GAME RECAP: Kings 5, Oilers 4 (OT - Game 5)

EDMONTON, AB - An incredible Edmonton Oilers comeback was cut short.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl led the way for the Oilers in a heroic third-period comeback, each recording three points to help force overtime after Edmonton trailed 3-1 at the start of the third period.
But it was Adrian Kempe who scored the game-winner for the Los Angeles Kings just 1:12 into extra time in a 5-4 defeat for the Oilers in Game 5 of their first-round series at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
The Oilers face elimination down 3-2 in the series heading into Game 6 at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

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FIRST BLOOD

The Kings delivered the initial blow for the second straight game in this series just inside four minutes into the contest, with Troy Stecher unleashing a powerful blast from the point that tucked itself inside the right post and elevated Los Angeles to a 1-0 lead in a first period that saw the visitors dominate to the tune of a 16-5 shot advantage. The 28-year-old defender had a goal and assist in his first career playoff appearance for the Kings in Game 4, and followed it up tonight with another goal.
The opening tally by the Kings put the Oilers up against a precedent set in this series where the team who scores the first goal goes on to win the hockey game. Both sides were 2-0 when scoring first, while around the NHL in this first round, the initial-scoring team is 27-7.

THE CAPTAIN TO KASSIAN

McDavid came up with the big play when the Oilers needed one to tie the game in the second period. The captain was staring down Jonathan Quick outside the crease and quickly began to accelerate behind the Kings net, but instead of wrapping it back inside the near post, he took it all the way around and found Kassian for the routine tap-in at the left post 2:32 into the middle frame to give the Oilers a spark.

TO KINGDOM COME

Just when it looked like the tide was turning in Edmonton's favour, Los Angeles came right back the other way.
Kempe recovered a bobbling puck to beat Mike Smith five-hole from the right side before the halfway mark of the second period before Andreas Athanasiou doubled the Kings advantage 4:05 later when Dustin Brown provided him a feed to the left of the Oilers crease that he was able to easily tuck away over a sprawled-out Smith.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Smith made a routine kick save on Blake Lizotte on an early third-period Kings 2-on-1 before the rebound fell to the stick of Kempe, who had to try his luck through the legs. The LA forward got a good attempt off, but it was met with a lunging Smith who got over in time to stop the effort from sneaking beneath him and making it a three-goal deficit for Edmonton.

NEVER COUNT THE OILERS OUT

Never, ever, EVER count the Oilers out -- especially when Draisaitl and McDavid are on the other side.
Trailing 3-1 entering the third period, it was the Dynamic Duo at the centre of a momentous Edmonton comeback.
McDavid scooped a loose puck off a faceoff on the powerplay and dragged Quick way out of position before nestling a backhand over the Kings netminder to make it a one-goal game with 2:50 gone in the third frame. A hard-luck double minor to Ryan McLeod on a partial breakaway midway through the period led to Phillip Danault redirecting the 4-2 goal under Smith, but it was quickly erased by a Draisaitl shorthanded marker in the second half of McLeod's infraction to once again make it a one-goal game with under seven-and-a-half left in regulation.
Danault was called for interference against Evander Kane before the five-minute mark of the frame, leading to a critical man advantage that Edmonton converted when McDavid put it across the offensive zone to Draisaitl to one-time home from his usual spot in the right circle to level the score and eventually force overtime.

OVERTIME HEARTBREAK

The Kings came out with a purpose in overtime, keeping the puck for nearly all of extra time and getting their reward for it.
After Kailer Yamamoto cleared the zone, Stecher fed it up to Kempe with speed to break the Oilers line, drive wide and slide the game-winner around Smith's right pad just 1:12 into overtime. With that quick-fire overtime goal, the Kings erased what was a terrific Edmonton comeback to take a 3-2 series lead to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.

PARTING WORDS

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft on the way the Oilers have started games:
"I can tell you it's not for a lack of effort. Our players are aware of it. There are some small things we can do in terms of establishing a forecheck, starting with the puck off the opening faceoff, shooting the puck early in the game. Those things can help a team establish some early momentum and zone time. What we're seeing as the series plays out, it's almost a turf war for zone time. Both teams have had moments that have happened early in the first period. We can do a better job with our starts."
Woodcroft on how his team handled the puck play early:
"We weren't good enough early. We didn't have enough people going early. I thought as the game wore on, we started to find more and more players. We made a game of it, but essentially, we chased the game from opening puck drop. We did a good job of coming back, in the end it proved too big a hill to climb."
Woodcroft on the decision to start Keith and Kulak as the defence pairing at the start of overtime:
"It's just something that we thought was gonna help us as we went through the overtime period. As you watched the late second and into the third, the bingo balls were bouncing around in terms of lines and our defence pairings. We were trying to find the right mix and it didn't work tonight, but I liked our resolve and resiliency in the third period. Now we have to put it together for an entire 60 minutes."
Woodcroft on beating the Kings 1-3-1 defensive system:
"During the series, we've had good moments and then moments where we've played into their hands. I think the whole design of the 1-3-1 is to impede speed. When we've executed the way we wanted to, we've had a fair share of that zone time. When we've been stubborn or turned some pucks over, it ended up coming back the other way.

Woodcroft on the line shuffling not generating what he had hoped:
"We weren't pleased with anything in the first period. That's not on any one player or anything like that -- we just didn't feel we had much giddy-up or much jump in our step. From that point, we're coaching to win and we're trying to find the people that are going. We're looking for sparks and as the game wore on, we found more and more players. As I said, it was a tough way for us to lose but being down early proved to be too difficult a hill to climb.
Woodcroft on what he saw in Edmonton's start to the game and overtime:
"As I said earlier, I think there are things that we can do better. Sometimes it's a faceoff win, sometimes it's a 50/50 puck battle, sometimes it's an ability to get the clear instead of turning it over -- those types of things we can do better. In terms of the moments, I think our players showed their level of heart, resolve and resiliency in the way we fought back. But we didn't help ourselves by finding ourselves down early. We will have to correct that, and that's where our mindset is heading down to LA and we're trying to win one game.
"They're going to try to close us out and the pressure is on them as the home team, For us, our job is to find a way to have a good start to the first period and find a way to win one game."

McDavid on the level of frustration:
"It's disappointing obviously, you never like to lose, but we have seven games for a reason. We need to win one on the road and bring it back to Edmonton."
McDavid on the style of game the Kings play:
"We knew that this is the game they were going to play. They play structured. They play a 1-3-1. We found ways to produce offence, we scored four tonight which needs to be enough in a playoff game. We need to keep the puck out of our net."
Draisaitl on the flow of the game:
"We just got outskated early on and once we found our legs it was a lot better for us obviously, but five goals against isn't going to cut it."
Draisaitl on where the answers are for the Oilers poor starts:
"The answer lies in our room. We have to come out a little harder. We have to come out with our skating legs underneath us. We haven't had that the last couple games, not any games really in this series. We're looking to do that in two days."

Draisaitl on the Oilers third period response:
"We had the momentum going in, obviously the break didn't come at a time in our favour, but that's the way the game works. We have to go to LA and win a game and make sure we bring it back here."
Draisaitl on getting back to baseline after a loss like tonight's:
"We have a baseline that we want to compete at and we haven't done that the last couple of games. That's what makes us a good team and we're going to have to get back to it."
"We have no choice. We have to go to LA and win one game and bring it back here. That's what we're focused on. We'll flush this one. We know that we can be a lot better, so we'll move on and make sure we're ready for the next one."