McDavid scores, but Oilers' defence leaky to trail in playoff series against Ducks

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Connor Ingram, left, skates off the ice after the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Oilers in Game 3 in the first round of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs series Friday, April 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

ANAHEIM — Connor McDavid scored his first goal and produced his first multi-point game of the playoffs. The Edmonton Oilers scored their first power-play goal of the post-season.

Those benefits were erased by Edmonton’s flailing defence in the face of the speedy, opportunistic Anaheim Ducks in a 7-4 loss on Friday.

The Oilers trail 2-1 in their best-of-seven, first-round series against the Ducks, who won the team’s first home playoff game in eight years at the Honda Center.

“Any time you let in seven, and it’s not a goalie problem, it’s just defending better,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance with the amount of goals we gave up.”

Game 4 is Sunday at the Honda Center before the series returns to Edmonton for Tuesday’s Game 5.

The Oilers have given up 14 goals to Anaheim — not counting two empty-netters — in the first three games of the series.

“We didn’t give up very much in the second game. I thought we defended well,” Edmonton’s head coach Kris Knoblauch said.

“Tonight, not so much. Just give them freebies, just not digging in front of the net, giving up odd-man rushes.

Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup final each of the last two years.

But the Oilers were particularly leaky in the latter stages of Friday’s Game 3, and allowed 39 shots on goaltender Connor Ingram.

Edmonton led 3-2 for seven minutes in the second period.

Flanked by Edmonton’s top defensive pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, Mikael Granlund flipped a rebound over to Alex Killorn to shoot into an open net for the equalizer.

Anaheim then scored twice in 33 seconds early in the third. Leo Carlsson made it 5-3 on an odd-man rush off an offensive-zone turnover by the Oilers.

McDavid, who led the NHL in points three of the last four post-seasons, was held off the scoresheet in the first two games of the series when Edmonton’s power play went 0-for-6.

McDavid assisted on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ go-ahead goal in the second period. His power-play goal pulled the visitors within one in the third.

But the Ducks were quicker on the rush than Edmonton’s defence was at getting organized in its own end when Jeff Viel restored Anaheim’s two-goal lead with just over three minutes to play.

“I feel like we’re giving them these wins,” said Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s a race to four wins. We’re not going to panic, but we have to learn from our mistakes and just be better next game.

“We have to get pucks deep and not be turning pucks over because they counter pretty well. They have a lot of young talent and a lot of speed. We have to keep getting it deep, and our forechecks can be a lot better. Defensively, we have to be quicker, skate more and close our gaps more.”

Bouchard, Ekholm, McDavid and Hyman were a combined minus-12 in the game.

“They certainly carried us the previous two years,” Knoblauch said. “They absolutely did, and right now to say that it’s all on their shoulders is completely unfair. Everyone needs to step up a little bit.”

According to NHL statistics, when a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 holds an all-time series record of 245-124 (. 664). When Game 3 is won at home, it’s 111-67 (. 624).

The Oilers trailed the Los Angeles Kings 0-2 to start their first-round series last year before winning four games in a row to take it.

“There’s a lot of hockey left to be played,” Ekholm said. “The momentum shifts, the swings, we’ve all been through it in here, so lean on that, take a deep breath knowing that the sun’s going to come up tomorrow and we’ve got a big game coming up in Game 4.

“We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to execute at a higher level, and we haven’t brought close to our best yet.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press