Nurse Leads Oilers – Ducks Into Game 6 With Season on the Line
oilers – ducks reached Game 6 in Anaheim on Thursday night with Edmonton’s season on the line, and Darnell Nurse said that pressure becomes easier to handle with experience. The defenseman was set to play his 100th NHL postseason game as the Oilers tried to keep their year alive.
Darnell Nurse and Edmonton
“The more exposure, the more times you go through it, you just enjoy playing in them more,” Nurse said ahead of Game 6. He added, “There's a tension that you feel when you're going through them the first few times. But (now), in moments like this, our group seems to enjoy it. We just want to come out here, play, and let the result take care of itself.”
Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid reached the 100-game mark in Game 4, putting three of Edmonton’s biggest names in that postseason range. Zach Hyman framed the same point from a different angle: “It's a different feeling when you play your first NHL game compared to when you play your 500th NHL game,” he said. “It's just a mentality, a mindset that for us there's nothing unexpected.”
Game 5 in Edmonton
The pressure built after Edmonton beat Anaheim 4-1 in Game 5, scoring three goals in the opening 10 minutes. Lukas Dostal gave up a goal on the opening shot for the second straight game and was pulled after allowing another early one, a rough stretch in a season when he had yielded an opening-shot goal 12 times. He got his net back for Game 6.
Through five games, the series was the highest-scoring in Round 1. Anaheim was averaging 4.2 goals per game, and Edmonton was right behind at 3.8, so the matchup had already tilted toward a track meet rather than a grind. That made the Ducks’ failed first chance to close out the series in Edmonton the most obvious slip point before they got another shot at home.
Anaheim’s second chance
Chris Kreider pushed back on any sense that Anaheim should be stunned by Edmonton’s response. “We shouldn't be surprised by their desperation,” he said after Game 5. “It's a hard thing to close out a series. (We should) match that, and exceed that.”
Kreider, 35 years old with 128 playoff games behind him, said ahead of Game 6, “It's a different narrative every game, right? The only one that makes a big deal about it is the media,” and added, “For us, each game is the most important game in the series. We have a great opportunity (Thursday night), we’re in a great spot, so let’s put our best foot forward.” Joel Quenneville described the Ducks’ younger players as the kind of group that can grow from this moment: “You welcome that challenge, that it's going to be fun to play a game where you're going to get pushed and challenged,” he said.
The result in Anaheim would decide whether Edmonton keeps moving or starts its offseason. For the Ducks, this was their second chance to end the series at home, and for the Oilers’ veterans, it was another high-stakes night that fits the way they say they prefer to play.
