{"id":558234,"date":"2026-04-22T21:15:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/558234\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:15:53","slug":"connor-mcdavid-vows-oilers-power-play-will-adjust-to-ducks-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/558234\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor McDavid vows Oilers’ power play will adjust to Ducks defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 The NHL\u2019s top-ranked power play didn\u2019t convert two chances in Game 1 of the playoff series, a 4-3 Edmonton Oilers<\/a> win over the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oilers captain Connor McDavid<\/a> pointed the finger at himself.<\/p>\n

The Ducks didn\u2019t allow the Oilers easy entries into the offensive zone when Edmonton had the man-advantage, and it\u2019s often McDavid zipping the puck over the blue line with his superior speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was me \u2026 not being clean enough doing that,\u201d McDavid said Wednesday before Game 2 at Rogers Place. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an area we\u2019re very good at, not too concerned about it. With that being said, they threw some different things at us, and we\u2019ll adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton\u2019s power play topped the league this season with a 30.6 per cent success rate.<\/p>\n

The Ducks have former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft on the bench as an assistant coach. Woodcroft coached the Oilers to the Western Conference final in 2022 and the second round in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Oilers fired Woodcroft after a 3-9-1 start in the 2023-24 season. He was replaced by current coach Kris Knoblauch, who has navigated Edmonton to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup final.<\/p>\n

McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet Monday, allows Anaheim might have some intelligence on the Oilers that other opponents might not have because of Woodcroft. He downplayed the effect on Edmonton\u2019s power play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019d have lots,\u201d the captain said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything about our power play is hidden. We\u2019ve been doing this for a long time, and we know what we do really well, so I don\u2019t know how many secrets you can really tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch wasn\u2019t worried that his captain had, by his high standards, an off night to start the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time I see Connor do something, maybe not at his best, it usually doesn\u2019t last very long,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cHe usually finds a way to correct it.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAMANSKI IN FOR OILERS<\/p>\n

Oilers forward Josh Samanski<\/a> anticipated his NHL playoff debut in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Knoblauch confirmed it after the pre-game skate, with the 24-year-old expected to draw in at fourth-line centre for the injured Adam Henrique<\/a> between Colton Dach<\/a> and Trent Frederic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Samanski, who played for Straubing in the German league last year, had two goals and two assists in 24 games \u2014 he scored in Edmonton\u2019s regular-season finale against Vancouver \u2014 after he was first called up from the AHL\u2019s Bakersfield Condors in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding my game and taking pride in the D-zone and battling for pucks and trying to do the little things right, it\u2019s not easy for the coach to trust a young guy, especially (because) I played in the DEL last year and not sure what to expect,\u201d Samanski said Wednesday morning. \u201cOur staff and my teammates did a great job helping me adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl<\/a> both played for Germany in February\u2019s Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s great, and we don\u2019t just talk about hockey. It\u2019s just anything. It makes me feel real comfortable \u2014 and he\u2019s played a pretty big part in it,\u201d Samanski said.<\/p>\n

Samanski had a goal and an assist in five games in Milan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big stage,\u201d Samanski said. \u201cPlaying against the best players and playing with some of the best players \u2026 it definitely helped me. It definitely helped me make a jump in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six-foot-two, 195-pound forward was undrafted. Samanski spent the 2019-20 season with the OHL\u2019s Owen Sound Attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really, really solid, just really, really good in his own end, his attention to detail is really good,\u201d Oilers captain Connor McDavid<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing bad seems to happen when he\u2019s on the ice, so that\u2019s a great way to get into the league, from your net out.\u201d<\/p>\n

DUCKS BREAKING IN<\/p>\n

Thirteen Ducks made their NHL playoff debuts in Game 1.<\/p>\n

Anaheim returned to the post-season after a seven-year absence. After a rocky first period, the Ducks recovered to lead 3-2 early in the third before falling 4-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this series (continues), everybody\u2019s going to get a little bit better, because they know the opponent and know what each team has to do,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of respect for their team, their veterans, but especially their young guys who have a lot of potential. They\u2019re very exciting to watch and they\u2019ve had a lot of success early in their careers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be important for us not anticipating them fading away, because I don\u2019t think they\u2019re the type of players to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.<\/p>\n

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 The NHL\u2019s top-ranked power play didn\u2019t convert two chances in Game 1 of the playoff series,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,1739,5,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-558234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheimducks","11":"tag-ducks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116450435473254586","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}