The Edmonton Oilers will look to rebound from a rare loss when they visit the Ducks in the second half of a back-to-back set for both clubs on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
The Oilers are coming off a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday in a game in which Edmonton led 3-2 after 40 minutes. The Oilers scored twice on their first four shots of the second period to pull ahead after trailing 2-1 after the first period.
“Just not having enough of our lines going,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We had strong contributions from some guys, but we just couldn’t maintain the momentum because of everyone not playing to their best.”
The loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak, was just the fourth in the past 16 games for the Oilers, who are 12-3-1 in that stretch. It bumped them down to third in the Pacific Division, tied in points with the Kings but with fewer regulation wins, and was their fourth loss in eight games against a division foe this season (4-3-1).
Viktor Arvidsson, who signed with Edmonton as a free agent after three seasons with Los Angeles, scored against his former team in the loss and has three points in his past two games. He’s played nearly the entire season on the Oilers’ second line, centered by Leon Draisaitl. The pivot forced the turnover that led to Arvidsson’s goal.
The line, which also includes Vasily Podkolzin, out-attempted the Kings 20-7.
“I just think we think the game kind of the same way,” Arvidsson said of the chemistry that’s developed with Draisaitl. “Still some details we got to maybe clean up to maybe get the puck in the net more, but I think we’re finding each other and know where we are on the ice, so it’s good.”
The Ducks enter Sunday’s game having lost two straight, both by 3-1 results, including their most recent outing when they hosted the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. The skid comes after a rare successful stretch for the rebuilding club, which had won three of its previous four games.
“I think we’ve come a long way,” forward Ryan Strome said. “I hate taking moral victories and trying to find positives, but I feel like in this situation we kind of have to do that, and we have to try and find positives because when you get negative, you get down on yourselves and it’s even harder to score goals.”
Anaheim has struggled offensively over the past few seasons. This season, the team sits last in the NHL in total goals (81) and goals-per-game average (2.38). It finished 30th in those categories last season and 31st the season before.
“You’ve got to score goals in this league to win,” Strome said. “We’ve got to try to generate a little bit more, have a little more confidence. Hopefully, we can find it here because it seems like we’re doing a lot of good things. I don’t want to get too down on the group.”
Troy Terry has four of his team-leading 10 goals in his past nine games after scoring none in his previous nine.
–Field Level Media
