GAME RECAP: Ducks 4, Oilers 3 – OT (Game 4)

EDMONTON, AB – Ryan Poehling scored the controversial game-winner 2:29 into overtime for the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night in a 4-3 victory in Game 4 at Honda Center, pushing the Edmonton Oilers to the brink of elimination down three games to one in their first-round series.

"There's a lot of belief within that room," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They've been in some pretty poor situations, and this team never quits. They're resilient. They have a lot of fight left, and that's when we've seen the best out of them.

"But we don't have room for error anymore."

Poehling's contentious winner arrived after his attempted pass that took a bounce off Darnell Nurse's skate in front went through the five-hole of Tristan Jarry, sitting loose on the goal line and being pushed under his skate for a whistle before being called a goal by the officials after a long discussion and review despite originally being waved off.

"It's hard," Jarry said. "We were just looking at it in there, and you can't really tell.  I'm sure you could go either way with it. You could say it's a goal or not a goal, and there will be opinions about it, but being on the losing side of it, we didn't think it went in, so it's tough."

Despite the controversial call in overtime, the Oilers were unable to protect separate 2-0 and 3-2 leads in regulation, as the Ducks battled back on both occasions thanks to another strong night from their power play, matching Edmonton's 2-for-2 man advantage by scoring twice on four opportunities to improve to 6-for-12 in the series.

"It went into overtime, but we gotta stay out of the penalty box," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "That certainly helps, and just make a couple more defensive plays."

Jarry held his own in his first start of the playoffs by making 34 saves, along with Jason Dickinson making his mark in his return to the lineup for the first time since Game 1 by registering an assist on Kasperi Kapanen's opener 38 seconds into regulation.

Connor McDavid had two assists to go with a goal and a helper from Evan Bouchard, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored in his second consecutive game in the defeat.

The Oilers will need a victory in Game 5 on Tuesday at Rogers Place to stay alive in the 2026 playoffs, having trailed 2-0 in last year's first-round matchup against the Kings, with hopes of returning to Orange County for Game 6 on Thursday.

"I thought we did a good job of putting ourselves in some pretty good spots, but we just didn't find a way to get it done," Connor McDavid said. "We're in a hole, no doubt about it. We gotta find a way to get a win at home."

FIRST PERIOD

Now that's a fast start when the Oilers needed one.

Jason Dickinson's return to the lineup and Tristan Jarry getting the start in Game 4 were key factors in the Oilers taking a 2-0 lead over the Ducks into the intermission, starting with Dickinson jumping onto the ice for his first shift and making an immediate impact on Kasperi Kapanen's opening tally only 38 seconds into Game 4.

Dickinson came off the bench in a change for Leon Draisaitl and took the puck around Anaheim's zone before dropping it off to Jake Walman, whose quick shot led to Lukas Dostal coughing up a dangerous rebound that Kasperi Kapanen found first in front to put away for the early 1-0 lead for the Oilers. 

Kapanen got on the Oilers on the board early for his fourth goal of the postseason, extending his point streak to four games (4G, 1A) after scoring the second-fastest to start a postseason game in franchise history – second to only Fernando Pisani’s goal 16 seconds into Game 5 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final.

Edmonton's 12th even-strength goal of the series from Kapanen was followed up under six minutes later on the power play by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, with the Oilers showing a lot more urgency in getting shots and traffic towards Anaheim's goal before getting rewarded for it in the opening period.

With Jackson Lacombe in the box for tripping, Nugent-Hopkins doubled the Oilers' lead to 2-0 when his shot on the man advantage from inside the left circle was kicked aside by Dostal, but ended up ricocheting into the back of the net off the heel of Pavel Mintyukov to give No. 93 goals in back-back games.

All of Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were playing in their 100th career playoff game, and all three of them picked up a point on Nuge's 25th career postseason tally to mark the milestone.

Making his first start of the 2026 playoffs and first postseason appearance since Apr. 22, 2022 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jarry was sharp in the opening frame to make a couple of key stops when the Ducks' response came later in the first period.

Jarry stood up LaCombe from the slot with 4:37 left in the period, then made a big right-pad denial against Cutter Gauthier to keep the Ducks from getting on the scoreboard before the intermission with seven of the last eight shots, including a late power play.

Jarry was perfect in making all 13 saves in the first period.

"I think it was just making sure I was right from the start," Jarry said. "Obviously, every series is long, and you always need both goalies, so it was just making sure I was staying sharp in practice and doing everything I needed just in case I did get the call."

SECOND PERIOD

You just can't keep letting this Ducks' power play get chances.

Anaheim's man advantage continues to be the difference in this series after Edmonton couldn't get a kill on both of their penalties in the second period, letting the hosts back into this one to tie it 2-2 through two periods in Game 4 on power-play markers from Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund.

"Obviously, the PK goals hurt," McDavid said. "They score two on the power play, and they tie it on kind of a point shot that someone bangs in. But there were some good signs."

Unfortunately for Josh Samanski, the German was guilty of a penalty that would lead directly to a Ducks' goal for the second game in a row, after his trip on Drew Helleson in the D zone was converted off a wicked snipe by Gauthier to beat Jarry glove side 7:36 into the frame.

The Oilers had their best push of the period directly after the Ducks got on the board by hemming the Ducks into their own zone for over two minutes, but a missed interference by Dostal on Savoie coming around Anaheim's net allowed them to escape the shift.

The Ducks were able to recover and tie things up before the break with three minutes left in the period, thanks to another power-play opportunity brought on by Zach Hyman's kneeing infraction against Beckett Sennecke.

Granlund worked a give-and-go with Carlsson in the right circle and fired the equalizer far side on Jarry to make it 2-2 with 1:17 left on the clock in the second period, marking Anaheim's fifth power-play goal of the series.

THIRD PERIOD

Redemption in Game 4 would have to come in overtime.

Though it did come for the Oilers' power play to take a 3-2 lead on Evan Bouchard's wicked release 3:27 into the period, another late clutch goal for the Ducks from Jeffrey Viel and a couple crucial denials by Dostal off the rush against McDavid would send us to sudden death for the first time this series.

After an early penalty kill by the Oilers, Samanski rectified his earlier penalty by drawing the hooking call that led to Bouchard giving his side the lead back by placing the perfect snipe under the crossbar on Dostal off a quick face-off win and execution by the Oilers' top unit power play.

Jarry continued to look locked in after saving Chris Kreider's chance off the transition past the midway mark, but there wasn't much the netminder could do when the Oilers couldn't get the puck out a few minutes later.

Draisaitl failed to get the puck out on his backhand before a long effort by John Carlson was knocked down and put home by Jeffrey Viel for another clutch late goal by the Ducks' fourth line and the Anaheim winger, who scored an important insurance goal with 3:03 left in the Ducks' 7-4 victory in Game 3.

"Tristan played really well," Knoblauch said. "Two of the goals, I believe the one on the power play went off a defenceman's stick, and another was the unfortunate bounce off a skate. He made some big saves. That's what we wanted – a solid performance – and he played well."

McDavid had the game on his stick on two separate rushes that required Dostal to deny the Oilers captain twice coming through the crease, first with a terrific right toe save on his end-to-end rush and again to turn both him and Savoie in tight on his next chance.

OVERTIME

It was a quick end to overtime in favour of the Ducks 2:29 into the extra frame, but not before the referees had to take a long look at what was a controversial goal call made by the officials to decide Game 4 and push the Oilers to the brink of elimination.

"Not exactly an oil painting of a goal, but it's playoff time, and you throw pucks there, and sometimes you get rewarded, and they obviously were tonight," McDavid said.

Ryan Poehling's pass in front from the left circle took a crazy bounce off Darnell Nurse's skate in the crease to trickle through Jarry's legs and sit perilously on the goal line before the whistle came when Jake Walman pushed the puck to safety against his skate.

"A battle in the corner and it just gets thrown to the middle," Jarry said. "It's just an unlucky bounce that goes off of a skate, bounces right between my legs and kind of just dies behind me."

The goal wasn't given originally, but the officials had a long discussion and awarded the decisive marker to the Ducks before the play went under review, meaning there would have to be definite proof that it didn't cross the goal line instead of the opposite.

"A failed clear and they throw a puck to the net, and unfortunately, it goes off a defenceman's skate and goes in, and they call it a goal," Knoblauch said.

"It was very close, and I thought we were going to get away with it. I've seen in the past where I've thought goals have gone in, and they haven't been able to prove them, so I thought that's what the call was going to be.

"But obviously, they thought otherwise."

The controversial goal held up to give the Ducks the 4-3 victory, meaning the Oilers trail 3-1 in the series as we head back to Oil Country needing a win to stay alive in Game 5 on Tuesday.

"I didn't get any communication," Knoblauch added. "I can't see it going in. I can't see the line.  You can't see any space between the blueline, and you see a lot of similarity when you talk about offsides.  There have been many times when I've seen it be offside and they don't have the absolute proof of it."

"I thought that was going to be the call today, too."