Oilers At Ducks: Playoff Repeat Or Redemption?

The Edmonton Oilers are playing the Anaheim Ducks for the first time since they ended their season in the first round last spring.

Now would probably be a decent time to put in some effort.

Anaheim eliminated Edmonton in six games last April, ending an Oilers season that had already been filled with frustration and disappointment from the fans and the players. Five months later, the Ducks are 2-0, albeit, they are also a much younger team.

Edmonton went into that playoff series with hopes of extending an already two year extended playoff run. Instead, Anaheim sent them home in the first round, and everyone else had an entire summer to think about how a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl managed to be finished before May really got started.

The Oilers have spent the months since talking about what went wrong. McDavid admitted they were an average team all year, Draisaitl said they never established their game, and Mike Babcock arrived with plenty to say about details and playing the right way.

Well, here's Anaheim again.

The Ducks haven't exactly spent the first week of the season waiting around either. They opened with a 4-3 win over Vegas, then beat Florida 3-2 in overtime on Sunday. That's Vegas and Florida in their first two games, and Anaheim walked away with four points.

So nobody should be arriving at Honda Center thinking about last year's version of the Ducks. Keep in mind, the Oilers lost their home opener to the Vancouver Canucks, then played a subpar game against Vancouver again. 

Edmonton comes in at 2-0-1, having played a game they can be proud of, and one Babcock probably didn't yell that them for against Seattle. The Oilers allowed 20 shots in a 3-1 win after giving up 13 goals during those first two games against Vancouver.

That Seattle game was probably nice for Babcock after watching the first 122 minutes of the season.

Look at last April, the Oilers first two games, and the Ducks record this season, and this could be a really tough game for the Oilers if they don't establish some control over it. The Ducks did it in April, and there's enough history there that this shouldn't feel like some random game in the first week of October.

Nobody needs a speech about revenge in Game 4 of an 84-game season. Winning tonight doesn't give Edmonton its playoff series back, and losing doesn't send anybody home.

There should still be something there, though.

The team across the ice ended Edmonton's season, and now they're undefeated through two games, they've already beaten Vegas and Florida, and the Oilers spent all summer talking about the lessons they were supposed to take from last year.

What else do you need on a Wednesday night in October?

The Oilers allowed six goals in the opener, scored nine two nights later and nearly gave away an 8-2 lead before finally settling things down against Seattle.

Anaheim should get their attention.

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