Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry lead Ducks to 5-2 win in Game 6, eliminating the 2-time conference champ Oilers

“We were an average team all year, you know?” said NHL scoring champion McDavid, who was held pointless in three of the series’ six games. “An average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed. ... They played very fast, and we weren’t very fast. We’ve been searching for consistency all year, and obviously we didn’t find it here in the playoffs.”

After winning nine playoff series, playing 81 postseason games and reaching two Stanley Cup Finals in the past four years, McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers finally appeared to run out of energy and health. They had a disastrous defensive performance against the Ducks, who scored three goals in the first period of Game 6.

“They know how to play the right way, and at the end of the day, I think they were just better than us,” Draisaitl said. “We never really found what you need to find at this time of year, especially to go all the way. In my opinion, just not good enough.”

Even with 14 players making their postseason debuts, the Ducks admirably handled the pressure while winning four of the last five games against the seasoned Oilers. Carlsson had an outstanding Game 6 to cap the 21-year-old center’s strong debut playoff series, while emerging star defenseman Jackson LaCombe scored nine points and led the Ducks’ defensive efforts against McDavid and Draisaitl.

“For sure it was our best game of the series,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Could have been our best game of the year. A lot of things went well tonight.”

In Game 6, Anaheim also got its best effort of the series from Dostal, who had the NHL’s second-worst save percentage in the postseason after getting pulled from Game 5. The Czech Olympian was sharp all night, highlighted by a breakaway stop on Zach Hyman.

Backed by a raucous crowd that included Angels slugger Mike Trout, the Ducks scored first in Game 6 for the first time in the entire series when John Carlson’s shot hit Poehling and trickled in for his fourth goal of the series.

Carlsson then set up Kreider off the rush, ending the longtime Rangers star’s 17-game goal drought with his first playoff goal for the Ducks — on his 35th birthday, no less.

Murphy answered for Edmonton 1:31 later, but Gauthier got his fourth playoff goal on a power play when his one-timer arced in off Darnell Nurse’s stick.

Late in a tense second period, Carlsson took the puck from Evan Bouchard and fed Terry for a 4-1 lead.

Edmonton scored early in the third when Kasperi Kapanen’s wide shot deflected in off Podkolzin’s leg, but McDavid and Draisaitl couldn’t get it any closer. The Oilers pulled Ingram with 3:57 left, but Carlsson scored into an empty net.