Ducks Oilers Playoff Series Preview

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks finished the season as the third seed in the Pacific Division and will square off against the Edmonton Oilers, who finished in second place. Game 1 will be Monday April 20th in Edmonton at 7 PM. For the full schedule visit: Round 1 Ducks vs Oilers.

Regular Season Series

These two teams met three times during the regular season. The Oilers won two of the three contests. In the first matchup the Oilers won 7-4 in a fast paced game. Mikael Granlund and Mattias Ekholm both had hat tricks. The Ducks were within one late in the third period, but two empty net goals sealed the game for the Oilers.

The second meeting Anaheim was able to prevail 6-5 in another high-octane affair. Edmonton had a 4-2 lead going into the third period, but Anaheim was able to rally to tie the game at five goals. Cutter Gauthier then scored in the final minutes to give the Ducks the win. The victory was Head Coach Joel Quenneville‘s 1000th career NHL win.

In the final regular season meeting there wasn’t as much scoring. The Oilers had a lead 1-0 to start the third period, but they scored twice early in the period to build a 3-0 advantage. The Ducks tried to rally scoring twice, but they couldn’t find the tying score and the Oilers scored an empty net goal to win 4-2.

Team Comparisons

This series has the making to be an offensive race track. There were 11 goals scored in each of their first two meetings this season and then six goals in the final regular season contest. The Ducks are led by Cutter Gauthier who had 41 goals this season and they have three lines which can score. Leo Carlsson has 29 goals, Beckett Sennecke 23 and Chris Kreider 22. Mikael Granlund and Troy Terry each have 19 goals. Rounding out the top nine scoring forwards is Mason McTavish with 17, Alex Killorn has 15, and Ryan Poehling with 11.

The Oilers offense is led by none other than Connor MccDavid with 48 goals. Leon Draisaitl has 35 and Zach Hayman has 31 to round out their top three goal scorers. They are have three 20+ goal scorers in Jack Roslovic and Evan Bouchard, who both have 21. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 20 goals on the season. Edmonton’s top two lines are a difficult test for any team to slow down.

Special teams will be key in this series as Edmonton has the best power play in the regular season with a 30.6% efficiency. Anaheim’s power play was 23rd with a 18.6% efficiency. Both penalty kills posted similar stats. The Ducks need to play discipline hockey and stay out of the penalty box as much as possible. A key in this series will be whether or not Anaheim can keep Edmonton’s power play at bay when they are shorthanded.

In between the pipes, the Ducks will turn to Lukas Dostal, who posted his first 30 win season. He went 30-20-4 on the season with a 3.10 GAA and .888 SV%. Edmonton’s goalie situation has been a little bit chaotic this season. They could lean on Connor Ingram who has gone 16-10-3 with a 2.60 GAA and .899 SV%. Anaheim has an advantage in net, but both teams have had shaky defenses throughout this season. The team whose goalie gets hot could be the difference in this series.

So who will win this series? Listen to our podcast for our predictions for this series and all the first round matchups.

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April 19th, 2026