April 27, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg

It was a great start for the Edmonton Oilers in what felt like a must-win Game 4 against the Ducks. Kasperi Kapanen put the Oilers on the board during the first shift of the game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a powerplay goal 6:32 into the first period, and the Oilers took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Five stars, no notes.

Once again, Game 4 featured a second period collapse by the Oilers. This time Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Grnalund scored powerplay goals to tie the game at two heading into the final frame.

The Oilers took the lead thanks to an Evan Bouchard powerplay marker 3:27 into the third period. Once again, the Oilers couldn’t hold onto the lead. Jeffrey Viel csored to tie the game with 6:29 left, and the game went to overtime. Ryan Poehling scored a fortunate winner that deflected off of Darnell Nurse’s skate. More on this later.

Call Outs

Josh Samanski took a bad high-sticking penalty at the offensive blue line, and Gauthier scored to give the Ducks life. Samanski also took a poor offensive zone penatly that led to a Ducks powerplay goal in Game 2 of this series. Samanski had 7:31 of ice time and was -1. I think Samanski has a place on this team next season, but this level of play will land him to the pressbox quickly. If Colton Dach is healthy for Game 5, Samanski comes out in my opinion.

Staying out of the box is so important in this series because the Oilers penalty kill is STRUGGLING. It’s running at a 50% clip in the series, and it was 2/4 in Game 4. The Ducks have scored at least one powerplay goal in all four games in the series. Just one kill in the second period would’ve been enough to even the series, but the Oilers are now on the brink of elimination.

Standouts

Kapanen is scoring at a goal per game clip. He got the scoring started just :38 into the game in Game 4. That goal put the Oilers in a great spot. Kapanen played 19:08. It wasn’t just a series high for him, it was a season high.

Shoutouts

I’ve been critical of Jason Dickinson and the decision to bring him in at the trade deadline for the price they spent to do so, but I have to say that Dickinson had a solid game in Game 4. He joined the play off the bench after Leon Draisaitl decided to go for an early change, and he set up Kapanen’s goal right away. He also had a shift in the first period after the Oilers got up 2-0 where he carried the puck deep and ended up pinning it against the boards for a good solid 30 seconds. Dickinson was engaged in Game 4. I still don’t think he’s a legitimate third line centre, but he played well on Sunday night.

Trsitan Jarry got a chance to play after the Oielrs gave up seventten goals in the first three games of the series. Four goals against doesn’t look great, but Jarry gave the Oilers a chance to win. It was a good showing for Jarry.

Nugent-Hopkins scored for a second straight game, which was great to see.

Connor McDavid registered his first multi-point game of the series with assists on both Oilers powerplay goals.

Wrap

Before I get into the ruling on the overtime goal, I will say that the Oilers shouldn’t have put themselves in a position where this game needed overtime. Bad penalties by Samanski and Zach Hyman cost the Oilers dearly. The penalty kill needed to step up, but they didn’t. Ultimately, the Oilers pissed away another lead in this series. The Ducks have trailed in all four games, yet they’re up 3-1. That’s not good enough from the Oilers.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout-outs: Ducks pull ahead of Oilers in Game 3

Alright, let’s get into the overtime winner. Poehling made a pass towards the crease area, and the puck deflected off of Nurse’s skate. It snuck between Jarry’s legs, and trickled behind him. The view of the puck was partially blocked by Jarry’s skate, which made it impossible to see that the puck had definitively crossed the line from the overhead view.

pic.twitter.com/OiTP0bCBc7

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 27, 2026

The play was waived dead. The officials got together to discuss what they saw, and they determined that the call on the ice was a goal. The replay needed to show conclusive evidence that the puck did not cross the line for the decision to be overturned, which it did not. Therefore, the goal stood.

The issue that I and all Oilers fans have isn’t with whether the puck crossed the line or not. None of the officials were in a good enough position to see that the puck had crossed the line.

There’s no way these refs could have seen the puck cross the goal line…….. pic.twitter.com/CCDI6uGLpg

— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) April 27, 2026

They either trusted Poehling based on his adamant point to the puck as he circled the net, or they inferred that it went in based on the fact that Connor Murphy pushed the puck out of the net and under Jarry’s skate. Neither reason is strong enough to warrant calling a goal on the ice when it was obvious that no referee actually saw the puck in the net.

Having said that, I think the puck completely crossed the line. It was kind of like those situations where the puck is in the goalie’s glove but the webbing of the glove is in the net. You can’t necessarily see that the puck fully crossed the line, but you know damn well that it did. I’ve seen that type of situation be called both ways; but more often than not, those have been called goals in recent years. Jarry’s skate was blocking the view of the puck, but it looked like it had completely crossed the line in my opinion.

It was an unfortunate break for the Oilers and I don’t like the way the officials handled the situation on the ice; but the Oilers deserved to lose that game for blowing the lead again.

Now the Oilers will have to win three straight games to win the series. Their first chance to stay alive will be on Tuesday at Rogers Place.