EDMONTON — Thirteen players on the Anaheim Ducks took part in their first Stanley Cup playoff game on Monday night, including their starting goalie.
That’s a huge number for any team, never mind one that has to deal with an Edmonton Oilers squad that reached the doorstep of a Stanley Cup championship for two seasons. But this Anaheim team has turned over its entire roster since its previous playoff appearance in 2018.
Even so, the Ducks had a shot to take Game 1, even with all those newcomers, and put a chill into the Oilers. The game got away from them, as a third-period lead was lost on Jason Dickinson’s tying goal and Kasperi Kapanen’s game-winner with 1:54 left in regulation, leading to a 4-3 Edmonton triumph.
This loss can’t be the Ducks’ best shot. They can show, in Game 2 on Wednesday, what they have in store for the Oilers.
“We’ve all watched playoff hockey,” Ducks winger Troy Terry said. “We have some guys that have won a (Stanley) Cup. Played far in the playoffs. Yeah, we have a pretty big number of guys that it’s their first time. It seems daunting almost, just the excitement and just everything.
“So, I think it’s unfortunate the result of that game and it’s going to be tough to swallow, but we got to put it behind us. But I think we kind of got our feet under us. Yeah, we’re into this thing now.”
Throw out a sluggish first period in which they were severely outplayed, and the Ducks were right there with the Oilers. Once the second 20 minutes began, it looked as though they had cleared their postseason cobwebs. And the players new to the playoff dance were the ones making moves to spark Anaheim’s comeback.
Trailing 2-0 after Dickinson and Kapanen scored a minute apart late in the first period, the Ducks followed their season-long script of turning it on after falling behind. Terry, in his first playoff game after eight seasons as an everyday player and consummate professional through the toughest times in Anaheim, didn’t let the moment pass without applying his stamp.
Just 19 seconds into the second period, Terry jumped on a rebound that Oilers goalie Connor Ingram left after a Leo Carlsson shot. The winger’s finish got Anaheim back in the game. Carlsson and Terry combined again just over four minutes later, with Carlsson cashing in Terry’s rebound-creating shot on Ingram off an Edmonton turnover.
When Terry fired in a wrist shot to convert on a power play at 14:29 of the second period, the Ducks had their first lead at 3-2. The moment wasn’t too big for either top-line forward. Terry’s two goals and assist came on nine shot attempts. Carlsson led all players on both sides with 13 shot attempts, including a game-high nine on net.
Carlsson missed out on playing in the Olympics for Sweden because he needed surgery to repair a lesion on his thigh. He said he felt nervous before the game but also called it “super cool” to play in a frenzied Rogers Place atmosphere on a big stage.
“Obviously, you think it’s going to be the hardest thing ever, the first game,” Carlsson said. “But it wasn’t the hardest game I’ve ever played in my life. It was a hard game for sure, but also a very fun game.”
They weren’t the only young Ducks who thrived in their playoff debuts. Jackson LaCombe was on the ice for the winning goal, unable to keep Leon Draisaitl from powering deep into the Anaheim zone or Vasily Podkolzin from feeding Kapanen in front. But otherwise, LaCombe played a collected game from the blue line, logging more than 26 minutes that included starting the play on Terry’s first goal.
LaCombe found out how playoff hockey is different. The Oilers, particularly in the first half of the game, hit the mobile defenseman whenever they were able to get a clean shot on him. He absorbed those hits and then gave one of his own, with a reverse thump into Zach Hyman that left the Edmonton forward needing to collect himself and visit the concussion spotter before returning.
Jackson LaCombe looking like a brick wall out there 🧱#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/CkYAS4y2Z7
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) April 21, 2026
“It’s just going to be physical, obviously,” LaCombe said. “It’s playoff hockey. It’s what you expect. Hits are going to go both ways, and that’s just how it happened.”
It was a mixed bag for the rest of the Ducks’ playoff first-timers. Tyson Hinds, who played his first six NHL games at the end of the regular season, got caught flat-footed on Dickinson’s breakaway goal in the first. Moments later, Pavel Mintyukov lost a puck battle that eventually was cashed in by Kapanen. Both did largely recover from the missteps.
Rookie winger Beckett Sennecke was on the ice for two goals against but also had six shots on goal as he created offensive chances and kept the risky plays to a minimum. Cutter Gauther, who led the Ducks with 41 goals during the regular season, had little impact with just one shot on goal in 13 minutes. And goalie Lukáš Dostál had a night befitting his up-and-down season, making 30 stops but also giving up two rebound goals.
If anything, the Ducks also need more from their veteran players. Six of them have more than 600 combined games of playoff experience and they’ve been a resource for younger teammates. But they need to perform better on the ice.
Chris Kreider had an assist but also committed a costly turnover that ultimately resulted in Kapanen’s first goal. John Carlson couldn’t bat away the rebound that Kapanen’s first shot created after failing to block the first attempt. Radko Gudas fell as he retreated into his zone, giving Mattias Ekholm a clean shot that created the rebound for Dickinson to bury in the third period. Alex Killorn took both Ducks penalties, which they killed.
The Oilers got it done with role players. They executed the finer details better.
“Obviously, they’re an experienced team,” LaCombe said. “I think for us, we’ve just have to come out like we did in the second to start the game. They were on us early. They were playing physical, doing the right things, getting pucks to the net. I think we can take a page from their book.”
Ducks coach Joel Quenneville, back in a playoff setting in his first year behind Anaheim’s bench, said some of the plays made by his team on Oilers goals were preventable. But he wasn’t totally discouraged with the events of an unfulfilled night.
That was especially true of those in their first playoff game. The Ducks were on equal footing with the more experienced Oilers through the final two periods, if not at times better. Now they must sustain it over a full game Wednesday to even the series before it shifts to Anaheim.
“I’ve been hopeful to get an opportunity to see the guys play and there’s a lot of positives in the game,” Quenneville said. “I thought playing with a purpose is something that we need to prove and get comfortable with and I thought we, for the most part — there were some mistakes and they were glaring early — but at the same time I thought we played a strong team game other than flurries, which they’re capable of. Those two stretches certainly was the difference.”