EDMONTON, Alberta _ Connor McDavid lit up an orange-clad Rogers Place with a stunning cut against the grain move and score and the Edmonton Oilers had erased a three-goal deficit to put the Ducks back on the ropes in a must-win Game 3.
Instead of facing the Cam Talbot that put up a brick wall in Game 2, the Ducks faced a goalie that was eminently beatable Sunday night. And they did so often in getting back into the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.
Chris Wagner scored a game-winning response goal in the second period and the Ducks got two from winger Jakob Silfverberg to grab a 6-3 win over the Oilers to set up a pivotal Game 4 on Wednesday night.
McDavid's highlight-reel score past Ducks goalie John Gibson at 8:40 of the second pulled the Oilers into a 3-3 tie. And it appeared the Ducks were in deep trouble, with the Edmonton faithful gleefully chanting "Gib-son" in derision.
But while Talbot outplayed Gibson in stealing Game 2, it was Gibson who made the critical saves that steadied the Ducks. After McDavid's goal, Gibson made two acrobatic bang-bang saves on Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after foiling Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl the shift before.
Wagner got the Ducks back in front as he took a shot from the right circle that Talbot tried to make a stick save on but saw the puck deflect inward behind him. It would be the forward's first goal in 11 NHL playoff games.
Silfverberg delivered some insurance in the third with a one-time shot for his second of the night, with a review holding up the goal after Oilers coach Todd McLellan challenged that the winger was originally offside as the Ducks' Shea Theodore entered the zone with the puck.
A three-point night was capped when his shot on Talbot created a rebound that Ryan Kesler put in. Theodore and Manson each had two assists.
The Ducks had the ideal start for a team in need of one that's dealing with a daunting task. They turned a faceoff victory into a goal just 25 seconds in after Ryan Getzlaf hit Rickard Rakell with a length-of-the-ice stretch pass to the Edmonton blue line.
Rakell, who snuck in behind Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera, went in along on goalie Cam Talbot and scored the fastest goal by a Ducks player from the start of the game in their playoff history. The winger's first of this series and third of the postseason was only the start.
Silfverberg followed with a rebound goal created off a long-distance shot from Hampus Lindholm as Andrew Cogliano created enough havoc in front of Talbot for his goal-scoring linemate to jump on the loose puck.
Getzlaf made it 3-0 as he collected a turnover by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and quickly deposited into the net. The three goals also tied a club playoff mark for a first period.
It seemed as it would be a perfect opening 20 minutes for the Ducks but they couldn't get out of it unscathed. Patrick Maroon hut his old team again as he got credit for a goal when Nugent-Hopkins's deflection went in off him in front of Gibson.
