Oilers look to return to simple, ‘fast’ approach for Game 2 against Ducks

The Oilers returned to the playoffs Monday night with a victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

They pulled out the win in the final minutes, but the Edmonton Oilers say they’re not going to rely on come-from-behind efforts for the next game.

The Oilers scored twice in the third period on Monday night to edge the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

The Oilers led 2-0 on goals from Jason Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen after the first period, outshooting the Ducks 14-4 after 20 minutes, by keeping their approach simple, fast, “content with putting pucks deep, establishing the forecheck and winning races,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said Tuesday.

“Then we got away from it in the second period,” the forward told reporters before practice.

The Ducks responded by controlling the play from the start of the second period and replied with three goals, two of them in the first 4:38 of the frame from Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson, then Terry’s go-ahead goal on the power play with 5:31 left.

Edmonton grabbed momentum as the third period progressed, tying the game 11:30 into the frame as Dickinson fired the rebound of a Mattias Ekholm shot past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal.

The Oilers notched the winning goal with 1:54 left when Vasily Podkolzin set up Kapanen from behind the net.

Dickinson said after the game the Oilers stayed calm as they gathered themselves after falling behind by the end of the second.

“The mood was calm, that’s one of the benefits of a veteran team that’s been through it,” Dickinson told reporters. “Nobody is overreacting, nobody is getting frustrated. The message was simple: go out and attack. If it takes the entire period, then it takes the entire period, but we’re not going to let up.”

Nugent-Hopkins said the Oilers will look to emulate their play in the first when they return to action for Wednesday’s Game 2.

“We can help ourselves when they do have a push by just continuing the same mindset of just putting pucks deep and having that simple mentality,” he said.

“If you let up against a team like that, they’re going to take advantage, and that’s what we saw, but we started to get back to it a bit in the third and paid off.”

Options with Henrique out

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday either Josh Samanski or Curtis Lazar will step into the lineup on Wednesday with Adam Henrique now out of action.

Henrique, who centred the Oilers’ fourth line between wingers Trent Frederic and Colton Dach on Monday, left Game 1 in the first period after the 36-year-old collided with teammate Kapanen in front of the Oilers’ net. He left the ice on his own and did not return to action.

Knoblauch said the team has reinforcements “who are very capable” in the likes of Samanski and Lazar who can slot into the lineup but hasn’t yet decided who will get the call.

“Samanski (brings) a little bit more speed to our lineup,” Knoblauch told media. “He was playing with a line that was playing pretty well at the end of the season with Dach and Frederic.

“Lazar gives you a little more aggressiveness, a little more physicality, and obviously that’s important in the playoffs. He also gives you a little more option on face offs on the right side.”