Playoff Roundup: Ducks even series, shorthanded Penguins take 3-1 lead
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg scored 45 seconds into overtime, lifting the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
Captain Ryan Getzlaf set up the winning score and finished with two goals and two assists. Rickard Rakell also scored for Anaheim, which has won two in a row after dropping the first two games of the series at home.
Drake Caggiula, Connor McDavid and Milan Lucic scored for Edmonton, and Cam Talbot had 35 saves.
Game 5 is Friday night, back in Southern California.
"It's a weird series when you take both teams that went into one another's buildings and won both games," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It's our turn to serve."
Anaheim had a 3-2 lead before Caggiula snapped a rebound over John Gibson's head at 18:18 of the third. It was the rookie's first career playoff point.
Gibson finished with 29 saves.
Edmonton led 2-0 after the opening period on goals from Lucic and McDavid.
Getzlaf sparked Anaheim's rally, scoring 97 seconds into the second and producing a go-ahead goal at 14:25. With his 35th and 36th playoff goals, Getzlaf surpassed Teemu Selanne as the franchise's career leader.
"It's just another exclamation point on the type of player Getzy's been for our hockey club," Carlyle said. "He's our captain, he's our leader. He's done a lot of things that go unnoticed and now in these situations in the playoffs, he's been a guy that's stepped to the forefront."
Patrick Eaves was scratched Wednesday due to a lower-body injury suffered in Game 3, so Corey Perry was reunited with Getzlaf on Anaheim's top line with Rakell.
Edmonton unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference on Getzlaf's goal at 1:37. The Oilers contended Perry bumped Talbot as he was beaten on a wrist shot.
The Ducks tied it at 2 when Getzlaf threaded a goal-mouth pass over to Rakell, who batted it past Talbot's glove. Getzlaf then pounced on a rebound that Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins failed to clear, giving Anaheim a 3-2 lead heading into the third.
Gibson held off the Oilers over the first 10 minutes of the game when they outshot the Ducks 8-3. McDavid was the most dangerous player in the opening minutes with a pair of scoring chances.
Lucic put Edmonton in front with a power-play goal at 15:38, and McDavid swept the puck over Gibson at 17:43 for his second goal of the series and fifth of the postseason. Leon Draisaitl assisted on each of the first-period goals. — Associated Press.
Full recap | Box score | Highlights
Here's a look at the other half of Tuesday night's Stanley Cup Playoffs action.
Penguins 3, Capitals 2 | PIT leads 3-1
The Washington Capitals dug themselves quite a hole through the first two games of their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but begun their ascent to the surface with a key win in Game 3.
Similarly, Game 4 in Pittsburgh was a must-win for the Caps, but they failed to get the job done and fell right back down to the bottom of that hole.
Less than five minutes into the contest, Pittsburgh rearguard Olli Maatta sprung Patric Hornqvist on a breakaway, resulting in a goal for the home squad.
The Penguins doubled their lead early in the middle frame thanks to a fortuitous bounce - an innocent fling of the wrist from Jake Guentzel towards the front of the net that ricocheted off Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov's skate and into the net.
Desperate to claw their way back, the Caps immediately answered with a pair of tallies in 1:12, from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nate Schmidt, tying the game at two-apiece. But Justin Schultz regained the lead for the Pens with a power play marker from the blue line at around the halfway point of the period.
The Capitals had numerous opportunities to retaliate, including a four-minute power play, but could not solve Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and fell by a score of 3-2.
Now facing elimination, Washington will need to put a "W" on the board on home ice Saturday night.
Full Recap | Box score | Highlights
Allen's toe save early in the third period Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators to keep the game tied 0-0 was part skill, part luck and 100-percent clutch.
