The Anaheim Ducks will take another shot at moving up the standings when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
The Ducks missed an opportunity to close the gap on the final wild-card spot from the Western Conference when they lost 6-3 to the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.
Anaheim remains six points behind the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks for the second wild-card spot in the West.
The Ducks, who have not made the postseason since 2018, visit Vancouver on Wednesday.
Anaheim was feeling confident heading into its matchup against the Blackhawks, who own the second fewest points in the NHL, but the Ducks surrendered three goals in both the second and third periods.
“A lesson is you can’t underestimate an opponent,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said after the loss. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there was a sense of overconfidence.”
Chicago had not only lost five in a row entering the game, but the Blackhawks had traded defenseman Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers about 90 minutes before the puck dropped.
“I think they lost their focus,” Cronin said of the Ducks. “We know what’s at stake in terms of points. We know how to play the correct way.”
The Ducks will get forward Trevor Zegras back after he was suspended the past three games for an illegal hit on Michael Rasmussen of the Detroit Red Wings.
Leo Carlsson is also playing at his highest level of the season. He scored two goals against the Blackhawks to give him nine points (four goals, five assists) in the past eight games.
“Yeah, it feels good,” Carlsson said. “I felt more confident after the (two-week) break too, so it feels good, I guess.”
The Oilers ended a five-game losing skid with a 3-1 win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
“That would have been a long flight back if we would have lost that,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “But I think a lot of guys should feel good about themselves because they worked hard to get a win out here. Obviously, the road trip wasn’t to our standards with the wins and losses, but it was nice to get this one (against Carolina).”
Edmonton winger Leon Draisaitl did not score a goal for the first time in eight games, but he extended his point streak to 11 games (nine goals, six assists).
“It’s a big win for us,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit and couldn’t find our game for a while. The last two nights, I thought were better. You could see it trending in the right direction in Florida. Tonight was a really good effort by us. Some things to clean up always, but good effort.”
Edmonton and Anaheim met five days apart earlier this season and split both games.
Robby Fabbri, Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish each had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 win by the Ducks in Anaheim on Dec. 29, and Draisaitl scored the game-winner with 1:35 left in the third period in a 3-2 win by the Oilers on Jan. 3 in Edmonton.
–Field Level Media
