from Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal,

Breathe, Edmonton.

The playoff run is over. It was fleeting but all consuming, disappointing on Wednesday but oh, so glorious for 30-odd nail-biting days in April and May.

The Oilers brought the city back to the future in late-game fits and dynamite starts. It was finally, suddenly 2006 again, though resplendent in orange. Those vintage Ryan Smyth mullets morphed into Zack Kassian mutton chops.

But what was hirsute today is gone tomorrow. Be it close shave or blowout, that’s the cruel, fantastic reality of playoff hockey in general and Game 7 in particular.

In a bruising series that rightfully went the limit, the Ducks beat the Oilers 2-1 at Honda Center on Wednesday, on a third-period goal by Nick Ritchie. You see, Game 7 picks its own heroes from every worthy bunch.

At peak do-or-die, the Oilers didn’t do enough on offence, goalie Cam Talbot got beat on a knuckle puck under his arm, and their Stanley Cup hopes, as incongruous as it would have sounded to mention such a thing just nine months ago, are dead.

“We’re disappointed right now, obviously,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “We didn’t come into the playoffs just to play, we came in to win. I think our team played that way and prepared that way and battled that way. So the overall feeling right now is disappointment that we couldn’t quite get it done.

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