EDMONTON OILERS VERSUS ANAHEIM DUCKS
| Record | Goal differential | Corsi tied | 5-on-5 ZS %
----------|--------|---------|---------|---------|---------
Oilers | 47-26-9 (103 pts) | +35 | 49.63% (17th) | 50.88% (10th)
Ducks | 46-23-13 (105 pts) | +23 | 50.24% (13th) | 48.34% (25th)
Series price: Oilers +104 vs Ducks -115 (decimal: Oilers 2.04 vs Ducks 1.87)
First round results:
- Edmonton eliminated San Jose in 6 games (combined score: 12 to 14 – yes, a 7-0 loss will screw up your goal differential!).
- Anaheim eliminated Calgary in 4 games (combined score: 14 to 9).
Edmonton’s young guns were able to eliminate the defending Western Conference champions, the San Jose Sharks, in six games. They overcame a horrible 7-0 loss in Game 4 by winning the next two contests to close out the series. David Desharnais’ overtime winner in Game 5 was a pivotal moment for them.
A lot has been said about the Oilers’ lack of playoff experience. That did not prevent them from sending San Jose home. They are now facing another team with quite a bit of postseason experience: the Ducks are in the big dance for the fifth straight year.
The season series was pretty even between these two teams: the Oilers won 3 out of 5, but two of those wins came in extra time. Prior to this year, the Ducks had won 4 consecutive matches versus Edmonton.
As mentioned in my first round analysis, I picked the Oilers despite being worried about the fatigue factor regarding goalie Cam Talbot, who started 7 more games than any other goalie in the league for a grand total of 73. As the Oilers get deeper in the playoffs, that becomes an even bigger source of concern.
There are no key injuries to report for Edmonton, while Anaheim may welcome its best defenceman Cam Fowler for Game 1 (if not, he is expected to be back in the lineup very soon). As for Sami Vatanen, his status is unclear but all signs point towards him playing very soon.
Ryan Getzlaf is on a tear: he has 39 points over the last 29 games. As expected, Connor McDavid led his team with 4 points in its first round series. Surprisingly, the Oilers have only scored an average of 2 goals per game in their series against the Sharks. That’s not good news considering Anaheim allowed the fourth fewest goals in the regular season.
If you include the four-game sweep against Calgary, the Ducks are on an amazing roll: they are now 15-0-3 over their past 18 games. The Oilers have also been doing great by winning 16 of their last 20 matches, including the playoffs.
Anaheim will need to figure out its penalty kill pretty soon after allowing 6 goals in 16 opportunities against the Flames, especially against Edmonton which ranked 5th on the power play this season.
FINAL PICK: These teams are very evenly matched, so it’s hard not to pick this series to reach the limit. I’m going to go with Anaheim to win in seven games. Jakob Silfverberg scores the game winner in the decisive game. How is that for a prediction?