Draisaitl scores twice, Oilers stave off elimination with Game 5 win against Ducks

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers avoided elimination with a 4-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

The Ducks lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 is at Honda Center on Thursday (10 p.m. EST; HBO MAX, Victory+, truTV, TNT, KCOP-13, SN360, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“It will take a big effort, a really, really big effort,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “We’re still in a tough, tough spot, a really tough spot. We’ve got to find a way to win in a tough building. I thought we were right there in Game 4 and will have another great opportunity in Game 6.

“You have to be grateful just getting to the next day. All we did is survive one more day. The pressure is still on us, but it’s a big game for them too. I’m sure they’ll be feeling that too. Close out games are tough in their building. I’m sure they’re not going to want to come back to Edmonton. Pressure on them, but we’ve got to find a way to survive another day.”

Evan Bouchard had three assists, while McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a pair of assists for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division. Connor Ingram made 29 saves.

“The communication was great, they let me know what was going on,” Ingram, who was back in net after starting the first three games of the series before giving way to Tristan Jarry in Game 4, said. “I had no problem with it. I was frustrated after Game 3 (7-4 loss on April 24), just with myself and what was going on, so to give myself a little break mentally and physically was huge, I think."

Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks, the No. 3 seed in the Pacific. Lukas Dostal allowed three goals on nine shots before being replaced by Ville Husso at 10:13 of the first period. Husso stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief.

“Hey, it’s not going to be easy,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Nobody is going to give us anything. We've got to get angry at ourselves knowing that we have to be excited about going home and playing in front of our crowd.”

Vasily Podkolzin put Edmonton ahead 1-0 at 2:22 of the first period, taking a cross-ice pass from Bouchard to the left dot, skating in and sending a snap shot over the right shoulder of Dostal.

"It was a good start for us," Bouchard said. "We’ve had a few good starts in this series, and it’s a matter of holding the lead and I thought we did a good job doing that.

“I’m sure you’ve heard this 1,000 times, when our backs are against the wall, we play good hockey, and we did that tonight.”

Zach Hyman made it 2-0 at 8:33, tipping a centering pass from Nugent-Hopkins through the legs of Dostal from the front of the crease.

Draisaitl pushed the Oilers' lead to 3-0 at 10:13, getting Bouchard's shot pass from the left point and tipping it past Dostal at the right post.

Edmonton outshot Anaheim 12-6 in the first period, with the Ducks evening the shot count 17-17 by the end of the second period.

“They went to two (Stanley) Cup Finals for a reason -- they’re a good hockey team,” Ducks forward Troy Terry said, “and we believe in this room, but we knew they were going to push. Just some mental mistakes, I didn’t think we weren’t ready.

“Just one of those games we got down early. I thought we pressed the whole game. That’s how it goes, it’s playoff hockey.”

Killorn made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:26 of the second period. Mason McTavish passed the puck toward Killorn in the slot, only to have it bounce back to him off the stick of Oilers defenseman Connor Murphy for another pass attempt. The second chance ended up getting through to Killorn for the put away past Ingram’s extended left pad.

With his second goal of the game, Draisaitl extended Edmonton's lead to 4-1 on the power play at 10:24. McDavid's no-look pass from the slot found Draisaitl at the right dot for the snap shot that beat Husso’s glove.

“They have a ton of experience,” Killorn said. “They have a lot of guys who went to the Cup Final the last two years, so that experience is invaluable. In a lot of series, they’ve been down and never gave up.

“But, if you told us we can go home for Game 6 and win the series, I think that’s a great position that we’re in.”

NOTES: The Oilers scored three times in the opening 10:13 of play. It is their fastest three goals to start a playoff game at home since Game 6 of the 2017 Western Conference Second Round (8:25), also against the Ducks. ... The Oilers own an all-time record of 18-3 when scoring first in a game when facing elimination (11-2 at home). ... Nugent-Hopkins (one assist) factored on the game-opening goal and became the 10th player in Oilers history with 60 career assists in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.