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Ducks look to keep pressure on Oilers in back-and-forth series

April 25, 2026

ANAHEIM –– It felt like more than just the series lead tilted in the Ducks’ favor on Friday, when they made a triumphant return to Honda Center after earning a split in Edmonton.

Not only did they blow past the Oilers with four third-period goals, but they dominated key individual matchups and appeared to be regaining their peak form from the early season, as Coach Joel Quenneville pointed out on Friday.

They even hung a seven-spot on Edmonton, as they did to opponents four times in the first month of the campaign. They also rolled with the punches, twice surmounting a deficit on Friday in a series that has seen flurries in both directions, as it probably will again in Sunday’s Game 4 in the first-round, best-of-seven battle.

“We’ve kind of been that way all year. We’ve played from behind a lot in our games. It doesn’t really change the way we play or feel in the course of the game,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “That experience probably helped us (in Game 3) and, actually, every game in this series, because it just keeps going back and forth.”

Top defenseman Jackson LaCombe –– more on him in a moment –– said that the Ducks’ topsy-turvy 2025-26, which included two seven-game winning streaks but two ice-cold stretches as well, taught them how to adapt.

“We had to learn how to win games in different ways throughout the season,” LaCombe said. “Here and now, if it’s going to be a high-scoring game or a low-scoring game, we’ve just got to be ready no matter what.”

LaCombe’s own preparedness has been off the charts. He has a six-game points streak dating back to the regular season, and in the series, he has six points. He followed up a three-assist display in Game 2 with another multipoint effort and a stellar performance on defense in Game 3.

Though Connor McDavid, whom LaCombe and the Ducks held pointless for the first 145:39 of the series, got his first assist and first point of the round, LaCombe was at his most imposing on Friday.

At 5-on-5, the Ducks outscored the Oilers 3-0 and out-shot them 11-1 with LaCombe and McDavid both on the ice. McDavid’s only goal was a somewhat fluky power-play tally that glanced off defenseman Pavel Mintyukov’s stick.

After last season’s breakout, LaCombe was rewarded with the most lucrative contract extension in franchise history, set to kick in this fall. Thus far, he has lived up to that billing.

Mikael Granlund, who spearheaded the Game 3 attack with three points, has played with star defenseman like three-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Letang, back-end magician Miro Heiskanen and the effortlessly complete Roman Josi. He’s typically measured in his responses, but was relatively effusive when asked about LaCombe.

“He’s such a rock back there,” Granlund said. “He can skate, he can make plays. He just looks so calm and confident. He’s already one of the best in the league, and he’s only going to get better.”

McDavid and Evan Bouchard, the NHL’s leading scorer and top producer from the blue line, respectively, have been net negatives by nearly any measure thus far. They and the typically sturdy Zach Hyman have combined for just five points and a woeful -17 rating. Of the Oilers’ stars, only Leon Draisaitl has been pulling his weight, leading the postseason in points through Friday’s games with six.

“They certainly carried us the previous two years, they absolutely did,” said Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch, who stewarded the Oilers to consecutive conference titles in 2024 and 2025. “Right now, to say that it’s all on their shoulders is completely unfair. Everyone needs to step up a little bit.”

Orange County Register

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Ducks look to keep pressure on Oilers in back-and-forth series

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