Connor McDavid did not look like Connor McDavid on the power play, and the Edmonton Oilers still found a way to beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Edmonton went 0-for-2 with the man advantage, and McDavid never gained the zone on either entry. Anaheim’s penalty killers stripped him of the puck repeatedly as he tried to carry it in, a rare sight for a player whose club usually breaks down a penalty kill with pace and precision.
“That was me just not being clean enough,” McDavid said after the game. He added that Anaheim “threw some different things at us, and we’ll adjust,” and called the first period good, the second no good and the third one in which Edmonton “found a way to win a game.”
That mattered because Edmonton’s power play is normally one of its most reliable edges. Kris Knoblauch said he could see McDavid’s frustration on the entries and gave Anaheim credit for making it hard for the Oilers to get into the zone. “Anytime I see Connor do something, maybe not at his best, it usually doesn’t last very long. He usually finds a way to correct it,” Knoblauch said.
The Ducks had a reason to know Edmonton’s habits. Assistant Jay Woodcroft spent more than two seasons as the Oilers’ head coach from 2021-23, after working three seasons as Todd McLellan’s assistant in Edmonton from 2015-18. That history could make Anaheim more familiar than most opponents with how Edmonton wants to attack special teams.
The series now turns to Game 2 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. MT, 10 p.m. ET, on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+. Edmonton will again be without Adam Henrique and the Ducks will also miss Radko Gudas, forcing both sides to adjust their lineups after a physical Game 1 that also left Jason Dickinson nursing a bad ankle and Henrique’s knee buckling after he ran into teammate Kasperi Kapanen.
For Anaheim, the challenge is building on a penalty-killing plan that worked for long stretches in Game 1. For Edmonton, the test is simpler: restore the zone-entry game that usually opens everything else up.