Cutter Gauthier had a pair of goals and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks withstood a comeback attempt and defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 to pull even in their opening round playoff series on Wednesday.
Alex Killorn scored and contributed two helpers and Jacob Trouba had one of each for the Ducks, who are in the post-season for the first time since 2018. Ryan Poehling added two more goals for the visitors and Jackson Lacombe recorded three assists.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor Murphy, Zach Hyman and Josh Samanski replied for the Oilers.
Lukas Dostal made 33 stops to capture the win in the Anaheim net, while Connor Ingram recorded 22 saves for Edmonton.
The Ducks have won Game 2 in each of their previous three series when trailing 1-0 on the road.
The Oilers took a 4-3 decision in Game 1 of the best-of-seven matchup on Monday.
Draisaitl continued to make an impact in his return after missing the final 14 games of the regular season with a lower body injury. He opened the scoring Wednesday, banking a shot off of defender Drew Helleson’s skate and in midway through the opening period.
The Ducks tied the game up on the power play with 7:12 remaining in the first as Gauthier’s long shot through traffic beat Ingram for his first goal of the post-season.
Anaheim used another screen effectively 2:44 into the second period to take a 2-1 lead as Trouba scored on a point shot.
The Ducks got another power-play tally to grab a two-goal advantage 5:35 into the second as Killorn had his own return bounce back to him and scored.
Shortly before that goal, the Oilers got a real scare as star forward Connor McDavid left the game after his right leg got tied up with teammate Mattias Ekholm at the Edmonton blueline, but he returned a few minutes later.
Edmonton got a goal back with 8:14 left in the middle frame as Draisaitl sent the puck back to Murphy and he put a long shot through a screen to beat Dostal. The goal made the 33-year-old blueliner the oldest Oilers defenceman to record his first career playoff goal.
Oilers fans flooding into Edmonton’s Moss Pit
Anaheim regained the two-goal edge with a short-handed tally with 4:10 left in the second after a dreadful sequence where the Oilers allowed Poehling to deflect in a Killorn shot.
The Oilers battled back again with 2:12 left in the second as an Ekholm point shot was tipped home by Hyman.
Edmonton tied the game with 6:09 left in the third after a steal by Matthew Savoie led to a quick snipe by rookie Samanski.
Anaheim made it 5-4 with 4:52 remaining when a clearing attempt went off a defender’s skate and straight to Gauthier, who sniped his second of the game into a wide open net.
Poehling put the game away, scoring into the empty net with 70 seconds left on the game clock.
Hockey fans get mid-game mullets at Oilers’ Fan Park
McDavid was held without a point for the second game.
Edmonton was without forward Jason Dickinson who had two goals in Game 1 and veteran Adam Henrique, while the Ducks were missing blueliner Radko Gudas.
Game 3 takes place on Friday in Anaheim.
