The Edmonton Oilers kept their season alive Tuesday in Alberta, beating Joel Quenneville’s Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in Game 5 to pull within 3-2 in the series. Anaheim entered with a 3-1 lead and a chance to claim the franchise’s first series win since the 2017 playoffs, but Edmonton turned the game with a lineup shakeup and a tighter defensive plan.
Kris Knoblauch’s team rolled four forward lines and three defensive pairs, and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl started on the same line with Kasperi Kapanen. Edmonton also changed every defensive pair for Game 5, a blunt reset for a team that was staring at elimination and needed a different look from the start.
The move paid off. Connor Ingram started in goal for Edmonton and allowed one goal on 30 shots, while the Oilers leaned on back pressure to slow Anaheim’s rush game. That combination gave Edmonton the structure it had lacked earlier in the series and kept the Ducks from turning the game into the open-ice track meet they wanted.
The result leaves the series at 3-2 and shifts pressure back onto Anaheim after what had looked like a straightforward closing chance. The Ducks still hold the edge, but the margin is gone, and Edmonton has already shown it is willing to rewrite its lineup and its approach when the stakes rise.
For Quenneville, the loss is a missed chance to finish the job after Anaheim’s last series win came in the 2017 playoffs against Edmonton. For the Oilers, Game 5 was less about style than survival, and they got both the win and the momentum they needed to force the Ducks to answer again.
