Oilers smother Ducks, 7-2
Dec 31, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks left wing Brock McGinn (26) passes the puck against Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) during the second period at Honda Center. credits: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports Warren Foegele had two goals and three assists and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists as the visiting Edmonton Oilers cruised to their fifth straight victory, beating the Anaheim Ducks 7-2 on Sunday night.
It was the first five-point game of Foegele's career. Ryan McLeod had a goal and an assist, Darnell Nurse had two assists and Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Brett Kulak also scored for Edmonton, which improved to 7-0-2 in its past nine visits to Anaheim.
Calvin Pickard made 28 saves for the Oilers.
Max Jones and Frank Vatrano scored for Anaheim, which suffered its league-high 14th home loss in 20 games (6-14-0). John Gibson finished with 32 saves.
Edmonton, playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 3-2 shootout win at Los Angeles on Saturday night, jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 4:15 mark of the first period on McLeod's wrist shot from the low slot.
Anaheim tied it, 1-1, at 9:10 of the period when Jones put in a rebound of a Ryan Strome shot. But the Oilers regained the lead at the 17:22 mark when Kane wrapped a shot around the right post and through Gibson's pads for his 14th goal of the season.
Edmonton extended its lead to 5-1 with three second-period goals.
Draisaitl made it 3-1 when he one-timed a shot from below the right circle off a Nurse pass for his 17th goal of the campaign.
Foegele then redirected a Nurse pass from the right point into the left side of the net to extend the lead to 4-1, and he followed that up by snapping in a wrist shot from the right side of the net off a McLeod pass from the end boards.
The Ducks cut their deficit to 5-2 at the 4:49 mark of the third period on Vatrano's 17th goal, but Hyman answered with his team-leading 21st goal four minutes later, firing a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle.
Kulak capped the scoring with 4:11 to go with his second goal of the season.
—Field Level Media
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