Oilers 5, Ducks 2: Five in the Second After Sennecke's 2-0

October 7, 2026 - Anaheim - Eleven seconds into the second period, Evan Bouchard wound up from the right point, and a 2-0 hole was 2-1. Honda Center had watched Beckett Sennecke score twice on the power play in the first. It did not see another Anaheim goal.

The Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2. Edmonton is 3-0-1, three in a row, 2-0-0 on the road to open a California trip. Anaheim is 2-1-0, first loss after a 4-3 at Vegas and a 3-2 overtime win over Florida. Shots were 31-19 Anaheim. Attendance was 17,174. All five Edmonton goals came in the second. The third was empty.

Bouchard finished with two goals and an assist. Leon Draisaitl had four assists. Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists. Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin scored too. Devon Levi stopped 29 of 31. Levi is not seeded on AthX player pages, so the name stays unlinked. The NHL box is 29 saves. The Associated Press recap had 28. The box is the line that gets scored.

Sennecke twice, then the period Edmonton wanted to forget

Josh Samanski took hooking at 3:08. Sennecke pushed one through Levi's pads at 4:11 from Mikael Granlund and Leo Carlsson. 1-0. Jake Walman took holding at 14:43. Sennecke tipped Carlsson from below the goal line at 15:28. Jackson LaCombe the other assist. 2-0. Five-hole twice, the NHL recap said.

Sennecke had one power-play goal in 82 games as a rookie last season, the Associated Press recap noted. He had two in the first period Wednesday.

Draisaitl told NHL.com Anaheim was quicker to pucks early and won the one-on-ones along the wall. Mattias Ekholm said the room's thought after 20 minutes was simple: what could go more wrong, so go work.

Five goals, one period, Bouchard to six on the year

Bouchard, slap shot, 0:11 of the second. Draisaitl the only assist. 2-1.

Anaheim took too many men at 4:55. Kapanen one-timed from the bottom of the left circle at 6:30, McDavid and Bouchard on the play. 2-2. The NHL recap called it Kapanen's 100th NHL goal.

Bouchard again at 14:12, slap shot from above the circles, Draisaitl and McDavid. 3-2. That was his sixth goal in four games, first among all NHL players. The Associated Press recap said only Harry Cameron had more as a defenseman through four games: eight, for the Toronto Arenas in 1917-18.

Podkolzin slipped behind the defense on a Draisaitl stretch pass and scored at 16:49. 4-2. McDavid entered with speed and went between Lukas Dostal's pads at 19:08 during 4-on-4. Ekholm the other assist. 5-2. The NHL landing marks that goal even strength. The highlight clip URL says short-handed. The box and the recap both treat it as 4-on-4. AthX Engine follows the box: no short-handed bonus.

Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com it was the first of three games his club looked like it was watching instead of forcing. Sennecke: they came out flat at the start of the second and cannot do that.

Dostal stopped 12 of 17 through two periods, six of 11 in the second, then sat. Ville Husso made two saves in 15:58 of the third. Husso is not seeded. Edmonton took two minors 45 seconds apart late. Anaheim pulled Husso for a 6-on-3 and did not score.

A 10-point defenseman, a debut, seven shots for Gauthier

Bouchard reached 10 points in four games. The NHL recap listed the other defensemen who did it that fast: Pat Stapleton, Harry Cameron, Morgan Rielly, Bobby Orr. His 82 career goals sit third among Oilers defensemen behind Paul Coffey (209) and Darnell Nurse (88).

McDavid has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) through four games. Podkolzin has a point in all four (four goals, two assists).

Nikita Klepov, the No. 15 pick in the 2026 draft, had five hits in 10:03 in his NHL debut. At 18 years, 102 days, he is the youngest Duck in franchise history, the NHL recap said, past Oleg Tverdovsky. Carlsson has seven points in three games and three straight multipoint openers, a first in club history. Cutter Gauthier put seven shots on Levi and left without a point, same shot total as Sennecke.

Edmonton visits San Jose on Saturday. Anaheim visits Winnipeg on Friday.

AthX Engine on a five-goal middle period

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored Bouchard at 12.90 (two goals, an assist, four shots). Sennecke is 12.70 with two power-play bonuses. Draisaitl is 11.70. McDavid is 10.10. Kapanen is 7.30. Podkolzin is 6.30. Levi's win, 29 saves, and two goals against land at 12.20. Dostal is -1.20. Husso is 0.80.

Edmonton's team line is 21.00. Anaheim floors at 0.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for a defenseman already at six goals in four games, and for a Ducks club that led 2-0 on Sennecke and spent the rest of the night chasing. They are not the same number.

Track Bouchard, McDavid, Sennecke, and both clubs on the marketplace.

*Sources: AP recap (ESPN), ESPN box score, NHL.com recap, NHL.com scoreboard. AthX Engine fantasy points scored from NHL gamecenter box 2026020055. Information only; not financial advice.*