The Kings entered Game 6 in Edmonton with their backs against wall after falling to the Oilers in the three previous games. Unfortunately, that losing streak was extended to four games after 60 minutes of play on Thursday night as the Kings fell 6-4 and were eliminated from the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs by a count of 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Game 6 began about as well as you could’ve drawn it up for the Kings as Quinton Byfield found the back of the net just 79 seconds after the opening puck drop. Catching a slightly fatigued trio of Oilers forwards, the Kings quickly pushed the puck north in transition. Beginning in the neutral zone, Kevin Fiala found a streaking Byfield crossing into the Oilers zone as Byfield created an in tight breakaway by out-staking a backchecking Leon Draisaitl. Byfield went backhand to forehand and beat Calvin Pickard for the game’s opening goal. The goal for Byfield marked his third tally of the series, while Fiala’s primary assist gave him his sixth point (3-3=6) in as many games. Having silenced the crowd with the early goal, the Oilers quickly responded. Evening the score at 1-1 1:45 after the Byfield goal, the Oilers converted with chaos ensuing in the in front of the Kings net. After a centering attempt through the Kings slot by the Oilers almost ended up the back of the net, the Kings were in scramble mode with all five skaters within a stick’s length of the crease. Connor Brown then gained possession of the puck just above the slot, ripped a wrist shot through the heavy traffic and the puck deflected off of his linemate Adam Henrique’s body and into the net. The game was tied 1-1 with 16:56 remaining in the first period. The eventful first period swung back in favor of the visitors just 33 seconds later when the Kings took advantage of another clean zone entry on the rush and retook the lead. Just after crossing into the Oilers zone, Phillip Danault found a wide open Brandt Clarke in space. Clarke walked into the high slot and fired a wrist shot far-side, blocker-side, roofing Pickard to make it 2-1. With the Kings back in front with 16:23 to go in the opening period, the Oilers responded again... This time only taking 1:42 to knot the game, the Oilers converted on their first power play attempt of the Game 6. After sustaining significant zone time in the Kings end, Connor McDavid fed an open Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the weakside of the ice and the former first overall draft pick in 2011 roofed Kuemper over the blocker through a net-front screen. The game was tied again with 14:05 left in the first. The scoring settled down momentarily and the Kings began to establish their effective forecheck that we’d seen in Game’s 1-4. With opportunities continuing to be created on both ends of the ice, the Oilers earned their first lead of the game with 7:11 remaining in the first period. Coming directly off of an offensive zone face-off win by Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse wristed a shot towards the Kings net and it was Zach Hyman getting his stick on the puck for a deflection that rocketed up and past the high glove side of Kuemper. The Oilers led 3-2 after 20 minutes.
As if the first period didn’t have enough action, the second was more of the same. The middle stanza began with a scoreless first 14:59, but the remaining five minutes saw a total of three more goals. First making it a two-goal game, an open Nurse received a pass in the slot on a defensive zone breakdown by the Kings and beat Kuemper with a shot inside the goalie’s right arm. Adding to their lead 1:36 later, the Oilers depth stepped up again. With the play beginning in Edmonton’s zone, the Kings skaters got caught too low resulting in an odd man rush for the Oilers. Attempting to chase down the puck carrying Brown, both defensemen went to the man with the puck leaving Trent Frederic alone in front of Kuemper. Brown was able to get the puck to Frederic and the Oilers trade deadline pickup chipped the puck through Kuemper to make it a 5-2 game with 3:25 to go in the second period. Now facing their largest deficit of the series (empty net goals not included), the Kings scored an important goal before period’s end to bring the game back within reach. After having been scratched earlier in the series, Jordan Spence came up clutch alongside the Kings fourth line who also had a strong game. Set up by Samuel Helenius and Kevin Fiala, Spence pinched down into the high slot with the Kings in possession of the puck and hammered a shot past the blocker side of Pickard. The goal for Spence was his first point of the series, while Helenius’ helper was his first career point in the playoffs. The Oilers led 5-3 after 40 minutes.
The Kings pushed hard in the third period trying to erase the two-goal deficit, but it was just too much to overcome. The Kings came extremely close to cutting the Oilers lead in half multiple times midway into the period, but Pickard was solid when tested throughout the game and especially in the final period. The Kings veterans did come up big with 55 seconds remaining in regulation to cut the Oilers lead to 5-4. Giving the Kings a chance at tying the game in the last minute, Drew Doughty unloaded a shot from the blue line and captain Anze Kopitar redirected the puck in route towards the net, ultimately finding its way past Pickard and into the net. The Kings gained possession in the Oilers zone in the dying seconds of regulation, but could not get the puck on net to tie the game. The Oilers prevailed with an empty net goal with .8 seconds to go in the game and in doing so knocked the Kings out of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive postseason.
Kuemper stopped 23 of 28 shots on the night.
