EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) 鈥� Cutter Gauthier broke a tie off a rebound with 4:52 left and the Anaheim Ducks beat Edmonton 6-4 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the first-round series, with Oilers star Connor McDavid escaping a leg injury.
McDavid caught an edge with his skate blade early in the second period after getting tangled up with teammate Mattias Ekholm and the Ducks鈥� Ian Moore. McDavid briefly left the game before returning, playing just over 24 minutes.
鈥淚t’s fine,鈥� McDavid said. “I just rolled up on it a little bit.鈥�
Game 3 is Friday night in Anaheim. Edmonton opened the series Monday night with a 4-3 victory.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been in this situation a lot, 1-1 going on the road,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e comfortable on the road, we like playing on the road. Obviously, we鈥檇 like a better outcome tonight and a better product tonight, but we鈥檙e comfortable going on the road.鈥�
Gauthier put the Ducks back in front after Josh Samanski 鈥� making his playoff debut 鈥� tied it at 4 with 6:09 to go. Ryan Poehling put it away with an empty-netter with 1:10 left, his second goal of the game. He scored short-handed in the second.
鈥淲e have the confidence,鈥� Gauthier said. 鈥淎ll season long when games have been tied and we鈥檝e been down goals, we鈥檝e been in some high-pressure moments.鈥�
Gauthier also scored on a first-period power play and set up Alex Killorn’s second-period goal on a man advantage. Killorn added two assists.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 kind of been the way we鈥檝e been the entire year,鈥� Killorn said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 stressful playing that way. I think we鈥檙e getting used to it, but I think we鈥檇 like to be a little bit better with the lead and hold on to some of those leads. But the resiliency in this group is pretty phenomenal.鈥�
Jacob Trouba added a goal, fellow defenseman Jackson LaCombe had three assists and Lukas Dostal stopped 33 shots.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for Edmonton. He returned for Game 1 from a lower-body injury against Nashville on March 15.
Connor Murphy and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers, and Connor Ingram made 22 saves.
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