Ducks are prepared for a tough battle in potential series clincher against Oilers
Reporting from Edmonton, Canada — Greetings from Edmonton, where the Ducks can clinch a berth in the Western Conference finals with a victory over the Oilers on Sunday night at Rogers Place. The Ducks took a 3-2 series lead with a 4-3 double-overtime victory on Friday at Anaheim, a triumph that included a controversial tying goal that’s still a hot topic with local fans and media.
While going through Canadian Customs on Saturday evening, the Customs officer asked me why I was visiting. When I told him I’m writing about the Ducks-Oilers series, he replied, “Are you going to write about the refereeing?” And the cab driver who drove me to my hotel said his 10-year-old son was crying after the Oilers’ 4-3 loss and was so disappointed by the call that went against the Oilers that he said he’d never watch another hockey game.
Oilers coach Todd McLellan politely declined to reply when asked Sunday whether fans’ frustrations were shared by his players following the goal by Rickard Rakell that allowed the Ducks to pull even at 3-3 with 15 seconds left in the third period on Friday. McLellan challenged the goal on the basis that Ducks center Ryan Kesler had interfered with the ability of Oilers goalie Cam Talbot to make a save, but McLellan lost that challenge.
“It’s done,” McLellan said, adding that he has asked players to channel their energy toward winning on Sunday instead of dwelling on what they considered an injustice, so it was only fair that he had the same focus.
The Ducks, meanwhile, held an optional skate that included two players who had missed Game 5 because of injuries. Forward Ondrej Kase (upper body) and defenseman Kevin Bieksa (lower body) “are options,” for Sunday’s game, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. However, he said forward Patrick Eaves (lower body) is not an option. In addition, defenseman Korbinian Holzer, who had gone home to Germany because of a personal situation, rejoined the team and skated Sunday.
And to get the obvious topic out of the way: In each of the last four seasons, the Ducks have held a 3-2 playoff series lead but have lost Game 6 on the road and were eliminated by losing Game 7 at home. (They fell to Detroit in the first round in 2013, to the Kings in the second round in 2014, to Chicago in the Western Conference final in 2015 and to Nashville in the first round last season). Naturally, they’re hoping to avoid repeating that sorry history by closing out the Oilers on Sunday. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played on Wednesday at Honda Center.
“Of course, any time you’re in a position to do it, you’d like to do it right away,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “It’s not going to be easy. This is a very good team we’re playing against, and it’s been a very even series. A couple bounces here or there pretty much decided games. So, yes, we’d like to take care of it as soon as possible, but we know the challenge that’s in front of us.”
The Ducks are 4-0 on the road in the playoffs, with two wins at Calgary in the first round and victories in Games 3 and 4 at Edmonton. However, Sunday’s game brings new pressure as a potential series clincher.
“It’s a very difficult thing to do, especially on the road,” Fowler said. “These guys are going to come out with a lot of pride, especially playing in front of their home fans. And they always play well in this building, and they come at you really strong from the very start. We need to make sure we’re ready for a simple road game, weather those first five to 10 minutes and then try to settle into the game after that.”
Center Ryan Getzlaf, who has four goals and eight points in the last three games and ranks second in playoff scoring with 15 points, said the Ducks won’t sit back and rely on momentum from their Game 5 rally to carry them through Sunday’s game.
“For us, this whole series, this whole playoffs, has been about preparing for that next day. What happened in the past doesn’t mean anything now,” he said. “We’ve got to be remembered for the team that wins the series, not the team that won the game.”
He also said the team is ready to handle a big opportunity like this one.
“These are all about just showing up, playing the game, trying to stay levelheaded throughout the whole thing,” he said. “That’s the biggest message that we can send to our group, not to get ahead of ourselves, just play the game.”
Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen
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