Gauthier breaks tie late in 3rd, Ducks edge Oilers in Game 2 to even West 1st Round

EDMONTON -- Cutter Gauthier scored his first two Stanley Cup Playoff goals, including the go-ahead goal late in the third period, to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-4 victory against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

Gauthier gave Anaheim a 5-4 lead at 15:08, pouncing on a rebound and burying it from the bottom of the left face-off circle into an open net for his second goal of the game. Ryan Poehling then scored an empty-net goal at 18:50 to secure the 6-4 final.

“We have the confidence,” Gauthier said. “All season long when games have been tied and we’ve been down goals, we’ve been in some high-pressure moments, we knew they were going to come back with a great push and obviously scoring that goal and tying things up with eight minutes to go.

“Nothing was said on the bench, we knew what to expect going into the third and I’m happy with how we reacted.”

Alex Killorn had a goal and two assists, and Poehling scored his first two playoff goals for the Ducks, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific. Jackson LaCombe had three assists, Gauthier also had an assist, and Lukas Dostal made 33 saves for his first career playoff win.

“I think Game 1 we kind of sat back a little bit,” Killorn said. “No one was sitting back today, I think that’s why we ended up getting that goal with Cutter.

“It was a better third period for us, compared to Game 1. We’re going to learn as we go on here and continue to get better.”

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, and Connor Murphy and Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers, who are the No. 2 seed from the Pacific Division. Connor Ingram made 22 saves.

Edmonton was 0-for-4 on the power play, while Anaheim was 2-for-3 and had a short-handed goal.

“Special teams, they outscored us three there,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “As good as you are 5-on-5 or as much as you can score, it’s pretty tough to overcome three goals there.

“I believe that was the story of the game tonight.”

The Ducks evened the best-of-7 series 1-1. Game 3 will be at Honda Center in Anaheim on Friday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, HBO Max, SN, CBC, TVAS, KCOP-13, Victory+).

Draisaitl put the Oilers up 1-0 at 8:58 of the first period. He settled a rebound below the right circle and put a sharp-angle wrist shot on net that deflected in off the right skate of Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson.

Helleson was in the lineup in place of Radko Gudas, who reaggravated a lower-body injury that sidelined him for eight of Anaheim's final 10 regular-season games. Helleson was minus-1 and had one shot on goal in 7:52 of ice time in his playoff debut.

Gauthier tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:48 when he used Beckett Sennecke as a screen and beat Ingram with a long-distance wrist shot to the blocker side for his first playoff goal.

Jacob Trouba put the Ducks up 2-1 at 2:44 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right point that went under Ingram's right arm through traffic.

Killorn made it 3-1 while on the power play at 5:35 after his attempted pass through the slot deflected off the stick of Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard and then rebounded off Ingram. Killorn then lifted the puck over Ingram's outstretched glove from in tight.

Murphy cut the deficit to 3-2 with his first playoff goal at 11:46, taking a pass from Draisaitl and burying a slap shot past a screened Dostal to the glove side.

Poehling scored his first career playoff goal while short-handed to push the lead to 4-2 at 15:50. He tipped a Killorn pass from in front after Edmonton captain Connor McDavid gave the puck away in the defensive zone.

“Just a little bit of a miscommunication and obviously I can’t let that pass back,” said McDavid, who is still seeking his first point of the series. “We’ve been in this situation a lot, 1-1 going on the road. We’re comfortable on the road, we like playing on the road. Obviously, we’d like a better outcome tonight and a better product tonight, but we’re comfortable going on the road.”

Hyman brought the Oilers to within 4-3 at 17:48. Mattias Ekholm put a slap shot on net from the left point, and Hyman deflected the puck in off the right post from the slot.

“I think our 5-on-5 game’s there. I thought we played very well the majority of the game 5-on-5,” Hyman said. “Obviously, we would have liked to have been able to prevent the face-off on the last one, but I think our 5-on-5 game’s in a good place.

“In the middle period there was the short-handed goal and then a power-play goal, they’ve just been winning the special-teams battle. And that’s a big battle in the playoffs.”

Anaheim is 3-for-5 on the power play in the series; Edmonton is 0-for-6.

Josh Samanski, who made his playoff debut, tied it 4-4 at 13:51 of the third period. Jack Roslovic sent a pass from behind the net into the left circle, where Samanski snapped a shot in off Dostal's glove. 

Samanski was in the lineup in place of Adam Henrique, who left Game 1 with a lower-body injury late in the first period. He played 11:11 and finished with two shots on goal.

NOTES: Gauthier (22 years, 93 days) became the youngest player in franchise playoff history with a three-point game, besting the previous mark set by Paul Kariya (22 years, 182 days; Game 1 of 1997 Conference Quarterfinals). ... Gauthier's second goal was Anaheim’s latest playoff go-ahead goal since Ryan Getzlaf (55:14 in Game 2 of 2017 First Round). ... LaCombe tied the franchise playoff record for most points in a game by a defenseman achieved by Sami Vatanen (Game 1 of 2015 Western Conference First Round), Chris Pronger (Game 3 of 2008 Conference Quarterfinals) and J.J. Daigneault (Game 2 of 1997 Conference Quarterfinals). ... Forward Troy Terry and LaCombe joined Kariya (three games in 1997) as the only players in Ducks history to record a point in each of their first two career playoff games. ... Murphy (33 years, 27 days) became the oldest defenseman in franchise history at the time of his first career playoff goal, besting the previous mark set by Steve Staios (32 years, 299 days in Game 3 of 2006 Conference Final). ... Draisaitl recorded his 45th career multipoint playoff game to pass Mike Bossy and Gordie Howe (both with 44) and tie Brad Marchand for 21st place on the NHL’s all-time list. ... Oilers forward Jason Dickinson did not play due to an undisclosed injury.