After two games on the road in Anaheim, the Edmonton Oilers return home and find themselves in a dire situation.
When they left the series was tied 1-1 but now they go back to Edmonton trailing 3-1 with their backs against the wall. They need to win the next three games straight or their 2025-26 season will come to an end in embarrassing fashion.
The Oilers have made two straight Stanley Cup Finals leading into this season, coming close to winning the ultimate NHL prize but could be eliminated in the first round if they do not pull it together.
It does not help anybody feel better that after coughing up two separate leads at 2-0 heading into the second and then their 3-2 lead with less than seven minutes to go in the third that they lost in overtime off a very controversial goal.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 27, 2026
Controversial goal has fans split
Despite what some will say, it feels quite obvious that the puck is over the line, even if you cannot actually see it. Not to mention, the argument that the referees should not have called it a goal on the ice because of their lines of sight (or lack thereof). Either way, this does not stop some fans from being upset.
There’s no way it definitively crossed the line
— Joe (@xislanders) April 27, 2026
Irrelevant. There is no video evidence of it crossing, or not crossing, the line. No goal by rule.
— Tom Eh 🇨🇦 (@TomTHEDogiecoin) April 27, 2026
The league precedence is to NOT infer a puck is over the line but they did so here. I've seen several goals called back when the goalie catches the puck in the net but it's waved off because they couldn't see it.
— Mike Woytovicz (@MikeWoytovicz) April 27, 2026
The majority seems to be in favour of logic and reason thankfully with many fans even begrudingly calling it a goal.
"Um excuse me, but even if the puck fully crossed the line, the ref didnt SEE it go over, so that means they should ignore reality and call this no goal 🤓"
— The Majestic American Woodcock (@thetimberdoodle) April 27, 2026
You can try to rules lawyer your way out of this all you want. The puck went in.
Yeah that’s a goal. I know we can’t see it technically but it’s in the net and it’s pretty obvious
— Jim Lift (@JimLift) April 27, 2026
Oilers failures their own fault
Despite being on the wrong side of a controversial call, bad luck is not typically the only reason when your team goes down 3-1. The Oilers have been simply outmatched way too often to justify anything other than the current result.
Through four games they have been outscored 20-15, outshot 133-122, and out chanced. According to Moneypuck.com at five-on-five, the Ducks lead the Oilers in expected goals Ducks 8.87 to Oilers 7.68. This looks quite bad on the Oilers goalies whose struggles this season have bled into the playoffs with Connor Ingram having allowed three goals above expected through three games while Tristan Jarry allowed 0.51 above expected in his one game on Sunday.
It is not just the goalies who must share the blame, the coaching staff have not been able to keep up with the Ducks and have allowed them to suppress their offensive drivers. As well, their stars like Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard have been unable to break through and despite the former leading the entire NHL in scoring and the latter leading all defencemen throughout the regular season, that has not translated to success this postseason.
The Oilers now find themselves in the near impossible position of coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. Every game is a must-win for the rest of the series and the Oilers will need to step it up if they plan to come back.
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