GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Ducks 3

EDMONTON, AB - The Oilers fell behind by two, but it was all Orange & Blue the rest of the way.
Seven separate Oilers posted multi-point nights on Thursday night as Edmonton scored three times in both the second and third periods to extend their win streak to four games under Head Coach Jay Woodcroft in a 7-3 cooking of the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place.
Leon Draisaitl had a pair of goals to reach 35 goals on the season, and Connor McDavid chipped in with two helpers as the Dynamic Duo extended their joint lead in the NHL scoring race to 68 points. Evander Kane had a goal and assist, Derek Ryan pushed his point streak to three games with a goal and an assist, while Ryan McLeod posted his second-career multi-point game with two helpers.
Mike Smith made 27 saves on 30 shots to win his third-straight start for the first time this season and help Edmonton improve to 27-18-4 and 13-3-0 against Pacific Division opponents this season with the victory.

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FIRST BLOOD

On the Ducks' first powerplay of the night, Cam Fowler put a pass from the point along the ice for a perfectly-positioned Adam Henrique between the hashmarks to deflect under the right arm of Smith, who couldn't squeeze it shut in time to stop the opening goal from trickling in just 4:39 into the first period.
Anaheim would add another on a power-play deflection 10 minutes later to double their lead to 2-0 when Sonny Milano put a no-look tip through the five-hole of Smith off a clever feed from Trevor Zegras.

A 'GIFT' OF A GOAL

With Evander Kane's dad in the crowd at Rogers Place celebrating his birthday by watching his son for the first time in Oilers colours, he was gifted with a goal 1:14 before the first intermission when Kane put Ryan McLeod's cross-ice feed on the powerplay under the bar after Evan Bouchard started the sequence by drawing two defenders to the left corner to open up space.
In nine games since signing with the Oilers, Kane has contributed four goals and four assists.

FINDING CHEMISTRY

Since forming a line together for the first time in a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on February 11, the unit of Derek Ryan, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Warren Foegele has combined for four goals and seven assists in four games, including Foegele scoring his second goal in three games tonight after going 17 games without finding the back of the net before he broke the streak in San Jose.

TURNING POINT

The Oilers took over the contest with a dominating second period by scoring three goals and outshooting the Ducks 14-7 to take a two-goal lead into the intermission. Derek Ryan, Jesse Puljujarvi and Leon Draisaitl all rippled the twine in 6:07 of the middle frame, with Ryan extending his point streak to three games when he tied the score with a tidy deflection from the slot off Cody Ceci's point shot.
Connor McDavid took sole possession of the NHL scoring lead momentarily when he set up Puljujarvi for the go-ahead goal with his 42nd assist and 67th point, only for Draisaitl to join him just under three minutes later when he tapped in McLeod's pass at the back door. The two would end the night on 68 points after both of them posted two-point outings.

TOP PERFORMER

Ryan's two-point night extended the 35-year-old's point streak to a goal and three assists in three games playing on the right wing, a deviation from his usual centre position, with the Spokane. Wash. product nearly doubling his total in the previous 39 contests with a stellar stretch of form over Edmonton's four-game win streak.

PARTING WORDS

Derek Ryan on his experience playing on the wing and his three-game point streak:
"I played a little bit when I was in Carolina, maybe 20 games or so, but it seems to have come pretty good in the last little bit. I feel pretty comfortable playing the wing, plays on the wall, and playing through the neutral zone a little bit, but I've always said it's easier to go from centre to the wing than the opposite, so I'm just going to stick with that I guess."
"I don't know what the single thing is. I think [our line] is just working hard playing together and supporting each other. I think we've been good on the forecheck getting pucks back, and that's huge at this time of year in this league. It gets hard. You have to score ugly goals, and I think we've done a little bit of that. It feels nice. We've got some confidence going, and that helps as well."

Evander Kane on a confident victory to extend the club's win streak to four games:
"I think we did a really good job fighting off their storm on the powerplay there with a couple of goals. We didn't get discouraged, we battled back, and set ourselves up with the second period to go into the third. I thought we did a good job finishing."
"I think everybody's engaged. I think everybody's contributing. There was probably no better example in this four-game winning streak than tonight, and like I said, it was a good test for our group getting down early by a couple of goals but sticking with it and sticking to our game plan."

Coach Woodcroft on his team falling behind but storming back with four-straight goals to win their fourth-straight game:
"We did a lot of good things in the first period. We weren't as clean as maybe we wanted to be, and we can clean some stuff up on the penalty kill, but we liked the way we were playing the game. I really liked how calm our bench was, how they showed a little bit of pushback and resiliency, and we found a big goal at the end of the first period. Then, we took that into the second period. It was a good response from our group not hanging our heads down 2-0."
Coach Woodcroft on Jesse Puljujarvi leaving the game with a lower-body injury:
"I don't know the exact extent of that. I haven't seen the video on it, I haven't talked to our doctors, but I know he came back out and kind of tested it a little bit. But I don't have any information on that."