What McDavid said about struggling Edmonton Oilers power play
The Edmonton Oilers aren’t just losing the special teams battle against the Anaheim Ducks; they’re getting absolutely dominated through two games.
Game 2 made that abundantly clear, as the Oilers allowed two power-play goals against and a shorthanded marker in a disappointing 6-4 loss. Meanwhile, Edmonton failed to capitalize on its four power play chances, bringing the group to a dismal 0/6 through the first two games of the series.
It’s a shocking stat, as the Oilers finished the NHL regular season with the top PP, while the Ducks finished near the bottom at 23rd. It looks like the opposite right now, as Anaheim is the top PP team in the playoffs, with a conversion rate of 60 per cent.
So, what is happening to this Oilers power play? Captain Connor McDavid tried to find the answers after the loss.
“I still thought we had looks, I still thought we had chances, obviously we gotta find a way to score, we can’t give up a shorty either,” McDavid said. “I think people forget, Leon’s just back, [Hyman’s] just back, as good as the power play is, it’s still a work in progress.
“We haven’t ran our normal routes and had our normal looks for some time. It’s not a light switch, so we’re working at it obviously, and we’ll be part of this series. We will be.”
"We've been in this situation a lot, 1-1 going on the road… We'd like a better outcome tonight but we're comfortable going on the road."
Connor McDavid on the #Oilers outlook after splitting at home.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Ks8pPmMq9v
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 23, 2026
McDavid himself has had a few forgettable games to start this series as well. He was the culprit on the shorthanded goal against on Wednesday night, as he threw the puck blindly into the middle of the ice.
He gave a little bit of insight into what went wrong on that play.
“Just a little bit of a miscommunication,” McDavid said. “Just a miscommunication, and obviously can’t let that pass by.”
MCDAVID WITH A BRUTAL TURNOVER AND THE DUCKS SCORE SHORTHANDED 🫨😬 pic.twitter.com/0p2tSos1eB
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 23, 2026
It’s the first time in his NHL career that he has been held scoreless in three straight playoff games, dating back to last year’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
On the flipside of the special teams conversation, the Oilers’ penalty kill hasn’t been much better. They’ve allowed three goals against on five opportunities, giving them a success rate of just 40 percent.
Connor Murphy is an important defenceman for that unit and tried to make sense of the PK’s struggles early on against Anaheim.
“I wouldn’t say [we’re struggling in] one area consistently,” Murphy said. “There are different plays that come, and we just gotta bear down. When we get momentum, that’s the thing with penalty kills, when you get momentum, even when you give up chances, you feel confident it’s not going to go in.
“For us, we’ll gain that confidence and keep going with it.”
"We have to bear down & make it low scoring. Our offence will take over from our defensive play. That's something we gotta be better at."
Connor Murphy weighs in on the #Oilers focus to shut down Anaheim's scoring.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/rnc7NoKPsA
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 23, 2026
The good news is that the series is tied at 1-1, so there is no reason to panic just yet. Edmonton is a veteran team that has been in these kinds of situations before. Just last season, they went down 2-0 against the LA Kings before storming back to win the series in six games.
They will, however, need to start seeing better results on both the PP and PK if they hope to regain the series lead in Anaheim.