Ducks rally to win Game 4 in OT, push Oilers to brink in West 1st Round

ANAHEIM -- Ryan Poehling scored at 2:29 of overtime to give the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Honda Center on Sunday.

Following his own face-off win, Poehling sent a centering pass toward the crease that hit off the skate of Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and was nudged just across the goal line by the skate of goalie Tristan Jarry, a video review confirmed.

"Before I took that draw, I remember my college coach always told me, '60 percent of the overtime winners come off of face-offs,' " Poehling said. "So, it's a big play to win that draw and bear down. ... Just trying to go back door to (Chris Kreider) and got a lucky bounce off their defenseman's skate."

The Ducks have won three straight to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series heading to Game 5 in Edmonton on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, KCOP-13, TNT, truTV, Victory+, HBO MAX).

Cutter Gauthier, Mikael Granlund and Jeffrey Viel scored, Jackson LaCombe and John Carlson each had two assists, and Lukas Dostal made 24 saves for the Ducks, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division.

"We're up 3-1 and every game has been a toss-up," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Hanging in there and finding different ways, different guys, against an excellent hockey team. We're in a position now to look ahead and only think of one game."

Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers, who are the No. 2 seed from the Pacific.

“We did a good job of putting ourselves in a pretty good spot and we just didn’t find a way to get it done,” McDavid said. “We’re in a hole, no doubt about it. We have to find a way to get a win at home.”

Jarry made 34 saves for Edmonton in his first Stanley Cup Playoff start in almost four years. He replaced Connor Ingram, who gave up 14 goals on 93 shots in the first three games of the series (.849 save percentage). 

"Tristan played really well," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Two of the goals, one went off our defenseman’s stick and the other was an unfortunate bounce that went off a skate. He made some big saves and that’s what we wanted from him. A solid performance."

The Oilers scored first for the fourth straight game to take a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the first period. Jake Walman took a shot from above the left circle that was blocked by Beckett Sennecke. Pavel Mintyukov then failed to clear the puck from in front of his crease, and Kapanen was there to shoot it into the net.

Nugent-Hopkins made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 6:32. He took a shot from the left face-off circle that hit the pad of Dostal, came out sideways and banked off the skate of Mintyukov into his own net.

Josh Samanski was called for tripping Drew Helleson at 6:13 of the second period, and Gauthier scored up high on the short side from the right circle on the ensuing power play to cut it to 2-1 at 7:36.

"I just try to shoot as hard as I can, and thankfully it went in," Gauthier said.

The Ducks went back on the man-advantage at 17:00, and Granlund scored from the right hash marks off a give-and-go with Leo Carlsson to tie it 2-2 at 18:43.

Edmonton scored its second power-play goal of the game four seconds after it began on a snap shot by Bouchard from the right circle, moving the Oilers back in front 3-2 at 3:27 of the third period.

Viel scored for the second straight game to tie it 3-3 at 13:31. Carlson's one-timer from above the left circle hit him in front of the crease, and he swept the loose puck into the net as he fell to the ice.

"It starts with a good forecheck and a good O-zone shift," Viel said. "Just putting pucks on net and being in front of the net, I got rewarded."

Dostal twice stopped McDavid after he got behind the defense in the final five minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime.

"He's the rock of our team," Gauthier said of Dostal. "It doesn't really surprise me how well he performs in high-pressure situations like that."

NOTES: Jarry made his first postseason start since a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round on May 15, 2022, with the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... Oilers forward Jason Dickinson returned after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury. He had the secondary assist on Kapanen's goal. ... Quenneville has 124 playoff wins, moving him past Al Arbour for second place on the all-time list behind Scotty Bowman (223). ... Anaheim went 2-for-4 on the power play and is 6-for-12 in the series.