EDMONTON, Alberta _ Ryan Getzlaf made history Wednesday. But more important, he may have also saved the Anaheim Ducks' season, scoring two and assisting on two others in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series.
Jakob Silfverberg scored the game-winner 45 seconds into the extra period, one-timing a feed from Getzlaf _ who else? _ past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot from the center of the left circle.
Getzlaf's two second-period goals were the 35th and 36th of his postseason career, breaking Teemu Selanne's franchise record. And with two assists, Getzlaf has 13 points in eight playoff games this season.
But the number he and Ducks really care about is two. Because with back-to-back victories in Edmonton, they knotted the series with the Oilers at two wins apiece, turning the best-of-seven playoff into a best of three, beginning Friday night in Anaheim.
Home ice hasn't been an advantage in this series, though _ or in this postseason in general. With the Ducks' win Wednesday, the home team has lost all four games in this series. In the NHL postseason, the home team is 26-31.
The Oilers _ who hadn't lost consecutive games at home since March 12 and had lost consecutive games in regulation only three times in 67 games dating to Dec. 1 _ looked like they were going to buck this spring's playoff trendr with a solid first period in which they took advantage of a Ducks mistake and a freak bounce to take a 2-0 lead.
Milan Lucic got the first goal less than five minutes before the first intermission, collecting a loose puck in the crease and redirecting it off the near post 18 seconds after the Ducks were whistled for too many men on the ice.
Connor McDavid, the NHL's regular-season points leader, then doubled the advantage two minutes later with his second goal of the series. The Oilers captain was actually trying to get the puck to Leon Draisaitl in the slot, but the pass bounced off the right skate of Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore and came right back to McDavid, whose wrister beat Duck goalie John Gibson cleanly.
It was the second time in as many games that a puck that bounced off Theodore would up in the Ducks' goal. The Ducks have allowed at least one power-play goal in seven of their eight playoff games.
But the Ducks shut down the Oilers after that, with Edmonton going more than 13 minutes without a shot on goal at one point.
And that gave Getzlaf time to lead the comeback from the 2-0 deficit.
He took over the game early in the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle 97 seconds after the break. The goal was his sixth of this postseason, but he wasn't done. Four minutes later his pass through the crease found Rickard Rakell on the edge of the faceoff circle, and from there Rakell sent the puck past Talbot to tie the score.
Getzlaf then scored the go-ahead goal on a brilliant play with less than six minutes to play in the period. Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his back to Getzlaf when he reached out to control a rebound to the left of the Edmonton net. That allowed the Ducks captain to charge in from behind, take the puck off Nugent-Hopkins' stick and drive it past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot for his first multigoal playoff game.
But with the Ducks in sight of the finish line, Edmonton pulled Talbot with less than two minutes to play and Drake Caggiula made the move pay off, collecting a rebound in the slot and banging it home to sent the game to overtime. The overtime didn't last long, with Getzlaf intercepting a pass before setting up Silfverberg for the game winner.
