EDMONTON, Alberta — The Kings were done in by the Edmonton Oilers once again.
The Oilers beat the Kings, 6-4, In Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on Thursday night, ending the Kings’ season in the opening round for the fourth consecutive spring – and this one might be the toughest one yet for the Kings and their fans to swallow.
They held home-ice advantage, took a 2-0 series lead and looked poised to finally solve their nemesis, but the Oilers reeled off four consecutive wins to close out the series and celebrated at Rogers Place, denying the Kings the chance to host a winner-take-all game at Crypto.com Arena this weekend.
Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings, while Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere each posted two assists and Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.
Connor Brown had a goal and two assists, Trent Frederic had a goal and an assist and Adam Henrique, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse also scored for the reigning Western Conference champions, who will face the Pacific Division champion Vegas Golden Knights in the conference semifinals. Calvin Pickard made 22 saves.
With their backs against the wall, the Kings got off to the start they needed, when Byfield got in behind the Oilers’ defense and beat Oilers goaltender Pickard with a backhand shot for a 1-0 lead just 1:19 into the contest.
The Oilers struck back quickly, with Adam Henrique tipping in a shot from Connor Brown to tie the score just 1:45 later.
The Kings responded 33 seconds later when Clarke walked into the right face-off circle and ripped a shot over the shoulder of Pickard to give the Kings a 2-1 lead, but the Oilers tied it again just 2:18 later on a power-play goal from Nugent-Hopkins to cap a frenzy that saw the teams combine for four goals less than six minutes into the opening period.
Things settled down for both sides after that, but the Oilers were able to take their first lead of the game when Hyman tipped a point shot from Nurse with 7:11 left in the first period.
The Kings had several good chances to tie the score before the first period ended. Trevor Moore got a chance on a partial breakaway late in the first, but he ran out of real estate and couldn’t get a good shot off.
Then early in the second period, the Kings jumped on a turnover in the neutral zone, and Warren Foegele was sent in on a clear-cut breakaway, but Pickard was able to get a stick on Foegele’s shot to steer it away.
Forward Sami Helenius had another good opportunity when he was left alone in the slot, but Pickard was able to get a piece of the puck to keep the Oilers one-goal lead.
The Kings continued to push for the equalizer, but the Oilers were able to strike for two goals just 96 seconds apart.
Nurse took a feed from Vasily Podkolzin and walked into the top of the face-off circle and beat Kuemper over his right arm to give Edmonton some insurance, and then Frederic drove the net hard and chipped a puck past Kuemper to give the Oilers a three-goal lead.
Spence was able to cut into the Oilers’ lead when he took a feed from Kevin Fiala and snapped a shot past Pickard to make it a 5-3 game – but the Kings still faced a big hole in a hostile venue.
The Kings had opportunities in the third period, but Pickard was up to the task as the Kings poured it on.
Kings head coach Jim Hiller pulled Kuemper with just over four minutes left in the game, and the Kings pushed hard throwing pucks toward Pickard.
Anze Kopitar’s point shot with 54.1 seconds left got by Pickard to cut the margin to 5-4, but the Kings’ comeback ended there, as Edmonton’s Connor Brown added an empty-netter with 1.2 seconds left for the 6-4 final score.
Special teams definitely played a factor in the series. While the Kings were able to pick apart the Oilers on the power play early in the series, scoring seven man-advantage goals in the first three games, they scored just one in the final three games.
Their penalty kill shut down the Oilers in the first two games, going a perfect 5 for 5, but Edmonton found a way to score five power-play goals in the final four games – and all of them were timely.
The Oilers scored on their only power-play opportunity in Game 6, while the Kings couldn’t capitalize on their two man-advantage chances – including one in the third period.
Somewhere in the series (perhaps in the third period of Game 3), the Oilers were able to flip the script on the Kings, who had all the momentum after Game 2.
Was it the Oilers switching to Pickard in Game 3, the journeyman goaltender who has enjoyed his best season of his career, after starter Stuart Skinner struggled in Games 1 and 2.
Was it the challenge on Evander Kane’s tying goal in Game 3 that didn’t go the Kings’ way that led to the Oilers scoring twice in 10 seconds?
Was it giving up a two-goal third-period lead in Game 4 and losing in OT with a chance to take a 3-1 lead in the series?
It’s tough to say, and the Kings will no doubt be left trying to figure out what went wrong in another playoff series loss to Edmonton.
More to come on this story.
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