ANAHEIM — After a Game 4 that the Ducks never led until Ryan Poehling’s sudden-death goal to win it in overtime, two teams that were separated by an eyelash on the ice and in the standings seemed a galaxy apart in their respective dressing rooms.
“We’re in a hole, no doubt about it,” Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid said as his club faced elimination ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5 in Alberta. “We’ve got to find a way to win at home.”
When McDavid, whose NHL-topping 138 regular-season points have given way to a tepid series with four points and a -6 rating, was asked about his health, he demurred at the query.
“We’re all doing the best we can, we’re all working and trying to get better,” the six-time Art Ross Trophy winner responded.
The playoff scoring lead has instead gone to an unlikely aspirant, Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe. His eight points gave him sole possession of the league lead through Sunday’s games. When asked how it felt, he deferred to his teammates and the group effort.
“It feels great. Our team is just doing so many good things that are leading to individual success,” LaCombe said. “We’re all just feeling great and competing to the best of our ability. It’s paying off right now and we’ve just got to keep it going.”
Yet LaCombe has been both a difference-maker for the Ducks and a standout among his contemporaries on the blue line. In 5-on-5 minutes, the Ducks have outscored Edmonton 7-4 and out-shot the Oilers 55-30 with him on the ice. With LaCombe on the bench, those figures tilt to 8-4 and 71-46 disadvantages.
Per Stathletes, LaCombe ranks second among playoff defensemen in shots, assists, stretch passes and defensive-zone recoveries, also placing third in possession time and fourth in overall puck recoveries.
LaCombe, an emergent force developed by the Ducks, has been complemented effectively by trade-deadline acquisition and veteran blue-liner John Carlson, who has been a point-per-game producer in the series. He won the Stanley Cup title as a Washington Capital in 2018 and has spent all but two seasons of his 17-year career in the postseason.
“We’re always confident in each other, but we know the opponent we’re up against. The spot right now is where we wanna be, but there’s a lot more work to do,” Carlson said.
Not only do the Oilers boast superlative performers on paper – even in a slow stretch, McDavid has matched Carlson’s pace while Leon Draisaitl is on LaCombe’s heels for the postseason scoring title – they have come from behind in six of the nine series they have won in the past four years, the most series victories in the Western Conference. That included overcoming a 2-0 deficit to the Kings in last year’s first round as well as surmounting three different disadvantages against Vancouver a year earlier.
“There’s a lot of belief within that room. They’ve been in some pretty poor situations, and this team never quits,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “That’s when we’ve seen the best out of them. We don’t have much room for error right now.”
The Oilers have reached three Western Conference finals in four years, advanced at least one round in each of those postseasons and been to each of the last two Stanley Cup Final series, including in 2024 when they were down 3-0 and managed to force a Game 7 against the Florida Panthers.
For the Ducks, Carlson and Alex Killorn, who won two Stanley Cup titles with Tampa Bay, are basically the extent of their high-level playoff experience on the roster. That hasn’t stopped them from pushing the Oilers to the brink.
“They’re playing free and loose. There was very little pressure on them going into the playoffs. Obviously, this is a team that’s going to be here quite regularly in the future with the group of players that they have,” Knoblauch said. “Now that they’re up in the series comfortably, hopefully they feel a little bit of the pressure.”
NHL FIRST ROUND GAME 5
Who: Ducks (up 3-1) at Edmonton
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. PT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
TV: TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Victory+, KCOP (Ch. 13)