ANAHEIM — They’ve been searching for it all year long. As it turns out, “it” was never there.

The Edmonton Oilers were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night, losing 5-2 in Game 6 of their Round 1 series, unable to flip a switch on a season-long malaise that left them an “average team” in the eyes of their captain.

It marked an end to a 2025-26 season that never really started for the Oilers, an 82-game search for some semblance of the game that had taken them to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.

“We were an average team all year,” said Connor McDavid. “An average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed.”

And disappointed they are, left in the slow lane by the big, speedy Ducks. Anaheim was simply too much for this version of the Oilers — throughout the series and certainly in Game 6 — in a series that ended with the Ducks scoring eight times on 16 power-play opportunities.

“That's a real hockey team over there. They have some good players,” observed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “But at the end of the day we’ve got to find ways to keep the puck out of our........

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