The Edmonton Oilers may have been down, but they proved you can’t count them out.
Connor Brown had a goal and two assists as the Oilers punched their ticket through to the second round of the playoffs with a wild 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, taking the series in six games after losing the first two on the road.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman and Trent Frederic each had a goal and an assist and Adam Henrique also scored for the Oilers.
Calvin Pickard made 23 saves in net to record the win, registering a 4-0 record in this year’s playoffs after replacing Stuart Skinner in the Edmonton goal after Game 2.
“We got offence from all over the lineup today, it’s great,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who had an assist to give him 11 points in the series. “You need that, you need different guys stepping up. I thought (Brown) had his best game as an Oiler, maybe. He was fantastic. Pickard, obviously… you go down the list, we had guys step up. It wasn’t our best, but we found a way tonight and that’s what good teams do.”
Nurse said there was no quit on this Oilers team, even when things looked quite dire after losses in the first two games and with comebacks required in the third and fourth contests.
“This is a resilient group, one that believes that no matter how much we are pushed up against the wall that we can find a way to win and it was a testament to it this series,” he said.
Edmonton won four straight to take the best-of-seven series in six games.
“We just willed it out,” McDavid said. “Two of the gutsier wins that I’ve been a part of here in Edmonton, for Games 3 and 4. Just not being denied. It’s a credit to everybody in this room, we dug ourselves out of tough, tough spots against a stingy, stingy team. We obviously want to have a better start next series and will focus on that and be ready to go, but we should be proud of this one. L.A. is a great team. It’s not easy to beat a team four years straight. It was a fun series to be a part of, fun to come out on the good side.”
The Oilers will take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Anze Kopitar replied for the Kings, who have now been booted by the Oilers in the first round in four consecutive seasons.
“This one’s tough to swallow obviously. Having the season we had, and to have the guys in this locker room and come up short again, it’s frustrating — this one hurts a little more,” Kopitar said. “Especially having home ice, and off to a good start with winning the first two games and then just not being able to close games out — it cost us.”
Los Angeles hasn’t won a playoff series since 2014, when it defeated the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 23-of-28 shots for the Kings.
The goals came fast and furious to start the contest with four goals in the first six minutes. The Kings scored on their first shot just 1:19 into the first period as Kevin Fiala sprung Byfield on a breakaway and he sent his third of the post-season past Pickard.
Edmonton tied it up 3:04 into the first frame as Brown took a shot through traffic that hit Henrique up high and caromed into the net for his first of the playoffs.
However, the Kings responded just 33 seconds later on just their third shot on Pickard as a low percentage shot from Clarke appeared to deflect off Nurse’s stick and went up high and in for his second of the series.
The Oilers tied it up again at the 5:55 mark of the opening period on the power play as McDavid made a nice cross-ice feed to Nugent-Hopkins and he rifled in his third goal. It was the fastest four goals of any game all season and Edmonton became the first team in NHL history to record two game-tying goals in the opening six minutes of a playoff game.
Edmonton took its first lead with seven minutes to play in the frenetic first as a long shot by Nurse was deflected in by Hyman for his second to make it 3-2.
The Oilers grabbed a two-goal lead with five minutes left in the second period as Nurse took his time before beating Kuemper with a wicked wrister from distance for his first of the post-season.
Edmonton then padded its lead with 3:25 to play in the middle frame as Brown dropped it back to trade deadline acquisition Frederic and he recorded his first as an Oiler.
The Kings made it 5-3 with two minutes left in the second as Spence scored his first on a one-timer from the slot.
Los Angeles pushed hard in the third and got within one with their goalie pulled and 55 seconds remaining as a Drew Doughty point shot hit Kopitar’s stick on its way into the net.
But Brown put the series away with an empty-netter as two seconds remained.
“The previous two playoff series, I felt like we maybe weren’t close enough to be as good as they were, but this series felt like besides the last home game we had, it felt like we were the better team,” said Kings forward Adrian Kempe. “We couldn’t close out the games when we should’ve and that came back and bit us.
“It’s tough. It sucks when you play that well over five of the six games and come out like this.”
NOTES
In the last four playoffs, the Oilers are now 7-1 in series-clinching games — the only loss coming in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup final in Florida … Edmonton has defeated the Kings in each of the past six potential series-clinching games between the two teams dating back to Game 6 of the 1991 Smythe Division Finals … Edmonton has only come back from a 2-0 series deficit one other time in team history, when it defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games in the second round in 2006.
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