Oilers had lifeless performance to bow out of playoffs

The Edmonton Oilers’ 2025-26 season came to an end Thursday night with a 5-2 loss in Game 6 to the Anaheim Ducks, leaving the Oilers with a first-round exit after back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2024 and 2025.

“That was tough,” Oilers’ captain Connor McDavid said after the game. “We were an average team all year. You know, an average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed … We just never found it.”

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Oilers’ first-round series defeat and where things went wrong for Edmonton.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Ducks were absolutely the better hockey team in Game 6. It was basically all Anaheim for the full 60 minutes. Again, I want to start by giving credit to Anaheim, because they played with pace, they were relentless, they were opportunistic, they were all of these things.

So much was done well by Anaheim, and I know I’m a homer and I’m biased and all that, but I just look at that performance by the Oilers and think: With your season on the line, how were you that lifeless?

Carter Hutton: (It was) very controllable. It felt like they couldn’t match their speed, that they had no idea what to do.

I think the biggest point in this game for me watching it and analyzing it was when the goal was called back, and they tried to close out a period when you were down 3-1 going into the third period, and you give up just a harmless 2-on-1 play on a nothingburger where Evan Bouchard is on the wall and Troy Terry slides one in … that was the nail in the coffin.

That being said, it’s the same thing we’ve seen all season with them. The penalty kill wasn’t good enough, defensively they weren’t good enough, goaltending wasn’t good enough, and these are the questions marks now as we head into the offseason.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…