Ducks Stay in the Hunt, 4-1 : Hockey: Victory over Oilers sets up key game against Sharks.

Has it really gotten to this point, that the Mighty Ducks can have must-win games?

That’s pretty much what Friday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers was--the sort the Ducks have to win if they’re serious about making a run at the playoffs in their first season.

They needed to win it, and they did, 4-1, before a 17th consecutive sellout of 17,174 at Anaheim Arena.

Guy Hebert made 24 saves, four players scored goals and defenseman David Williams tied his career high with three points on a goal and two assists.

“This is a big win,” said Joe Sacco, who scored his seventh goal in the last eight games. “It’s huge, it gives us some momentum going into the San Jose game, and we haven’t played very well against them.”

Edmonton, the last-place team in the Pacific Division, had lost to San Jose the night before, and the Sharks extended their lead over the Ducks and Kings to five points--at least for a day.

A loss to Edmonton would have been demoralizing for the Ducks--and would have sent them into Sunday’s game at San Jose needing to win to avoid falling seven back in the scramble for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.

Instead, they have an opportunity to cut San Jose’s lead to one point.

Coach Ron Wilson is looking at the San Jose game as another must-win. It is their final meeting of the season with the team they are chasing--and the Ducks are 0-5 against the Sharks.

The game against Edmonton was a penalty-filled one that included rare overlapping five-minute major penalties against the Ducks. That meant a two-man advantage for the Oilers for 3:35, and the Ducks came within 10 seconds of killing it off before Fredrik Olausson’s goal gave them a 1-0 lead at 16:13 of the first.

The long five-on-three power play came after Stu Grimson was given a charging major for barreling into Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford outside the crease, and then Don McSween got a high-sticking major and automatic game misconduct.

Bobby Dollas tied the score at 18:56, with a slap shot from the right point. Tim Sweeney scored the go-ahead goal from close range at 5:39 of the second after Terry Yake’s second-effort pass came to him across the crease as Yake was being pushed away from the play.

“It was a strange game, there wasn’t much flow,” Wilson said. “I think we were a little nervous. We’re starting to realize the importance of every game right now.”