BLOG: Oilers 'got competitive' to complete character comeback win against Ducks

ANAHEIM, CA – “We talked as a group that we needed to be more competitive, and when we got competitive, things turned our way.”

Head Coach Mike Babcock might’ve been scratching his head during the intermission in Anaheim over what he saw from his team in the first period, having dominated the opening 20 minutes of each game this season before taking a step back on Wednesday to fall behind early to the Ducks on a pair of power-play goals.

Not only was it reflected on the scoreboard, but the Ducks were just faster to pucks. They were winning nearly every battle. The Oilers found themselves hemmed in regularly in their own zone, and the intermission came at the right time to reset and talk about raising their competitive level for the start of the second period – a period that hadn't been kind to them until then.

“We weren't very good in the first,” Babcock said. “We'd been no good in the second.  I don't know what happened. We’d been so good in the first, but they won every battle, every race, and every competitive part of the game in the first period.”

Leon Draisaitl said the same, feeling that he & his teammates were a step behind the Ducks in a literal and figurative sense, and that they needed to find that competitive edge during the intermission with a big middle frame on tap against a Pacific rival.

That regroup during the intermission was critical to them not only battling their way back to earn a 5-2 victory, but completely flipping the script on both the Ducks and their early-season difficulties they’d experienced in second periods so far this season.

"I think it's just their competitiveness,” Draisaitl said. “They were a little quicker to pucks in the first period. It felt like they had their legs going right away, and were kind of searching for them early on. That way, we couldn't really get into battles like those little one-on-ones around the wall. We kept losing those. We collected ourselves, and from then on, I thought we played really well."

After enjoying a complete-team shutdown of the Ducks over the middle frame, the Oilers were able to keep control of the lead in the third and silence the crowd at Honda Center, picking up two valuable points in a character victory they can keep building on.

“I thought it was a good effort from our guys. It was a big win for our team," Babcock said. "I thought we got quality goaltending. Our penalty kill that started crazy was excellent for us, and in the end it turned out to be a good night for our team.”

Flashing back to Devon Levi's incredible save last weekend against the Kraken that was vital to victory, the 24-year-old netminder stood his ground with 14 saves on 16 shots in the first period, stopping a handful of the high-quality variety on chances for the Ducks where if he didn't the game could've been over a lot sooner.

A fortunate redirection for Evan Bouchard off Leo Carlsson only 11 seconds into the second period was the only ‘lucky’ thing about what proved to be five unanswered goals on only 10 shots from the Oilers to lead 5-2 after 20 minutes. 

Kasperi Kapanen equalized just over six minutes later by scoring on the power play to register his 100^th career NHL goal, before Bouchard’s no-doubter of a one-timer that was set up by Draisaitl came at the end of a punishing spell of possession by Edmonton that hemmed Anaheim in their own zone for well over a minute of action.

Bouchard’s pair of goals to go along with an assist was his third multi-point game through only six games – accounting for three of the six three-point nights from all NHL defencemen this season – and the blueliner sits second in points behind Connor McDavid (12) for the League lead with 11 points in four games.

“He just makes the right play nearly every time,” Draisaitl said. “His poise with the puck is just second to none. He’s been talked about a lot over the last little bit, and it's pretty funny how he's viewed around the league in my eyes, but people can continue to see it that way, and we'll gladly have him on the ice.”

The highlight of the game, however, came off Draisaitl’s stick on a nearly 100-foot saucer pass to Vasily Podkolzin for a breakaway from inside Edmonton’s own zone, with the Russian finishing off the emphatic feed from the German by flipping it top shelf on Dostal to make it 4-2 for the Oilers.

Dostal’s night ended in the second intermission after Connor McDavid got in on the action with a wrist shot off the rush that snuck through the Ducks' goalie’s arm.

McDavid, Bouchard and Draisaitl would combine for 10 points in the period.

“That's a good team over there.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves here,” Draisaitl said. “But when you feel that you don't have your legs, you feel like you're kind of getting pushed into your own end by their speed a little bit. We're all men, we all want to better, and we want to be at our best.  I thought that we pushed back hard and we did it the right way.”

Not to be overshadowed, the penalty kill bounced back from allowing two goals in the first period by going 6-for-6 the rest of the way, including a heroic six-on-three defence of their three-goal lead in the final minutes that was the final piece of a stellar response from their first-period struggles on Wednesday.