Ducks outpace Oilers in Game 3, win first home playoff game in 9 years

Anaheim erased two one-goal Edmonton leads, and the Oilers erased a one-goal Ducks lead before Sennecke and Carlsson scored 42 seconds apart three minutes into the third period.

Jackson LaCombe hit the empty net to cap a two-point night and stellar defensive effort in 26:49 time-on-ice from the young No. 1 blue liner.

“Oh my god, was he good tonight?” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said of LaCombe. “He was special tonight. Just the play and poise and patience that he had on the goal on the empty net just kind of sums up the night. He did have the puck a lot, and I thought his speed going through the middle of the zone was high end. He was definitely a factor.”

Granlund, Sennecke, Carlsson, LaCombe, Mason McTavish, Alex Killorn and Jeffrey Viel all scored for Anaheim. Granlund added three primary assists along with his power play goal on his four-point night.

Edmonton also spread the scoring with four players on all four goals. Kasperi Kapanen scored his third of the series, and Connor McDavid got his first points of the series on an assist and a power play goal.

Lukas Dostal made 20 saves in the win. Connor Ingram made 32 saves in the loss.

“We’d rather play safer,” Carlsson said of this high-octane series. “If we can win every game 7-4, we take that, but rather just play a more safe game, for sure.”

Buoyed by the electricity of the standing-room sellout crowd at Honda Center, the Ducks were shot out of a cannon in the game’s first 14 minutes with 12 of the first 15 shots on goal.

However, for the third straight game–again, as it was in 49 of 82 regular season games, fourth most in the NHL–Anaheim found itself trailing on the opening goal.

The Ducks defense negated a rush, and despite all five defenders getting below the circles, Podkolzin picked up a puck Ian Moore couldn't control and wristed it through traffic by a befuddled Dostál, 1-0.

Anaheim kept its foot on the gas and leveled the game three minutes later. Tyson Hinds went point-to-point with Drew Helleson, who fluttered a wrister that McTavish pulled in with a short-side deflection, 1-1.

That was Anaheim’s first home playoff goal since a Hampus Lindholm power play marker in the second period of Game 2 in the 2018 first-round.

The Ducks continued to roll through the end of the period and grabbed the lead after the opening 20 minutes for the first time this series.

Anaheim scored a power play goal for the third straight playoff game and seventh straight game overall, as Granlund popped the puck in off a tip from Chris Kreider. Carlsson had the initial shot to set up the 2-1 lead.

Edmonton capitalized on a pair of Ducks miscues and stormed back early in the second period, as this series is wont to do.

Carlsson whiffed on a clearing attempt, and the Oilers eventually worked it to a wide open Kapanen in the slot for his third goal of the series, 2-2.

Less than two minutes later, Edmonton jumped ahead, as Dostal couldn’t corral a soft point shot. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins pulled out the puck to the easy go-ahead strike, 3-2. McDavid earned his first point of the series with a secondary assist.

Anaheim’s work ethic continued, and the veterans dug out another equalizer later in the second period. John Carlson’s point shot fell at Ingram’s feet, and Granlund pitched it out to Killorn, who sent it home, 3-3.

The firewagon hockey rolled into the third period, where the Ducks got off to the races to grab the lead and push forward.

Three minutes into the third period, Granlund sent a brilliant outlet pass to Sennecke, and the 20-year-old registered his first career playoff point snapping one home on the rush, 4-3.

Just 42 seconds later, Troy Terry and Carlsson sprinted out on a two-on-1, and Terry filtered the puck to Carlsson, who slithered around the Oilers defense and dunked the backhand on Ingram, 5-3.

Edmonton would claw one back on the power play, as McDavid potted his first goal of the series. McDavid crashed in on low right wing and his wrist shot deflected off Ryan Poehling’s stick to beat Dostal high, 5-4, with 8:36 to play in Game 3.