Pat Pickens
It’s been said that speed kills, and the 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers couldn’t help but agree.
The two-time defending Western Conference champions were overwhelmed by the upstart Anaheim Ducks 5-2 in Game 6 of the first round.
The Ducks advanced in a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2017, when they also defeated the Oilers. Anaheim will take on the winner of the Utah Mammoth-Vegas Golden Knights series.
The Oilers Had No Answer for Anaheim
It’s stunning to see the run-and-gun Oilers get beat at their own game.
Yet, the Oilers’ season is over in April for the first time since 2017 due to their inability to slow down the high-flying Ducks.
Anaheim scored 26 goals in the best-of-7 series, by far the most of any playoff team. Its power play fired at 50%, with eight goals on 16 man-advantage opportunities, while still managing to score the same number of even-strength goals as Edmonton (17) in the series.
“Lot of credit to the Ducks team,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I thought they played really well. They’ve got a really exciting future ahead with the players we have.”
Yet, the Ducks’ overwhelming Connor McDavid’s line was the most shocking development. McDavid was clearly hampered by an ankle injury that nearly caused him to miss Game 5, but McDavid managed just two points at even strength and was minus-8 in the series — tied for second-worst of any playoff player.
“Too hurt, too soon,” McDavid said.” The first round is always tough. It’s always chaotic, and it’s tough to play through things so early on as many guys did in here.
“That being said, it’s not an excuse, either. We expected to have a longer run than we did.”
Mattias Ekholm looked old and slow, and Evan Bouchard was a minus-7, turnover machine in the series. Bouchard’s 13 giveaways were tied with Leon Draisaitl for the team lead and were second-most among playoff performers.
This isn’t to blast Edmonton’s best players, who are some of the best in the world. But the Oilers rely on their top guys more than any other team, and the Ducks took it to McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard and Ekholm in ways we haven’t seen any team — not even the Florida Panthers.
“We didn’t defend well enough,” Knoblauch said. “We knew this series was gonna be a little bit more open with the team we were playing. … Usually, you win or lose on your defensive play, and it wasn’t good enough.”
Those guys have played a lot of hockey over the past three seasons. They went to the Cup final two straight years then played in the Olympics in February. Only Draisaitl missed out on the 4 Nations Face-Off last year, since Germany didn’t have a team.
“Most games in the last three years, most games in the last five years,” Knoblauch said, rattling off the Oilers’ stats. “On everyone’s minds’ was the playoffs, and unfortunately for us, the timing wasn’t good.”
Maybe a more adequate offseason will help both Draisaitl and McDavid rest and heal up, since Draisaitl was certainly not playing at 100% either.
“Leon was injured for the last three or four weeks heading into the playoffs. For him to come back after that long stretch, I thought he played well,” Knoblauch said. “We’ve got some guys with some fractures that were playing through things that made it really difficult to play at their best.
“I thought they contributed as much as they could.”
The Ducks Finally Scored First
Though they were adept at coming back all season, the Ducks were frustrated about having to chase the game from behind all series.
So Anaheim took things into its own hands in Game 6. The Ducks scored three times in the first period, including Ryan Poehling’s goal at 9:56 that was the first time Anaheim scored first in any game.
Chris Kreider celebrated his 35th birthday by scoring his 49th career playoff goal, and first for the Ducks. Then after Connor Murphy threatened to start an Edmonton comeback by making it 2-1, Cutter Gauthier scored on the power play, giving the Ducks a two-goal lead they would never relinquish.
“Our power play scored a very timely goal for us,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The special teams were special in the series and it made a big impact.”
So much is made of Anaheim’s youth, but the Ducks vets delivered in the series. Kreider had three points in the clinching game, Alex Killorn and Mikael Granlund each had six points and John Carlson chipped in five assists over the six games.
“It could have been our best game of the year,” Quenneville said. “A lot of things went well tonight. We didn’t have to play catch-up. We had a good start. We might not have scored right away, but still thought we had good pace, good possession.”
Questions Abound for Edmonton
This is going to be a lonnnng offseason in the Great White North. The knives have already come out for GM Stan Bowman, particularly his decision to trade goalie Stuart Skinner’s expiring contract for Tristan Jarry, who played just one playoff game and has two more years at $5.375 million on his contract.
The cap is expected to spike to $104 million, which will give the Oilers some breathing room. Plus, McDavid’s extremely team-friendly $12.5 million cap hit continues to give Edmonton roster flexibility it truly doesn’t deserve.
But the Oilers have just seven NHL forwards and five defensemen, plus Jarry, under contract through next season. They expect to have about $16 million in cap space with 10 spots to fill.
Most free agents will want to play with McDavid and Draisaitl, and under Knoblauch who seems to have a perfect demeanor for players. Plus, the coach understands what his club will gain from this offseason.
“I think with the break that we are going to have, it sets us up to have a more meaningful regular season,” Knoblauch said. “More attention, more determination and not being so tired. It gives this team a break. It needed a break.”
