EDMONTON 鈥� The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings played a tight-checking series at even strength. But the special teams matchup was lopsided 鈥� and that鈥檚 why it ended in five games.
"That was a difference in this series,鈥� Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, Evan Bouchard had three assists, and the Oilers defeated the Kings 4-3 Wednesday to win the first-round matchup.
The red-hot Oilers power play went 1-for-5 on the night but scored twice just after time had expired on a penalty. Edmonton finished 9-for-20 with the man-advantage in the five games.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles was 0-for-1 on Wednesday, going scoreless on 12 power plays in the series.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty simple to write this one,鈥� Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller said. 鈥淵ou saw one team execute, and one team not, on special teams.鈥�
Zach Hyman 鈥� with his seventh of the post-season 鈥� and Evander Kane also scored for Edmonton. The Oilers' only loss of the series was a 5-4 overtime decision in Game 2.
Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins pitched in with two assists each as Edmonton鈥檚 offence broke out at Rogers Place. McDavid extended his points total to a playoff-leading 12 (one goal, 11 assists). Stuart Skinner made 18 saves.
Edmonton eliminated Los Angeles in the opening round for the third year in a row after coming out on top in six games in 2023 and seven in 2022.
鈥淒isappointing, for the third year in a row. It sucks right now,鈥� Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. 鈥淪pecial teams hurt us a lot this series.
鈥淭here were parts of the games that were good, we were dictating the game, but you gotta do it more often, and every game, to win the series.鈥�
Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere and Blake Lizotte replied for Los Angeles. David Rittich stopped 22 shots.
The Oilers move on to the second round, where they鈥檒l face the winner of a matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators. Vancouver leads their series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday in Nashville.
Down 2-1 in the second period, the Oilers scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead.
Draisaitl opened his account with a power-play goal at 7:44 from McDavid.
Rittich appeared to rob Draisaitl with a desperation glove save, but fans cheered as if it were a goal upon seeing the replay and officials ruled the puck crossed the line after video review.
"I couldn't see it at all,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淚 saw (Draisaitl) maybe point it (was a goal), then I saw the bench kind of react.聽
鈥淚t was big."
McDavid and Draisaitl connected again just after a penalty expired at 12:21 for the German forward鈥檚 fifth of the playoffs.
"When he's got his feet moving, when he's playing hard on both sides of the puck, there's not many guys better than him in the whole world,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淗e always seems to bring that game this time of year."
The undisciplined Kings put Edmonton up a man again near the end of the frame. This time, Hyman tapped home a puck on the goal line moments after Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois stepped out of the box.
鈥淲hether they鈥檙e penalties or not, the bottom line is we gotta get the job done on the penalty kill,鈥� Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do it throughout the five games.鈥�
Kempe deflected a shot past Skinner with 2:18 left to trim the deficit to one.
The Kings pressured for an equalizer in the final two minutes until Phillip Danault hooked Draisaitl with 19.7 seconds left to put Edmonton on the power play 鈥� and out came the handshakes.
Fans cheered to the their top of their lungs and chanted 鈥淟et鈥檚 Go Oilers鈥� to provide a raucous atmosphere before puck drop, but Los Angeles stymied Edmonton early.
The Kings limited the Oilers to a paltry 13 shots in Sunday鈥檚 1-0 loss and had the same game plan working early, holding Edmonton to one shot through 10 minutes of the game.
Kane, however, opened the scoring on Edmonton鈥檚 second shot of the night at 10:17.
Los Angeles replied with 28 seconds left in the first when the puck caromed around the boards and bounced in front of the net to Laferriere.
Lizotte then scored 3:08 into the second to quiet Rogers Place before Edmonton replied with an onslaught.
鈥淚 didn't like our first half of the game, I felt we were a little bit slow,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淏ut I thought we had a great response. We found ways to draw penalties.
"We found a way to capitalize on it and then we found a way to close it out."
It鈥檚 the first time the Oilers have advanced from the first round in three straight years since 1990 to 1992.
The Oilers fell 4-2 in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights last year.
They鈥檙e focused on getting beyond a first-round victory this time around.
"It was a good sign of what's to come,鈥� defenceman Darnell Nurse said. 鈥淏ut there's still so much hockey that we're hoping to play here throughout the rest of the spring.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2024.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
