth $15 million. That\u2019s how much they think of the contributions he\u2019s made in his first Anaheim season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a player, I think you just \u2014 especially in this league \u2014 you just always got to believe in yourself,\u201d said Poehling, who had 11 goals and 36 points during the year. \u201cFor myself, I think over the last few years, I\u2019ve 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\u2019s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about his viewpoint on the winning goal, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville tapped into a favorite memory from the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d Quenneville said with a sly grin.<\/p>\n
As Quenneville noted, the Ducks have \u201cgot a long way to go to dream like that.\u201d It was a reference to Patrick Kane\u2019s overtime goal to clinch the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 \u2014 a goal that only Kane initially knew had gone in.\u00a0But the Ducks might be daring to dream now that they have the pressure-filled Oilers on the ropes.<\/p>\n
Take the case of Viel. Edmonton grabbed a 3-2 lead in the third period on Evan Bouchard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s initial shot. This was Viel\u2019s second goal of the series, and he\u2019s 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\u2019s rally in a 7-4 triumph.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 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\u2019s also racked up 688 penalty minutes in the AHL as a willing pugilist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been my life,\u201d Viel said. \u201cJust had to battle through everything. Every league I\u2019ve been to, it was always a battle. I think it\u2019s just the way I\u2019m built. I keep working hard every time and staying positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019ve now won 10 games when trailing by multiple goals, and 13 times after coming back from a third-period deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just kind of believe in each other,\u201d said Jackson LaCombe, who added two more assists and has a playoff-leading eight points. \u201cKind of no matter the score, we just continue to compete throughout the whole 60 minutes. It\u2019s something that\u2019s been used for us all year and something that it\u2019s nice to have in your back pocket there. I thought we did a great job today.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s skate. He celebrated, as did Kreider, McTavish and the rest of the Ducks who jumped off the bench before they \u2014 and a packed arena \u2014 waited for the goal to become official.<\/p>\n
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\u2019re one win away from the second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe battled back as a group, and it just shows us that we can do this,\u201d Poehling said. \u201cA 3-1 (series) lead, quite a bit different than 2-2. Obviously, you got to get to four, so it\u2019s not the end goal, but you know it\u2019s a big confidence boost to keep the momentum heading to Edmonton for Game 5.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 There are veterans on the Anaheim Ducks\u2019 roster with a ton of playoff experience, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164],"class_list":["post-287984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287984","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=287984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}