April 25, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 3 marked the first home playoff game for the Anaheim Ducks since 2018. Playing at home certainly gave the Ducks some energy that the Oilers couldn’t match. The Ducks outshot the Oilers 20-7 in the first period. They only escaped with a 2-1 lead.

Like the previous two games, the road team had the better second period. The Oilers scored twice in the first six minutes of the middle frame to take the lead. Alex Killorn tied it later in the period.

The Ducks pulled away in the third period though. Beckett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson scored goals on two-on-ones less than a minute apart early in the final frame, and the Oilers couldn’t catch back up. The final ended up being 7-4 for the Ducks.

Call Outs

It’s really hard to win when your best players aren’t your best players. That’s the case for the Oilers right now. I’ve been hard on the captain in these post-game wraps this series, and deservedly so. Connor McDavid finally got on the scoresheet, but he went -4. Granted, one of those was an empty netter; but you’re not going to win many games when your best player goes -3.

It wasn’t just McDavid. The top pairing of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm also struggled in Game 3. Sure, Bouhcard got two points; but he was -3. Ekholm was also -3. They seemed to struggle with the Ducks’ forecheck, as we saw on the Killorn goal that tied the game at three. Boucahrd got pressured behind the net and separated from the puck. Ekholm had to rim it, and it didn’t get out. The Oilers were chasing for the rest of the sequence as the Ducks moved it around the zone for a complete cirlce and a shot attempt that was easily corralled by John Carlson at the point. Carlson took the point shot, Granlund set the screen, and Killorn potted the rebound.

They also made poor decisions high in the offensive zone that led to the two odd-man rush goals that ended being the difference. Bouchard got the puck at the right point and carried it to the top of the faceoff circle. He tried to hit McDavid with a slap pass high in the slot. The cross-ice pass was easily broken up by the Ducks defender, and Ekholm was left to defend a two-on-one. Sennecke made no mistake on the shot.

Another turnover high in the offensive zone led to the 5-3 goal. It seemed to be a set play that went awry. Draisaitl won an offensive zone faceoff back to Ekholm at the point. McDavid and Zach Hyman immediately went to the net. Draisaitl swooped up to the blue line. Ekholm swung the puck over to Bouchard at the right point, then cut to the net because Drasaitl had come up to cover his spot. Draisaitl kep swooping towards Bouchard. Bouchard clearly wanted to get a shot to the net since he had two wingers in front of the net, but the shooting lane was blocked off, so he fakes the shot and passed it to Draisaitl. The problem was that Draisaitl had swooped too close to Bouchard to react to the pass in time, and Ekholm had vacated the left point. Bouchard was left to defend the two-on-one, and Carlsson made a nice deke to finish the play off.

The Oilers need more from their top five-on-five unit if they want to win this series, it’s that simple.

Standouts

The best line for the Oilers in Game 3 is the same one that has been the best line for them in the series. Leon Draisaitl got another two points. He has gotten two points in each of the three games thus far. Kasperi Kapanen got his third goal of the series.

But Vasily Podkolzin was the best Oiler on Friday night. He scored his first goal of the playoffs on a great wrist shot from the right faceoff dot, tied for the team lead with three shots, and finished second on the team with four hits. He also fought Jeffrey Viel and promptly placed him on his seat at the end of the game. Most importantly, Podkolzin led the team with a +2 rating.

Podkolzin is the one Oiler that brings his absolute best effort every single night. He does the little things well consistenly, and the offence is coming for him. He’s turning into a threatening power forward, and I love it.

Shout-outs

We had a Ryan-Nugent Hopkins sighting in Game 3. He scored his first goal of the series in Game 3, and it was a greasy, hardworking goal. He had just six points in the final sixteen games of the regular season and hadn’t really been noticeable in this series up unit he scored in Game 3. He’s an important part of this Oilers team because he impacts every facet of the game. Hopefully he’s coming to life at the right time for the Oilers.

Wrap

Give the Ducks a lot of credit. They’re defending incredibly well with their sticks. That has bothered McDavid all series long. Even the goal McDavid scored deflected off a Duck defender’s stick and over the shoulder of Lukas Dostal.

Despite that, the Oilers still scored four goals. That should be enough to win on most night, but it wasn’t in either Game 2 or Game 3.

These Ducks understand the Oilers’ kryptonite: aggressive checking. The Oilers struggle with puck management when teams are aggressive at their own blue line, and odd-man rushes are plentiful when teams do that to the Oilers. The Oilers also tend to struggle to get the puck out of their own end cleanly when presented with aggressive forechecking. The Ducks did those things well in Game 3, and they capitlized on the opportunities their work yielded.

The mood towards the Oilers in Edmonton right now is heavy. None of their centres are 100% healthy, and the team is leaking goals against again. They’re playing October hockey in April, and their version of October hockey is atrocious hockey.

But, we’ve seen this team start many series slow only to adjust and take over from Game 4 onwards. We’ll see if they can adjust for Game 4 on Sunday.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout-outs: Ducks earn the split in Edmonton