The Edmonton Oilers are forcing the Anaheim Ducks to face their Game 7 playoff demons.
Their Western Conference semifinal is going the distance after Edmonton’s decisive 7-1 victory Sunday.
The winner of Wednesday’s Game 7 in Anaheim meets the Nashville Predators in the conference final.
Leon Draisaitl led the Oilers with a hat trick with Mark Letestu scoring twice for the hosts. Edmonton also got goals from Zach Kassian and Anton Slepychev in front a euphoric wall of orange at Rogers Place.
Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot turned away 34-of-35 shots for the win.
“Obviously the season was on the line and we all had to step it up a notch and the whole group did,” Draisaitl said.
Edmonton had sprinted to a six-goal lead by the first minute of the second period before the Ducks countered with a lone goal from Rickard Rakell.
READ MORE: Oilers’ Game 6 trouncing of the Ducks sets off social media explosion
Watch below: Shallima Maharaj filed this report from Rogers Place early in Game 6 between the Oilers and Ducks in their second-round playoff series on Sunday.
The Oilers scoring three goals on their first six shots prompted Anaheim to replace John Gibson with Jonathan Bernier, who stopped 24-of-28 shots in relief.
Momentum has swung to Edmonton, while the Ducks are under pressure to reverse a trend. Anaheim has lost a Game 7 at home each of the last four years.
Watch below: The Ducks had a chance to finish off the Oilers in their playoff series on Sunday night but instead, the series is headed back to Anaheim for Game 7. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle spoke to reporters after the game.
The Ducks were eliminated in the first rounds of 2016 (Nashville) and 2013 (Detroit), the second round of 2014 (Los Angeles) and the third round of 2015 (Chicago) in seventh games at the Honda Center.
What’s more, the Ducks led each of those series 3-2 before back-to-back losses ended their seasons.
“Even for us to come out in the second period and get that sixth goal, that was big,” Letestu said. “It showed we weren’t going to get back on our heels and possibly let them get back into the hockey game.
“We’re not going to blow teams out like this all the time. We expect Game 7 to be a lot tighter.”
The Oilers won twice in Anaheim to open this series and narrowly lost Game 5 there in double overtime.
Edmonton’s last Game 7 was the 2006 Stanley Cup final, which they lost 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.
Rogers Place was highly sensitive to officiating Sunday given the perceived injustice of allowing Friday’s tying goal to withstand a goaltender interference challenge.
The Oilers were up 3-0 and on the cusp of taking a 3-2 series lead home when the Ducks became just the second team in NHL playoff history to erase a three-goal deficit in the last four minutes of regulation.
Ducks centre Ryan Kesler had his glove on Talbot’s pad when Rakell put a backhand between his pads to tie it with 15 seconds remaining. Corey Perry then scored the double-overtime winner.
So, the Oilers were a team on a mission in Game 6.
READ MORE: Edmonton Oilers face possible elimination for first time in 2017 playoffs
“We knew we had to keep our foot on the gas pedal and the hockey gods gave us a chance in Game 7,” Milan Lucic said.
Draisaitl completed his hat trick on a give-and-go with Lucic at 15:27 of the second period, when Kesler was serving a roughing minor.
On a cross-ice feed from Perry, Rakell caught Talbot out of his net to score for the Ducks at 8:56.
Slepychev extended the host team’s lead to six goals 45 seconds into the period on an odd-man rush with Patrick Maroon.
Letestu put a one-timer over Bernier’s right pad for a power-play goal at 18:45 of the first period.
Bernier left the puck unattended instead of smothering a rebound, which gave Letestu two swings at it with success on his second try at 11:39.
Kassian won a footrace with Ducks defencemen for a loose puck in Anaheim’s zone. He shook off Josh Manson and beat Gibson with a forehand five-hole at 8:25.
Gibson was fooled by Draisaitl’s no-look backhand off a feed from Milan Lucic at 7:22. Draisaitl whiffed on breakaway, but the puck had enough forward momentum to slide under Gibson at 2:45.
Draisaitl has a team-leading four goals and nine assists in the series.
Edmonton’s blue line ran with reinforcements as Eric Gryba and Griffin Reinhart drew in for Andrej Sekura and Oscar Klefbom.
Sekura played less than two minutes in Game 5 because of an apparent leg injury. Klefbom took a shot in the chest and missed half a period, but returned to that game.
Klefbom left warmup early Sunday and was replaced in the lineup by Reinhart.
Watch below: Some videos from Global News’ ongoing coverage of the Edmonton Oilers’ 2017 NHL playoff run.
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Fans fired up as Oilers overwhelm Ducks in 1st period of Game 6 -
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Ducks coach Randy Carlyle talks about Game 5 win over Oilers -
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Oilers react to double OT loss in Game 5, controversial Ducks goal -
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Orange Crush viewing parties for Edmonton Oilers -
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Oilers hope to get back in win column -
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Oilers fans hope away-game success continues -
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U of A makes tiniest tribute to Oilers ever -
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Oilers aim to rebound in Anaheim -
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Edmonton Oilers head back to Anaheim -
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RAW VIDEO: Oilers speak to reporters after losing Game 4 in OT to Ducks -
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Edmonton nurses find unique way to take part in Oilers excitement -
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Extra buzz surrounding Connor McDavid ahead of Oilers/Ducks game -
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Edmonton Oilers getting ready for Game 4 against Anaheim Ducks -
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Some upset after women’s rooms flipped into men’s rooms at Oilers game -
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After years of hibernation Oilers nation folks living in Calgary are loud and proud -
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Oilers fans sing ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ after singer’s mic doesn’t work -
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Wind causes comical complication for anchor covering Oilers in Anaheim -
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Oilers arrive to massive, 4-storey banner welcoming them at Edmonton airport -
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Kevin Karius offers post-game thoughts on Oilers -
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Fans in Anaheim go nuts for Oilers’ Game 2 win
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