The Anaheim Ducks can take a major step towards locking up their first Pacific Division title in nine years when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon.
The Ducks (41-27-4, 86 points) own a five-point lead over the Oilers (36-28-9, 81 points) for first place in the division and have 10 regular-season games remaining while the Oilers have nine.
The Vegas Golden Knights, who are seven points behind Anaheim, also have nine games remaining.
“Every point is magnified,” Edmonton forward Zach Hyman said. “It’s hard to gain points when there are only nine games left.”
Edmonton stayed on Anaheim’s heels with a 4-3 overtime win at Las Vegas on Thursday night, a couple hours after the Ducks wrapped up a 3-2 overtime road win over the Calgary Flames.
Edmonton let three one-goal leads slip away against Vegas before defenseman Evan Bouchard won it at 3:10 of overtime. The Oilers will try for three wins in a row against the Ducks, a streak they have put together just once this season.
“We’re looking more like we’re playing a playoff game,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Like, things matter. Things like attention to detail. We’re simplifying our game. It’s nice to see. The games are so important right now that everyone seems like they’re dialed in.”
The Ducks will try for their fifth straight win, something they’ve already accomplished three times this season.
Anaheim kept its winning streak alive with the overtime win against the Flames, its NHL-leading 25th come-from-behind win this season.
“We magically tied it late and we scored late, late in overtime,” Quenneville said. “We’ll take it, but I still think it would be nice to clean some things up.”
Mikael Granlund scored his second goal of the game with 3:33 left in regulation to tie the score against the Flames, and then completed the hat trick with one second left in overtime.
“There’s easier ways to find a way to win a game, but that’s how it’s been,” Granlund said. “I think we need to try to get better starts and score the first goal. We know in the playoffs that’s going to be really important.”
Granlund is catching fire at the right time, scoring seven goals in his four-game goal streak.
“It feels good, I guess I’ll just keep shooting as long as this lasts,” he said. “The pucks are just going in right now, so obviously it’s a good feeling.”
The Ducks played Calgary without forwards Jansen Harkins and Troy Terry.
Harkins sustained an upper-body injury in a 5-3 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, while Terry was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury. Terry has missed 20 games this season due to injuries.
“We had some maintenance days with him before, and we’ll say (Thursday) was one too,” Quenneville said of Terry.
Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas left Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury in the second period. Gudas was in his second game back after serving a five-game suspension for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and ending his season.
“I think he’s OK,” Quenneville said of Gudas. “We’ll check on him (Friday).”
