EDMONTON, Alberta � Flags with the familiar blue Oilers wordmark and orange oil drop logo have popped up on cars in this proud hockey city and jerseys filled Rogers Place on Saturday night as its favorite sons have Edmonton back in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
First place in the Pacific Division also became possible and the Oilers took that away from the Anaheim Ducks. Leon Draisaitl continued to terrorize them, giving Edmonton a 3-2 win with his overtime goal that had the sold-out arena at fever pitch.
Draisiatl scored his sixth goal against the Ducks in the teams' five meetings. The winger got pass from Connor McDavid on and odd-man rush and put a one-time shot past John Gibson. The rush occurred when Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf fell in the offensive zone and lost the puck.
The Oilers (44-25-9) and Ducks (42-23-13) both have 97 points but Edmonton holds the tiebreaker with one more regulation and overtime win.
"It's my responsibility with the puck," Getzlaf said. "I can't turn it over. Obviously it's not ideal. I turned it over too sharp and caught my foot. But three-on-three hockey, that's where it gets exposed. Everyone's moving forward and when you go down like that, it's an odd-man rush no matter what."
The Ducks fell to 2-10 in the five-minute overtime period but they got there largely because of Gibson's heroics. In his first game in three weeks, Gibson made several big stops among his 34 saves.
Patrick Eaves gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 8:58 of the third as the winger finished a pass from Antoine Vermette, who was left wide open. It was their second power-play goal in the two chances they had.
Gibson kept the Oilers at bay until 1:58 remained when Milan Lucic cashed in Vermette's hooking penalty by banging in a rebound after an initial save was made on Draisaitl. McDavid, the NHL's leading scorer, would factor in all three Edmonton goals.
"It stings because we take a penalty late in the third period," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't get the puck out along the wall and then we take a lazy hooking penalty that basically forces the referee to call it. And then we have a couple opportunities to clear the puck on the penalty kill and we don't get it down the ice.
"They score a goal there and then overtime hasn't been our friend this year, that's for sure. We slip and fall, give up a two-on-one and the game's over."
The Oilers seemed to feed off the buzz in the air as they had a dominating first period. McDavid led two odd-man rushes before the Ducks could even settle into the game. At times, they had Gibson under siege.
But Gibson delivered some big saves on McDavid and Jordan Eberle, giving hope for the Ducks to come out of the first unscathed. Instead, they couldn't stop the leading Hart Trophy contender or their former teammate.
Patrick Maroon is having a career season and the winger that the Ducks traded to the Oilers at last year's deadline burned his former team with a nice stickhandling move past Hampus Lindholm to get behind the net and look for McDavid in front.
Ducks center Ryan Kesler had an opportunity to clear the puck away but fanned on his attempt. The puck got to McDavid and the 20-year-old superstar put away his 29th goal of the season. It also became his NHL-leading 92nd point.
It could have been much worse for the Ducks, if not for Gibson as the goalie showed that he was fully recovered from the lower-body issues that had kept him out for all but one game since Feb. 20. A response was badly needed and it came in the second.
From the opening shift, the Ducks got two shots on Oilers goalie Cam Talbot and began to make him work. And then they got one by him, using a power play that's slumped all the way to the bottom third among the league's 30 teams.
After a faceoff win, Getzlaf got a cross-ice pass, quickly settled the puck and wound up a slap shot that sailed past Talbot on the far side for his 15th of the season. Eaves got in front of the goalie and kept him busy before moving out of the way of the shot.
And then when Eaves put them ahead, Gibson did all he could to protect it. Back-to-back-to-back saves were made on McDavid, Maroon and Darnell Nurse in one flurry. Lucic was denied on an entry a short time later.
"He was outstanding," Carlyle said. "Specifically in the first. We didn't have much going in the first. We were slow and off the mark. It just seems that early in some of these hockey games, we don't seem to get our feet moving."
Talbot kept it a one-goal difference by stopping Ducks winger Corey Perry on a breakaway. The workhorse goalie played his NHL-high 70th game of the season and won his 40th to tie Grant Fuhr's single-season Oilers record.
