The Kings’ season expired Wednesday at 10:52 p.m. Mountain Time. Cause of death was the Edmonton Oilers.
Again.
For the Kings, these Oilers have become serial killers, snuffing out their NHL playoff hopes in the first round in each of the last three seasons. And it has become easier for the Oilers over time. In 2022, they eliminated the Kings in seven games; last year, they did it in six games; this time it took just five, the last a 4-3 Edmonton win.
“It’s definitely a disappointing feeling, obviously for the third year in a row,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “It just sucks right now.
“It doesn’t matter, you’re out of the playoffs regardless who gets you. But definitely not a great feeling getting the worst of it three years in a row.”
The Oiler goals came from Evander Kane in the first period and two from Leon Draisaitl and one from Zach Hyman in the second period. Evan Bouchard had three assists and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid two apiece, with McDavid’s two helpers giving him a league-best 11 in the postseason.
The Kings’ goals came from Alex Laferriere, who scored in the final seconds of the first period, Blake Lizotte, who scored in the opening minutes of the second, and Adrian Kempe, who scored in the season’s final three minutes.
Facing elimination and with no room for error Wednesday, the Kings made a bushelful, going to the penalty box five times in the first two periods to set up all three of the Oilers’ second-period goals.
Read more: Why Kings vs. Oilers is one of the NHL’s truly great rivalries
Edmonton was ready to celebrate long before the puck dropped in Game 5. Downtown restaurants and storefronts were adorned with Oilers banners and signs while office workers and shopkeepers wore Oilers jerseys to work. “Go Oilers Go!” flashed from the digital destination signs on the front of city buses. Even the opioid clinic around the corner from the arena had an Oilers playoff poster taped to its windows.
Rogers Place, the team’s hulking home, was again stuffed with a raucous crowd of more than 18,000; thousands more watched on large-screen TVs in a parking lot next door. And they didn’t have to wait long for something to cheer, with Kane scoring off a give-and-go with defenseman Brett Kulak to put the Oilers in front 10:17 into the opening period.
Coming in, Edmonton had lost none of the previous seven playoff games in which Kane had scored against the Kings. That wouldn’t change Wednesday.
The Kings, building off…