Down 3-0 late in Friday night's NHL Stanley Cup playoff second-round Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers, the Anaheim Ducks scored three goals in three minutes.
While the Ducks will have the luxury of hosting Game 5, home-ice advantage hasn't amounted to much in this series as the road team has won each contest.
Just like that, the Ducks snatched victory form the jaws of defeat and head into Game 6 with a chance to advance to the Western Conference Final. If they are able to win on Sunday there would be a Game 7 on Wednesday night in Anaheim, but Sekera will not be available for either game. Game 6 is Sunday night.
Down by three goals with slightly more than three minutes left in the third period, victims of their own inability to capitalise on some golden breaks early in the game, the Ducks on Friday used the experience and the poise they have so carefully cultivated this season to take the game to overtime and to prevail on their 64th shot on goal.
No kidding, although as Fowler said Sunday morning when asked if the harsh loss in Anaheim by the Oilers would carry over to Game 6, it's only one game in a daffy-Duck series.
But when Ryan Getzlaf set up Perry for the 4-3 victor at 6:57 of the second overtime period, it left the Oilers dressing room full of fuming players.
"Puck drop", said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf.
But the spoils were not over there, Corey Perry would score in double overtime almost 30 minutes later with the help of Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell. "If we can do that, you never know what can happen in a game seven", said captain Connor McDavid.
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"I thought it was a hell of a game", Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. Oilers management, coaching staff, players and fans all felt that they had been screwed royally by the referees. He raised the decibel level with his third of the post-season - another 5-hole breakaway marker - prompted by an unbelievable backhand aerial pass from Letestu in the defensive zone to give the Oil a 3-0 lead.
"It's unfortunate we gave up three six-on-five goals. So, yes, we'd like to take care of it as soon as possible, but we know the challenge that's in front of us". Chalk it up to the inexperience of the young Oilers, who faltered when facing the possibility of sending the entire city of Edmonton into a frenzy with a pivotal, series-altering win. "(That) was Game 7. "We expect Game 7 to be a lot tighter".
The goal scored in the second overtime was basically an afterthought in the vanquished Edmonton Oilers' dressing room.
Edmonton's last Game 7 was the 2006 Stanley Cup final, which they lost 3-1 at Carolina. Rickard Rakell, who led the team during the regular season with a career-high 33 goals, has scored in back-to-back contests and totaled a plus-6 rating over those two games.
Kassian won a race with Ducks defensemen for a loose puck in Anaheim's zone.
In Game 5, the collapse was completed when, with 15 seconds left in a 3-2 game, Ryan Kesler appeared to be holding goalie Cam Talbot's leg in the crease as Rackell slid the puck five-hole. Their replacements were Griffin Reinhart and Eric Gryba.
Less than two-and-half minutes into the game, Oilers defenceman Matt Benning had to be helped off the ice after he was checked hard by Nate Thompson. After that, Oscar Klefbom left the game injured after blocking a shot, but he would return.
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