As Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs nears its completion, we are truly witnessing the changing of the guard among the contenders for hockey’s championship.

Friday night in Montreal, the home team has a chance to advance to the next round based on the success of the young, fast roster that has electrified the whole NHL.  At the same time in Boston, the Buffalo Sabres continue their march to respectability if they can eliminate the Bruins in their Game 6.

The Canadiens and Sabres reflect the new NHL, with a pace of play that makes fans jump to their feet almost every shift. And then there’s Philadelphia, with its patient rebuild, advancing to face Carolina, with another squad of 20-somethings learning to win on hockey’s biggest stage.

And like Montreal, Philadelphia and Buffalo, the Anaheim Ducks, with their young snipers — Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke — are ahead of schedule, now awaiting an opponent in the second round, after their takedown of the two-time finalist Edmonton Oilers.

If you add the youthful, speedy Utah Mammoth to the conversation, there is a possibility that we will witness five former “also-rans” making their mark in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And with teams breaking through, we have to wonder if there are teams breaking down. Last year’s champion, Florida, didn’t make the playoffs; their opponents, the Oilers, have to be wondering if their window is now closing; and a similar question has to be asked in Dallas with the Stars, after they were eliminated by Minnesota.

What this all really means is that trying to be a contender can be taxing and fleeting. If you get to the Stanley Cup final and don’t win, one has to wonder if you will ever get a second chance to win, and how much closer you are to having your championship window close. A player like Connor McDavid, with the clock ticking, has to wonder if his window is closing. The same with players in Dallas. And maybe some players in Winnipeg, too.

New teams. New players. It makes for amazing stories in these playoffs. But it also means there is the inevitable changing of the guard.

Such is life in the NHL.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The nomination period for mayoral, council and school trustee candidates for this fall’s Ontario municipal elections opens Friday.

Candidates have until Aug. 21 to file nomination papers with their municipal clerk.

To run for a position, candidates must fill out a form, pay a nomination fee and provide a list of at least 25 endorsement signatures, with some exceptions.

Individuals, corporations and trade unions can also register to be third-party advertisers starting today, with a deadline of Oct. 23.

Eligible Ontarians can vote in a municipality if they live there, own or rent property there or if they are the spouse of someone who owns or rents property in the municipality other than the one where they live.

Elections will take place Oct. 26.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A massive wildfire quickly spread into the oilsands city of Fort McMurray, Alta., on May 3, 2016. It forced more than 90,000 people out of the region, damaged or levelled 2,500 homes and scorched nearly 5,900 square kilometres of forest.

Its cause remains unknown, but officials have said it rapidly grew due to an unusually dry and hot summer.

It left a mark on many people in the city. Here are some of their memories of the day the fire known as The Beast came to town:

Ryan Pitchers, 51

The battalion fire chief had been talking to students at an elementary school and showing them a fire truck as flames neared the city, creating plumes of smoke.

“One of the teachers was like, ‘Should we be worried about that?'” remembers Pitchers.

“And I’m like, ‘Yeah, probably.'”

A few hours later, the evacuation began.

“It was organized chaos,” says Pitchers. “All departments and firefighters in Fort McMurray and nearby communities were called. We were basically: ‘Go, go, go!’

“Most of our members really didn’t stop for the first 48 hours.”

He says his neighbourhood was ravaged by the fire, but his house was spared.

The former Canadian Armed Forces member joined the city’s fire department in 2000. He’s now a battalion chief.

Sarah Thapa, 39

Thapa didn’t want to leave the city.

The nurse was with her two-year-old daughter at home and says she had been in denial about how close the fire really was. Then she looked out her apartment window.

“I saw flames were at the gas station from my window, so this is when I knew we needed to leave.”

Her husband joined them and they hit the highway. Thapa remembers trees lighting up on both sides, and flames licking their car.

A month later, residents were allowed to return to the ravaged city. Their apartment building was still standing.

While some decided to leave Fort McMurray for good, the family decided to stay.

“I stayed because of what this community is capable of doing for its people.”

Thana opened a café four years later. And after that, a second café location.

Shane Ganong, 45

The heavy duty mechanic fled with his wife and their children, and they headed south for safety in Edmonton.

Two days later, a neighbour still in Fort McMurray sent him a photo of their levelled Waterways neighbourhood.

It was gone.

“It was crazy. I couldn’t believe how bad it was,” Ganong says. “I lost everything: my house, my shop, my toys, my tools.”

The hockey card collection he started when he was 10, the hotrods and drift cars he had been building in the garage, the first vehicle he bought with his own money — a 2000 Honda XR650R motorcycle.

“I had just finished restoring it,” he says of the bike. “It had melted down to the concrete.”

He kept a melted piece, which now sits on a shelf in his new garage, in his new home, on the same spot.

The home is much bigger, he says, and so is his shop.

“It is what it is. I look at things in a way as positive as I can.”

Rob Rice, 47

As the smoke continued to grow, the owner of the local Home Hardware store sent his staff home and closed up shop so they could all get out of the city.

It was a traumatic journey for everyone, says Rice.

“It’s still crazy to me. Shocking.

“Everybody has a different story about their drive out…. You’re seeing ash, smoke and flames everywhere. Your life is on the line. You’re trapped in a traffic jam, smoke’s coming in your car, you can’t breathe.”

Rice and his staff were asked to return to the city before other residents were allowed.

They slept in sleeping bags in the store and showered at a local recreation centre while working to stock thousands of items, including refrigerators and cleaning supplies for people coming back.

Rice says he and his wife are lucky their children were born after the fire so they didn’t have to experience the chaos.

He says they don’t plan on ever moving away.

“This is home. I’ve been here for so long, I don’t know anything different.”

Michael Hull, 45

The high school gym teacher first learned of the fire from his students.

He had told some in his class to put down their cellphones. They said they couldn’t, because homes in a nearby neighbourhood were burning.

“Then I looked at my phone, because I don’t really look at my phone, and I had like probably 10 missed calls from my wife.”

She was packing bags and getting ready to leave.

He stayed at the school to make sure students got out. By the time he was ready to head home, the usual 10-minute drive took 4 1/2 hours.

It was gridlock and he was almost out of gas. There were lineups at most gas stations.

“I finally got to my wife and then jumped in her vehicle and we left town.”

He says he now makes sure every summer that his gas tank is always full in case there’s another wildfire.

Colten Petty, 33

Four days after the evacuation, the oil and gas worker and some of his friends tried to get back into the city.

Police at a checkpoint said they weren’t allowed back in. There were concerns about looters.

But they were persistent. They wanted to help save the pets that people had to leave behind.

The group managed to rescue several pets in one day.

“We saved 10 dogs, two cats and five kittens. I think the kittens were born during the fire,” Petty says.

Petty, who drives large robot trucks for Suncor Energy, lives in Saskatchewan and travels to Fort McMurray for work.

He says he still keeps in touch with the owners of two rescued dogs.

Evan Crawford, 40

The firefighter was two hours into his shift when everything changed.

The billowing smoke Crawford had spotted a day earlier while relaxing in his backyard had morphed into the massive blaze that was now in the city.

He and other firefighters first focused on getting people out safely. Then they shifted to trying to save homes.

“A lot of us didn’t stop for several days, as the fire was continually evolving.”

Crews worked around the clock, grabbing sleep when they could in trucks and on lawns.

“It’s basically like standing inside a furnace if you’re close enough to it,” he says. “It was just overwhelming to see so much destruction all at once.”

Crawford, who joined the fire department in 2009, is now president of the Fort McMurray Firefighters’ Association.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Elusive street artist Banksy said Thursday that a new sculpture that appeared in central London of a man striding off a plinth, with his face blinded by a billowing flag, is his work.

In a humorous video posted Thursday on his Instagram account, Banksy showed snippets of how the sculpture was put up in the dead of night. The sculpture appeared to have been erected in the early hours of Wednesday on a plinth on a traffic island in Waterloo Place, near Buckingham Palace.

Before the artist’s post, locals and tourists gathered to inspect the statue on the assumption it was Banksy’s work because his signature was scrawled at the base of the plinth.

The statue is situated close to those of King Edward VII, who reigned between 1901 and 1910, and legendary nurse Florence Nightingale, as well as the Crimean War Memorial.

Statues are not what Banksy is primarily known for.

He is far more famous for his spray-painting on buildings, with his first creations appearing in the early 1990s in his hometown of Bristol in southwest England. He has since gone global and his paintings and installations have sold for millions of dollars at auction. His street art is often targeted by thieves and vandals.

Banksy, who has never publicly revealed his identity, is part of a tradition of street artists who viewed the undercover act of posting their art in public as a subversive form of expression.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Rob Rice says many residents of Fort McMurray, Alta., still can’t stand the smell of campfire.

It reminds them of the treacherous drive a decade ago through a tunnel of flames as, in their rear-view mirrors, they watched the massive wildfire that ripped through thousands of homes.

“You’re seeing ash, smoke and flames everywhere,” said Rice, the 47-year-old owner of a Home Hardware in the city.

“Your life is on the line. You’re trapped in a traffic jam, smoke’s coming in your car, you can’t breathe. It was dark, it was gloomy, and it was very scary. I remember it very vividly to this day.”

Rice said a good friend had to leave in a car after flames began licking his truck.

Two people also died in a crash as they fled the wildfire.

“Everybody has a different story about their drive out and it affects everybody a different way,” Rice said.

“And that’s OK.

“How you overcome it is what matters.”

Signs of the giant blaze that entered from the city’s southwest on May 3, 2016, are still everywhere.

Thick, blackened and maimed tree stumps dot nearly every major road in the hilly community enveloped by some of Canada’s largest oil reserves. Elsewhere, fallen trees are scattered. Empty plots of land bookend rebuilt homes.

But when spring turns to summer, the lush, tree-green skyline will look as it did before the Horse River Wildfire, called The Beast, which forced 90,000 people out of the Wood Buffalo region, damaged or levelled 2,500 homes and scorched nearly 5,900 square kilometres of boreal forest.

“When the trees grow back, you don’t even know that there was fire 10 years ago, even though the fire is who we are,” said Sarah Thapa, 39, owner of the Avenue Eatery & Cafe.

“There’s green everywhere, there’s water flowing.”

Ten years on, the wildfire continues to ripple, changing how those who lived through it look after each other, and altering how disasters are communicated, fires are fought and homes are constructed.

Like many Fort McMurray residents, Rice came from away.

Born on the East Coast, his parents moved to the booming oil city in the 1980s. They planned to stay five years, make some money, then leave. They never did.

He started working at the Home Hardware when he was 14. In early 2016, he bought the store. A few months later, the fire hit.

At first, it was a plume of distant smoke.

Within hours, it jumped Highway 63, the only route in and out of Fort McMurray. Fuelled by the hot and dry summer, it blasted into the city.

An evacuation notice was issued when homes began burning.

Rice closed up shop and sent workers home. He ran sprinklers on the roof of his house, packed his bags and left with his wife.

The drive out was a bottleneck. Trees on both sides of the road were going up in flames, which touched the roofs of cars.

Residents had to remain out for one month.

Rice was an exception.

Firefighters got his permission to break into his store a few days after the evacuation to grab gear. Then they called him and his staff back to help prepare for re-entry.

They worked 16-hour days for weeks and shipped in thousands of items, including refrigerators and cleaning supplies.

They slept in sleeping bags in the store, used a barbecue to cook meals and projected movies in the boardroom. They showered at the local recreation centre.

The city was basically a ghost town. “You drive around and an occasional deer would come across the street,” said Rice.

When everyone returned, the community looked out for one another.

“We left a note on our door for people to call us any time at the number below if they needed help. People always brought us coffee and McDonald’s,” Rice added.

Colten Petty helped save pets that people couldn’t take before fleeing because the fire had breached their neighbourhoods while they were at work.

Petty and some friends convinced Mounties to let them into the city four days after the evacuation.

“We saved 10 dogs, two cats and five kittens. I think the kittens were born during the fire,” said Petty, who has been living in Saskatchewan and working in Fort McMurray for at least the last decade.

He still keeps in touch with the owners of two rescued pooches.

Thapa, who was renting at the time with her husband, said the city cleaned up and rebuilt with speed.

“They put out the fire, and the community came back like fire.”

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said 2,231 homes were rebuilt.

The Insurance Board of Canada said it received 60,000 claims totalling $4 billion in insured damages. “It was and continues to be the costliest insurance event in Canada’s history,” said national director Rob de Pruis.

The fire increased insurance literacy, he said, including the importance of building homes with materials suitable to the environment.

He said many took their payouts and left Fort McMurray, because of the trauma and fear of future wildfires.

The city’s population languished until last year, when it rose by 1.6 per cent to 107,740.

Thapa opened her café four years after the fire. When a vandal trashed it, locals stepped in with free furniture, plates and cups.

The support gave her the motivation to open a second business.

“We came to a booming town hoping to make a lot of money,” Thapa said about her 2013 move from Calgary.

“But I stayed not for the money. I stayed because of what this community is capable of doing for its people.”

The fire also changed those who fought it.

Ryan Pitchers, a fire battalion chief, said before 2016 it was a badge of honour to be called “leather lungs.”

That changed after a University of Alberta study found that many firefighters who fought the Fort McMurray blaze had developed asthma.

“We were basically, ‘Go, go, go.’ Most of our members didn’t stop for the first 48 hours,” Pitchers said.

Evan Crawford, president of the Fort McMurray Firefighters’ Association, helped fight the blaze. It felt like standing inside a furnace, he said.

When crews ran out of breathing equipment, they covered their faces with balaclavas, he added.

The 40-year-old said he remembers thinking about how the smoke was affecting his lungs.

“When you get a moment, you’re thinking of the long-term effects…. And you feel it because, I mean, you have a persistent cough.”

Since the fire, Pitchers and Crawford said their gear inventory significantly increased and firefighters regularly get checkups.

The fire also changed how a wildfire threat is communicated.

Tara McGee, a professor in the University of Alberta’s department of earth and atmospheric sciences, said her survey of Fort McMurray evacuees found they had little knowledge of the threat wildfires pose to communities and properties, and that emergency planning was limited.

“I asked how respondents learned that they would have to evacuate, and the highest group said they decided to leave because of what they could see.”

Provinces, including Alberta, now manage dashboards tracking the size and threat of wildfires. They also release notices and alerts about evacuations in advance.

Rachel Notley, who was Alberta premier in 2016, remembers standing on a balcony at the legislature on an unusually hot day when she learned a wall of flames was threatening Fort McMurray.

Notley became the face of the rescue, providing daily updates with officials, working to allay fears and provide information.

Such updates have become a staple for leaders across the country in crises since then, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2024 wildfire that destroyed homes in Jasper, Alta.

“You hadn’t seen major cities be at risk the way Fort McMurray was,” said Notley.

The wildfire threat has only grown across Canada since 2016, she said.

“It underlines the need to prepare for these events and also refocus our efforts to attack climate change.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The minimum wage in Quebec is now $16.60 per hour.

The government announced the $0.50 per hour increase last January.

It says this represents a 3.11 per cent raise for some 258,900 workers in Quebec.

Employees who receive tips, like bartenders and restaurant workers, are now paid $13.30 per hour.

Quebec’s minimum wage falls in the middle of that of other Canadian provinces and territories.

Alberta has the lowest minimum wage at $15 an hour, while Nunavut has the highest at $19.75. Ontario’s minimum wage is set to increase to $17.95 in October.

A study published yesterday by Quebec socioeconomic think tank IRIS shows someone living in Montreal needs to earn about $30 per hour to live above the poverty line.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.

The statement furthers an argument laid out by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war.

Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s position, said for purposes of that law, “the hostilities that began on Saturday, Feb. 28 have terminated.”

The official said the U.S. military and Iran have not exchanged fire since the two-week ceasefire that began April 7.

While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea.

Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president’s military powers, U.S. President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorization or cease fighting.

The law also allows an administration to extend that deadline by 30 days.

Democrats have pushed the administration for formal approval of the Iran war, and the 60-day mark would likely have been a turning point for a swath of Republican lawmakers who backed temporary action against Tehran but insisted on congressional input for something longer.

“That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted Thursday in favor of a measure that would end military action in Iran since Congress hadn’t given its approval.

She added that “further military action against Iran must have a clear mission, achievable goals, and a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close.”

Richard Goldberg, who served as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, said he has recommended to administration officials that they simply transition to a new operation, which he suggested could be called “Epic Passage,” a sequel to Operation Epic Fury.

That new mission, he said, “would inherently be a mission of self-defense focused on reopening the strait while reserving the right to offensive action in support of restoring freedom of navigation.”

“That to me solves it all,” added Goldberg, who is now a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.

During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Hegseth said it was the administration’s “understanding” that the 60-day clock was on pause while the two countries were in a ceasefire. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who had asked Hegseth about the timeline, later told reporters that the defense secretary “advanced a very novel argument that I’ve never heard before” and “certainly has no legal support.”

Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program and an expert on war powers, said that interpretation would be a “sizeable extension of previous legal gamesmanship” related to the 1973 law.

“To be very, very clear and unambiguous, nothing in the text or design of the War Powers Resolution suggests that the 60-day clock can be paused or terminated,” she said.

Other presidents have argued that the military action they’ve taken was not intense enough or was too intermittent to qualify under the War Powers Resolution.

But Trump’s war in Iran would certainly not be such a case, Ebright said, adding that lawmakers need to push back against the administration on that kind of argument.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

We all know that music can be good for the mind, body, and soul, which is why researchers continue to look at how music can be used for treating all manner of maladies.

A recent study at UC Irvine took saliva samples from a choir before and after they performed a piece by Beethoven. They found that a specific antibody—something called secretory immunoglobulin A—increased by 240% by the simple act of singing. This antibody’s job is to coat your throat, airways, and gut with a coating designed to protect us against any kind of respiratory virus we may breathe in.

How? Singing stimulates the vagus nerve, which controls our “rest and digest” responses. Singing helps the nervous system calm down, reduces stress hormones, and boosts your immune system.

So maybe the next time you feel a cold coming on, you might want to spend some time singing.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Curator independently decides what topics and products we feature. When you purchase an item through our links, we may earn a commission. Promotions and products are subject to availability and retailer terms.

If your complexion is feeling tight, flaky or just a little meh right now, it’s time to call in the real heavy hitters: face serums. Brimming with potent active ingredients, these lightweight formulas penetrate deeply to replenish moisture, restore radiance and smooth the look of fine lines after months of cold air and cranked-up heat. From a glow-boosting Caudalie formula to a texture-smoothing hydrator by Kiehl’s and a gentle brightening serum that revives lacklustre skin from Drunk Elephant, read on for the best face serums for spring-ready skin.

 

Ingredients by skin concern

• For dehydration & tightness: Look for hyaluronic acid, glycerin and panthenol to draw water into the skin, plus squalane to seal it in. These humectant-emollient pairings help restore bounce and comfort.
• For a compromised skin barrier: Seek out ceramides, niacinamide and fatty acids to reinforce the moisture barrier and reduce redness. Oat extract and centella asiatica are also great for soothing irritation.
• For dullness & uneven tone: Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid or stable derivatives), niacinamide and gentle exfoliating acids like lactic or glycolic acid help brighten and refine texture after months of buildup.
• For fine lines & loss of firmness: Retinol or retinal (start low and slow), peptides and antioxidants work to smooth the look of wrinkles and support collagen production.
• For sensitivity: Opt for fragrance-free formulas with calming ingredients like aloe, oat complex and feverfew, and avoid overly strong exfoliants until your skin feels balanced again.
• For acne-prone skin: Salicylic acid, niacinamide and zinc help unclog pores, reduce oiliness and calm inflammation. Lightweight, non-comedogenic hydrators like hyaluronic acid ensure your skin stays hydrated without breakout-triggering heaviness.

 

This Laneige serum is your answer to dehydrated skin, providing instant, long-lasting moisture. Enhanced with hyaluronic acid, it reactivates your skin’s natural hydration process while also priming for flawless makeup application.[/product_listing]

 

Skin congestion, meet your match. This gentle salicylic acid serum helps unclog pores and calm breakouts without over-drying already stressed skin. Lightweight and non-stripping, it keeps shine and blemishes in check while supporting a balanced, healthier-looking complexion.[/product_listing]

 

Glow on with this radiance-boosting Caudalie formula. Powered by vine-derived viniferine, it targets dark spots and boosts radiance without irritation. Bonus: It’s a sun-safe vitamic C alternative.[/product_listing]

 

Comprised of only seven ingredients, this concentrated Kiehl’s serum harnesses the power of glycolic acid to visibly refine skin texture and minimize the appearance of pores for a smoother, more vibrant visage this season and beyond.[/product_listing]

 

Triple oat complex–oat flour, extract and oil–nourishes, while feverfew calms dry skin in this gentle yet powerful Aveeno face serum. It absorbs instantly to soothe sensitive skin and repair its natural moisture barrier.[/product_listing]

 

Just a few drops of this unique epi-ageing defence formula in the morning and evening combats two types of aging with repeated use: lifestyle and environmental aggressors. Hot tip: bring the serum to skin temperature by warming it in your hands so that your skin accepts it instantly.[/product_listing]

 

You may also like:

e.l.f. Glow Reviver Lip Oil – $8.10

Rael Miracle Invisible Acne Patches – $24.99

Paula’s Choice Pro-Collagen Multi-Peptide Booster Serum – $84

 

Not all retinols are created equal. This triple retinoid serum from Glow Recipe pairs potent resurfacing power with barrier-soothing blackberry extract to clarify blemish-prone skin and soften fine lines–ideal for reviving dull, dry complexions without triggering irritation.[/product_listing]

 

Looking to boost brightness and firm skin for spring? Drunk Elephant’s highly potent 15 per cent vitamin C day serum is destined for your routine. Layer under sunscreen to protect against pollution and UV-induced free radical damage.[/product_listing]

 

The key to youthful skin, this Biossance plumping serum boasts a bouncy complexion courtesy of moisture-boosting hyaluronic acid and squalane. Plus, collagen-promoting copper peptides enhance firmness.[/product_listing]

 

Months of dry indoor heat and dull buildup can make pigmentation look more pronounced. This targeted serum helps visibly reduce dark spots and even tone, courtesy of melanin-intercepting melasyl, revealing brighter, more uniform skin just in time for sunnier days. Lightweight and fast-absorbing, it layers seamlessly under your spring SPF.[/product_listing]

 

Get your glow back with this bestselling serum from Innisfree. Powered by green tea, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, it floods skin with lasting hydration and fortifies your skin barrier with just a few pumps. Perfect for both morning and night routines, it boasts a coveted glass-skin sheen.[/product_listing]

 

You may also like:

Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Wipes – $17.97

Grace & Stella Under Eye Masks – $23.95

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Face Sunscreen – $34.20

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

ANAHEIM – The Edmonton Oilers, exiting the playoffs early this season after two marathon runs to the Stanley Cup final, were a dented and depleted team.

The Oilers wilted under the fast and hungry Anaheim Ducks in a 5-2 loss in Thursday’s Game 6 that ended Edmonton’s season in the first round.

Edmonton was outclassed and outworked by a Ducks team that won its first playoff series since 2017, which happened to be over the Oilers as well.

The 2026 edition of the Ducks included a dozen players under the age of 25, and 14 who made their NHL playoff debuts in the series.

The Oilers fell to the Florida Panthers in each of the last two Cup finals in series that lasted seven and six games, respectively.

Some Oilers hinted at the beginning of this year’s playoffs that the regular season felt like a chore at times, and that they were relieved to start the post-season again with a view to finishing the job and hoisting the Cup.

But they didn’t get close.

“We’ve been searching for consistency all year and we didn’t find it here in the playoffs,” said captain Connor McDavid.

“It’s tough. We were an average team all year. An average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed.”

McDavid’s ankle, Leon Draisaitl’s knee, Jason Dickinson’s lower-body injury, and penalty-kill specialist Adam Henrique’s undisclosed series-ending injury in Game 1 weakened Edmonton up the middle.

McDavid, who led the NHL in post-season points three of the last four seasons, was hampered by a rolled ankle in the second period of Game 2. Draisaitl missed the last 14 games of the regular season with a knee injury.

McDavid and Draisaitl spent the last two games of the series as linemates instead of centring separate lines. They battled, but weren’t able to will their team into a higher gear Thursday.

“Too hurt too soon,” McDavid said. “The first round is always tough. It’s always chaotic. It’s tough to play through things so early on, as many guys did in here.

“Credit to our staff for making guys available and making sure they were as comfortable as possible. That being said it’s not an excuse either. We expected to have a longer run than we did.”

Draisaitl had three goals and seven assists in six games. McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet with the first two games of the series, finished with a goal and five assists.

Defence was Edmonton’s downfall in allowing 26 goals in six games. The penalty kill gave up eight goals on Anaheim’s 15 chances.

Edmonton’s power play started 0-for-6 in the first two games before finishing 4-for-14.

“We struggled on the PK all year too. We’ve been searching for consistency there too,” McDavid said. “The power-play could have been better to start the series.”

Edmonton’s offence compensated for a bottom-tier ranking in the NHL in allowed goals-against in the regular season. A leaky defence was magnified in the playoffs.

Edmonton scored the first goal in the first five games, yet won just two of them.

“Pretty much the story for most of the year. We just didn’t defend well enough,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.

“You usually win or lose on your defensive play. It wasn’t good enough.”

The Ducks had puck luck early on a deflection off a body and off a stick on two of their first three goals Thursday.

Edmonton failed to exploit Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal fighting the puck and giving up rebounds in the first period when the Oilers had nine shots that missed the net.

Down 3-1 after the first period, the Oilers had time to work their way back into the game. The Ducks gave no quarter, however. They turned a neutral-zone turnover by Evan Bouchard into an odd-man rush and a 4-1 lead before the end of the second period.

“As much as it hurts, I think they’re just a better team,” Draisaitl said.

How much wear and tear of two long seasons factored into Edmonton’s earliest playoff exit in five years, there was little tolerance for that theory post-game.

“It’s not an excuse,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “We just didn’t get the job done.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press