Gauthier scores twice as Ducks beat Oilers 6-4 to tie series

Cutter Gauthier had a pair of goals and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks withstood a comeback attempt and defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 to pull even in their opening round playoff series on Wednesday.

Alex Killorn scored and contributed two helpers and Jacob Trouba had one of each for the Ducks, who are in the post-season for the first time since 2018. Ryan Poehling added two more goals for the visitors and Jackson Lacombe recorded three assists.

Leon Draisaitl, Connor Murphy, Zach Hyman and Josh Samanski replied for the Oilers.

Lukas Dostal made 33 stops to capture the win in the Anaheim net, while Connor Ingram recorded 22 saves for Edmonton.

The Ducks have won Game 2 in each of their previous three series when trailing 1-0 on the road.

The Oilers took a 4-3 decision in Game 1 of the best-of-seven matchup on Monday.

Draisaitl continued to make an impact in his return after missing the final 14 games of the regular season with a lower body injury. He opened the scoring Wednesday, banking a shot off of defender Drew Helleson's skate and in midway through the opening period.

The Ducks tied the game up on the power play with 7:12 remaining in the first as Gauthier's long shot through traffic beat Ingram for his first goal of the post-season.

Anaheim used another screen effectively 2:44 into the second period to take a 2-1 lead as Trouba scored on a point shot.

The Ducks got another power-play tally to grab a two-goal advantage 5:35 into the second as Killorn had his own return bounce back to him and scored.

Shortly before that goal, the Oilers got a real scare as star forward Connor McDavid left the game after his right leg got tied up with teammate Mattias Ekholm at the Edmonton blueline, but he returned a few minutes