Summary
2022, 2023 and now 2024.
For a third year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers ended the Los Angeles Kings’ season.
After a victory in seven games in 2022 then a victory in six games last season, each time in the first round, the Oilers signed a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night to win the series against the Kings in five short games and advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs.
“After a good start, we lost the momentum of the series and we regained it. We grew, we found a way to rack up wins to get a 3-1 lead and end the series in Game 5. It’s important for our group, I saw a lot of encouraging signs.” , commented captain Connor McDavid.
Evander Kane opened the scoring, Leon Draisaitl hit the target twice and Zach Hyman scored his seventh goal of the series to show the Kings the exit door.
Once again, the Oilers power play chipped in with a goal, as two more goals were scored just seconds after a power play ended. Nine of the Oilers’ 22 goals in the series were scored with an extra man on the ice.
“The special units helped us. The power play and penalty kill did well all series. It’s important for us to learn some lessons, the Kings were a good team and there was mutual respect. It was a good battle the whole series,” defenseman Darnell Nurse said after the game.
True to form, McDavid had two assists to bring his total to 12 points in the series. He moved into second place in NHL history for most assists after five playoff games, with 11. Only Wayne Gretzky did better in 1987 with 13 assists.
Evan Bouchard also did well Wednesday night with three assists.
In front of his team’s cage, Stuart Skinner stopped 18 shots to lead the Oilers to victory. Only Blake Lizotte, Alex Laferriere and Adrian Kempe managed to score in the game for the Kings.
The Oilers are now waiting to find out whether they will face the Vancouver Canucks or the Nashville Predators in the next round.
The big guns get the job done
The Oilers came close to scoring in the opening minutes of the game. As Mikey Anderson lay on the ice after an accidental collision with McDavid, Oilers forward Hyman hit the post.
Limited to just one short shot in the first half of the first period, the Oilers finally opened the scoring on their second shot of the game. During a restart, Kane completed a nice passing play with Brett Kulak by scoring with a backhand shot that escaped David Rittich.
Then with 28 seconds left in the period, bad luck befell Skinner and the Oilers. Skinner came out of his net to recover a clearance from Vladislav Gavrikov, but the puck returned directly to the front of the net after a bizarre bounce on the boards. Laferriere took the opportunity to push the puck into a gaping cage and bring everyone back to square one after 20 minutes of play.
“It’s a game that happens sometimes,” Skinner admitted. When that happens, there’s not much you can do. The important thing is how we respond and the group did well I think,” Skinner explained.
This goal, however, seemed to give the Kings some offensive momentum. At the start of the second period, Viktor Arvidsson took advantage of a long restart and the aggressiveness of Darnell Nurse to brilliantly put the puck back towards Lizotte, who decamped towards the opposing net and scored with a good wrist shot.
The Oilers tied the game a few minutes later on a special play. On the power play, Draisaitl took a shot from the bottom of the circles, but Rittich made a miraculous glove save while lying on the ice. The video replay, however, showed that Rittich’s full glove had crossed the goal line during the stoppage and the goal was awarded to Draisaitl.
Draisaitl returned to the attack a few minutes later. He took advantage of a great sequence from McDavid in possession of the puck to then score with a quick shot from the bottom of the circles and give Edmonton a 3-2 lead.
The Oilers dealt a big blow to the Kings in the final minute of the middle period. Bouchard took a shot from the blue line that deflected off Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, before hitting the post. Hyman, however, was well placed in the slot to push the puck behind Rittich and double the Oilers’ lead.
Still looking for a goal late in the game, the Kings had an opportunity with a loose puck in front of Skinner. All 10 players on the ice found themselves in the slot and the Oilers resisted.
The Kings finally showed a little more opportunism with 2:18 left in the final period, when Kempe redirected a Matt Roy pass into the back of the net to cut the lead to 4-3.
Los Angeles continued to play with desperate energy, but a penalty awarded to Phillip Danault while trying to prevent Draisaitl from scoring into an empty net ended the Kings’ hopes of a comeback.
