Draisaitl’s 2 goals lift the Oilers
past the Ducks 4-1 to stave off elimination
[April 29, 2026]
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored a pair of
goals and Evan Bouchard chipped in with three assists as the
Edmonton Oilers staved off elimination by beating the Anaheim Ducks
4-1 on Tuesday night.
The Oilers now trail the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff
series 3-2 with game 6 on Thursday night in Anaheim.
Vasily Podkolzin and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers who had
previously allowed six separate leads to slip away in the first four
games of the series.
Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a pair of assists.
Edmonton is now 18-3 when scoring first in a game when facing
elimination.
Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks.
Connor Ingram made 29 stops for Edmonton, while Ville Husso recorded
10 saves for Anaheim after coming in to relieve Lukas Dostal, who
allowed three goals on nine shots.
For the fifth straight game the Oilers struck first, scoring on the
game’s first shot just 2:22 into the contest as Podkolzin beat
Dostal high for his second of the postseason.
Edmonton took a 2-0 lead 8:33 into the opening period as a point
shot was deflected twice, the second time through Dostal’s legs by
Hyman.
The Oilers took a 3-0 lead just 1:14 later as Draisaitl tipped
Bouchard's point shot in for his second of the playoffs. That
spelled an early end of the night for Dostal.
Anaheim got on the board on the power play 8:26 into the second
period as Mason McTavish dropped it back to Killorn, who extended
his points streak to four games with his third goal of the playoffs.
[to top of second column] |
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl, left, controls the puck as
Anaheim Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke defends during the second
period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup
playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung
Gong)
Edmonton responded with a power-play goal a couple
of minutes later on a one-timer by Draisaitl, who tied Wayne Gretzky
for the most postseason power-play goals in franchise history at 23.
Edmonton has played the most playoff games of any
NHL team since 2022 with 80, two more than the Florida Panthers, who
beat the Oilers in the last two Stanley Cup finals before failing to
qualify this season.
Playing in his 80th career playoff game, Bouchard collected his 88th
point, moving into a tie for third place for players through 80
games with Brian Leetch, behind only Bobby Orr (92) and Paul Coffey
(92).
McDavid (63 points) passed Adam Oates for the second-most points in
NHL history when trailing in a playoff series. Only Gretzky (80) has
more.
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