from Eric Stephens of the OC Register,

Weeks of winning that the Ducks carried into the postseason started to trigger feelings that a long Stanley Cup playoff run might be in their future. Four goals into their net in a ping-pong third period showed they’ve got a lot of work ahead of them.

If the Edmonton Oilers didn’t already serve notice that they were ready for prime time with their first-round win over San Jose, they were making themselves heard with goals by Mark Letestu and Adam Larsson just 100 seconds apart for a two-goal lead early in the third.

And then when the Ducks stunned them with a quick comeback, Larsson came through again as his goal with 4:40 left in regulation Wednesday night ultimately lifted the Oilers to a 5-3 Game 1 victory in a barn-burner opening chapter of a Western Conference semifinal that created hope for a classic best-of-7 series.

A sellout Honda Center crowd that was mostly sent into stunned silence and then roaring with delight in a matter of minutes ultimately left unfulfilled as an eight-game Ducks winning streak dating to the end of the regular season was suddenly over. And the pockets of Oilers faithful were rejoicing.

“In reality, we really couldn’t think we were going to win every game,” said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, whose team also saw a 15-0-3 run from March 12 also end. “We’ve had so much success. … Sometimes things aren’t going to go your way every night.

“Because it’s a playoff game and we battled back and we had a lead and we battled back from a 3-1 deficit to make it 3-3 in our building, those are the things you try to build on. We have to have more from our group, it’s as simple as that.”

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Game highlights and a dust-up video are below...