Ducks take Game 5 in dramatic fashion and now face Oilers in crucial Game 6

For the first 57 minutes of Game 5, it looked like this NHL Stanley Cup series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks would head back to Edmonton for Game 6 with the Oilers leading the series 3-2. The Anaheim Ducks were unable to score any goals, despite out shooting the Edmonton Oilers by an almost 2-1 margin. Oilers goalie Cam Talbot made 64 saves in the game, including the two overtime periods.

The speed of Oilers center Connor McDavid and his teammates appeared to be too much for the Ducks, especially in the second period when Edmonton jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals by Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Drake Caggiula.

The first period was scoreless. Both teams had quality opportunities to score, but were unable to find the net. Ryan Getzlaf missed the net on a penalty shot. Getzlaf also sent Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera to the locker room after a big hit. Sekera returned after the intermission.

It was late in the third period, with less than five minutes left in regulation when fans began to leave the Honda Center and most analysts considered the Ducks out of time to win the game. The Oilers were shutting out the Ducks, 3-0. But with three minutes and 16 seconds left in regulation Ryan Getzlaf scored a goal. Thirty-five seconds later Cam Fowler scored another goal for Anaheim and then 2.5 minutes later, with 15 seconds left in regulation, Rickard Rakell scored the third and tying goal for the Ducks.

There was some controversy on that goal. Ryan Kesler had been pushed into the net and the goalie Cam Talbot. Some thought Kesler had grabbed the goalie. Review of the play let the goal stand and the game went to double over time. Oilers head coach Todd McLellan told the media after the game, “Interference — you’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t know what interference is any more. Obviously Kesler was pushed in, there’s no doubt about that, but we have a strong belief that he (Kesler) had wrapped his arm around Talbs’ (goalie Cam Talbot) leg, but I don’t know what it is anymore so you’ll have to ask somebody else.”

The call on the ice was confirmed and the game went to over time. In the first overtime period the Ducks had two power plays but were unable to convert. Both teams had shots at the net that were either blocked or saved by the goalies.

The game went to a second overtime period and 6:57 into it Ducks right wing Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal for Anaheim. “We go over film on what his tendencies are,” Perry said of Oilers goalie Cam Talbot after the game. “You play many games against him during the season; the five games that we’ve played now. It’s a matter of getting trust in that and when I saw I had an opening to the net I kinda knew what I wanted to do.”

Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said after the game, “You cannot quit believing. ” adding, “In any situation momentum swings in the playoffs are so drastic and they mean so much that if you get one you start to believe and it sends a different message to the opposition. You get two and it really sends, ‘We can get this done’ and the intensity level from your perspective goes up dramatically and we just found a way and willed it across the line.”

Today the Ducks face the Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for the crucial Game 6. The Oilers face elimination and the Ducks would like to close out the series with a win tonight. Anaheim has won the only two games of this series played at Rogers Place, but the Oilers have proven they can keep up with Anaheim and win.

There were 14 penalties in Game 5. It was a hard-hitting game and fans can expect Game 6 to be more of the same.

Game time will be 4 p.m. Pacific Time. If the game between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which starts at 12:37 p.m. Pacific Time, doesn’t go to extra innings at Angel Stadium, fans can expect to be home before or maybe in the beginning of the first period.

Below is Claudia Gestro’s video report from Game 5.

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UPDATE: The Edmonton Oilers won in spectacular fashion, beating the Anaheim Ducks 7-1. In the first period the Oilers were in such control of the puck their goalie Cam Talbot was looking lonely. The Ducks were never able to get anything going offensively in that opening period.

The goal tending was so bad for the Ducks that after the third Oilers goal, head coach Randy Carlyle pulled John Gibson and put Jonathan Bernier in the net. Just over three minutes later Mark Letestu scored the fourth goal for Edmonton.

Gibson had given up three goals that he should have saved, prompting the goalie change, but at times Bernier looked as out of place in the game as Gibson.

In the first period Leon Draisaitl had the first of two goals in his hat trick.

Letestu got his second goal of the game — and the fifth of the period for the Oilers — on a power play with less than two minutes to play in the period. The teams went into the first intermission with the score 5-0 in favor of Edmonton. Zack Kassian also scored in the first period.

The Oilers started the second period with a goal by Anton Slepyshev just 45 seconds into the period.

Rickard Rakell got the only score for Anaheim 8:56 into the period, assuring the Ducks would not be shut out in the game.

Leon Draisaitl scored on his hat trick at 15:27. Within seconds the crowd had rained down thousands of hats onto the ice at Rogers Place in Edmonton. That was the end of the scoring in the game, but both teams had plenty of power play opportunities as the frustration by the Ducks, plus the swagger of the Oilers, led to a number of penalties, especially in the third period.

With less than three minutes left in the game Milan Lucic and Patrick Maroon of the Oilers, plus Ryan Kesler and Josh Manson of the Ducks, were assessed 10 minute penalties for misconduct and all four went to the locker rooms for the remainder of the game. In all there were 19 penalties in the game.

Draisaitle had five points in the game, with two assists to go along with hi three goals. Letestu had four points; two from assists. After the game Draisaitle said, “Obviously the season was on the line and we all had to step it up a notch and the whole group did.”

Game 7 will be back at the Honda Center in Anaheim and now the Ducks will have to reverse a trend that has plagued the team in the playoffs: losing game 7’s at home. Last year that lost at home to the Nashville Predators in the first round; in 2015 they lost the conference finals at home against the Chicago Blackhawks; in 2014 they lost the second round to the Los Angeles Kings, who went on to win the Stanley Cup and then in 2013 they lost in the second round to the Detroit Red Wings at the Honda Center.

After the game Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf told the media, “We’re going back with the preparation to be ready for a big game. It doesn’t really matter what the situation is. It is still win or go home.”

Game time for Wednesday’s Game 7 has yet to be determined.

Photos by Claudia Gestro