Column: Ducks face dreaded Game 7 against Oilers after falling apart early in Game 6
When did things go so awfully, colossally off track for the Ducks on Sunday in the 7-1 spanking they absorbed from the Edmonton Oilers, a loss that will take this madly zigzagging series to a seventh game on Wednesday at Honda Center?
“Puck drop,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said, truthfully.
What went wrong in a monstrosity of a first period that kept them from closing out the Oilers and advancing to the Western Conference finals against the Nashville Predators?
“Everything,” coach Randy Carlyle said, and again, there was no argument to be made.
How did this happen?
“That’s a good question,” winger Andrew Cogliano said, insightfully noting the Ducks’ inability to play the kind of simple and sound road game that was required in this situation. “It could have been 20-1, really.”
The actual final tally was bad enough, especially considering that NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid didn’t earn a point. Twelve of his teammates had at least one point each and winger-turned-center Leon Draisaitl recorded a hat trick and two assists, giving him 11 goals in 11 regular-season and playoff games against the Ducks this season. Overall it was an impressive effort from a team that felt — with reason — it had been on the wrong end of some calls on Friday in Game 5 at Anaheim before the Ducks won in double overtime.
“We didn’t come out and execute the way we need to and they did,” Getzlaf said.
Even when the Oilers didn’t execute perfectly they succeeded. This is how charmed a life Draisaitl is leading and how badly the Ducks’ goaltending let them down: The German forward fanned on his first shot and might have been the most surprised person at Rogers Place when the puck slipped between John Gibson’s leg pads 2 minutes 45 seconds into the first period. That was the first of three goals on six shots that slipped through Gibson’s pads — the so-called five hole — before he was replaced by Jonathan Bernier.
“I wasn’t very good. Pretty easy,” Gibson said of his struggles.
No, he wasn’t. And that makes it difficult now for the Ducks, who must confront a gloomy playoff history that’s hovering over them despite their efforts to disown it.
In each of the past four seasons they’ve built a 3-2 lead in a playoff series only to lose Game 6 and lose the series at home in Game 7. That odd pattern began with a first-round loss to Detroit in 2013, a second-round loss to the Kings in 2014, elimination at the hands of Chicago in the Western Conference finals in 2015, and an identical exit against Nashville in the first round last spring. That last failure was a key reason Bruce Boudreau — who was outcoached more than once in those series — was fired and was replaced by Carlyle, whose intuitive bench management was expected to lead the Ducks on a more triumphant route this spring.
But here they are, in that same precarious spot. Getzlaf pointed out that the roster has changed drastically since the 2013 series that kicked off this bizarre streak.
“It doesn’t really matter what the situation is. It’s a matter of win or go home,” Getzlaf said.
In this case, the situation does matter. Another Game 7 loss after they’ve built a 3-2 lead will cement them as a team that can’t close out a series and will become their identity, like it or not.
Cogliano is one of four holdovers from that 2013 series, with Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Cam Fowler. He’s always analytical and chatty but the team’s recent playoff history isn’t a topic he wanted to explore at length on Sunday.
“You know what, don’t care. I just don’t care,” he said. “I think we’ve played hard this series. I think we’ve done well. I think we’ve been in this series right from the beginning. They played well, too, and I think it’s going to come down to one game in terms of who wants it more.
“Tonight they outclassed us. They outplayed us. They out-wanted it, and until we do it there’s going to be a lot of talking, so I think we more need to just go and play.”
They have two days to think about it.
“We can regroup,” Cogliano said. “I think there’s a few guys that need to do soul-searching, including myself. I think we’ve had a lot of guys step up and play good hockey here that led the way. I think we need some guys to start raising their level of game to help those guys out, and until we do that, you’re going to have games like this. So we need to collectively bring our game and not [depend on] the same guys over again.”
The alternative is to write another chapter in what has become a dismal playoff history.
Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen
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