Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark pushed the Kings to the brink of playoff elimination, scoring off a rebound early in the third period to give the Oilers a 3-1 win in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff at Crypto.com Arena. The Oilers, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, can end the Kings’ season for a fourth straight season with another victory.
“It’s hard right now. Obviously everybody’s frustrated,” captain Anze Kopitar said. “But we’ve got to put it behind us. We’ve got to go win a game on the road, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
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Janmark’s goal marked the fourth time in five games the Kings have given up a game-tying or go-ahead score in the final 13 minutes of regulation. It was also the third consecutive come-from-behind win for the Oilers, the first time they’ve done that in the franchise’s playoff history.
Evander Kane had Edmonton’s first goal while the lone Kings’ score came from Andrei Kuzmenko, both in the second period. The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal in final minute.
Kings left wing Andrei Kuzmenko gets tangled up with Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak in the first period. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The final score wasn’t a true reflection of the game, which the Oilers dominated.
“They were stronger,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller, whose teams lost in regulation for just the seventh time in 44 home games this season, including the playoffs. “They beat us in every area except for the specialty teams. They were just better in every way … we can’t look to one part of our game and think that was acceptable.”
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Well, except for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was brilliant, and deserved a far better fate after turning back 43 shots. He’s faced 93 in the last two games but the Kings have scored just four times behind him.
“Darcy was stellar tonight, as he’s been the whole season,” Kopitar said. “He gave us a chance.”
Kings left wing Kevin Fiala goes after the puck against Oilers center Leon Draisaitl in the first period. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Oilers were stronger during the opening 20 minutes during which they took the first 11 shots, building a 19-4 advantage for the period. But Kuemper, who on Monday was named one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, proved why, leaving Edmonton with nothing to show for all that effort.
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That allowed Kuzmenko to put the Kings in front 3:33 into the second period. The winger parked himself in front of the net and was shielding Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard when he reached out to redirect a pass from Kopitar near the blue line. The goal, the Kings’ eighth power-play score of the series, came eight seconds after Darnell Nurse went off for tripping. It also marked the fourth time in five games that the Kings scored first.
Kopitar’s assist was his seventh in five games while Adrian Kempe, who also assisted on the goal, has six.
However the lead lasted less than three minutes before Kane tied it on a wrist shot from the high slot. That goal came seven seconds after the Kings killed off a tripping penalty to Drew Doughty.
Read more: Kings fall to Oilers in a Game 4 shutout, moving to the brink of elimination
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Edmonton then went in front to stay 7:12 into the final period when Janmark scored off the rebound of a shot by former King Viktor Arvidsson that Kuemper had pushed out to his stick side, not knowing that Janmark was perched just inside the circle.
Now the Kings fly to Edmonton on Wednesday knowing that a season in which they tied franchise regular-season records for wins (48) and points (105) may not have more than 60 minutes left. A win, though, would bring them back home for a winner-take-all seventh game on home ice, where the Kings had the best regular-season record in the NHL.
“We’ve proven we’re a pretty good hockey team,” Hiller said. “So you’re a pretty good hockey team, go there and take it back. Because they just took it away from us.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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