Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Evan Bouchard had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 Wednesday to win their first-round best-of-seven NHL playoff series in five games.
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.
Zach Hyman — with his seventh of the post-season — 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’s 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 after posting a shutout in Edmonton’s 1-0 win at Los Angeles in Game 4.
Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere and Blake Lizotte replied for Los Angeles. David Rittich stopped 22 shots in his second straight start.
The Oilers move on to the second round, where they’ll 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.
Taking the lead
Down 2-1 in the second period, the Oilers scored three unanswered goals to take 4-2 lead.
Draisaitl opened his account with a power-play goal at 7:44 after a couple exchanges with McDavid to tie it. 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.
The red-hot Oilers power play went 1-for-4, but scored twice just after time expired on a penalty. Edmonton finished nine-for-19 with the man-advantage in the series. Los Angeles was zero-for-one, going scoreless on 12 power plays in the series.
McDavid and Draisaitl connected again just after a penalty expired at 12:21 for the German forward’s fifth of the playoffs.
Drai knew he had it 🚨 <a href=”https://t.co/4aRxgkCjo4″>pic.twitter.com/4aRxgkCjo4</a>
—@EdmontonOilers
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.
The Oilers hunkered down to hold off the Kings most of the third. But with the goalie pulled, 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…
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