May 1, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers came to Orange County with some momentum after staying alive in Game 5, but the Anaheim Ducks were simply too much for the Oilers to handle.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs: Oilers stay alive with a win Game 5

The Ducks got out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to Ryan Poehling and Chris Kreider. The Oilers got one back, but the Ducks regained their two-goal lead via a powerplay goal by Cutter Gauthier.

A devastating sequence at the end of the second period was too much to overcome. Zach Hyman had a goal disallowed due to it being kicked into the net. Moments later, Troy Terry scored off an odd-man rush to out the Ducks up 4-1. Not only was that goal almost immediately after the disallowed goal, but it came in the last minute of the second period. Those goals are always tough to come back from.

The Oilers got one early in the third period, but the Ducks sealed a 5-2 win and the series victory with an empty netter.

Call Outs

Evan Bouchard stepped up in the neutral zone to knock down a puck. It hit him in the midsection, and Leo Carlsson took the puck and led a two-on-one that resulted in a goal in the last minute of the second period. It wasn’t the easiest play to make, but Bouchard needed to make it, especially at that time. The third period deficit being two goals rather than three would’ve made a difference. Bouchard was -3 on the night. The Oilers needed better than that from Bouchard in Game 6.

The Oilers penalty kill struck again. 50% was the magic number again in Game 6. The Oilers spotted the Ducks a goal, and they didn’t need the extra help.

It was simply a poor effort all around, which is disappointing for an elimination game. There were sloppy line changes (including a too many men penalty where they had six players on the ice for far too long) and a lot of odd-man rushes against. They didn’t have it when it mattered most in this series.

Standouts

Connor Murphy was a rare bright spot for the Oilers in Game 6. He scored a goal to give the Oilers life in the first period by crashing the net. He also led the team in shots with four. Murphy is the shutdown guy. He shouldn’t be scoring goals and leading the team in shots, but that’s what he did in Game 6. Murphy also had a 78.24% five-on-five xGF%. The Oilers outshot the Ducks 11-6 when Murphy was on the ice at five-on-five.

Shout-outs

Vasily Podkolzin did his best Hyman impression by driving the far post and having a puck bounce off of him and in to score the 4-2 goal early in the third period. He led the team with five hits.

Kasperi Kapanen took the shot that bounced in off of Podkolzin and chipped in with a few hits as well.

Josh Samanski (5:14) and Colton Dach (6:21) didn’t play much, but they made an impact by combining to set up Murphy’s goal to get the Oilers on the board.

Wrap

Plainly put, the Ducks took care of business in Game 6. The Oilers were never truly in that game. The Ducks attacked early and often, and they played what felt like smothering defence.

Having said that, that wasn’t a good enough effort in an elimination game by the Oilers. The Ducks played well, and the Oilers made it easy for them.

This isn’t my space to opine about the series or the season as a whole for the Oilers. There will be plenty of time for me to do that in future pieces. For now, it’s sufficient to say the Ducks were the better team in Game 6 and deserved to close out the Oilers in front of their home fans.