POST-GAME: Oilers face adversity head-on in series win over Kings

LOS ANGELES, CA - You can learn a lot about your team in the moments of adversity that test your true playoff mettle and stretch you to your breaking point.

"I think to discover is superior to being told," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said after the Oilers first-round series victory over the Kings on Saturday night. "Sometimes, you have to go through something like this in order to see what you're made of."

For the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings proved to be a critical test against their convictions after battle-testing themselves over the course of a hard-fought first-round series that reached its crescendo in the final 12:14 of its crucial elimination Game 6 at Crypto.com Arena.

"I was proud of our team," Woodcroft said. "We are sure of ourselves and wholly sure of what our opportunity is before us here. We have an understanding that it's not always going to be smooth sailing. It's okay that there's some drama in the story."

The Oilers worked through their own penalty trouble in the first three games of the series and shook off two tough overtime defeats (including in Game 3 on a controversial high-stick) in order to win Game 4 on Zach Hyman's overtime winner that was made possible by a three-goal comeback and Jack Campbell's 27-save relief appearance.

The Kings were no match for the Oilers at Rogers Place in Game 5, losing 6-3 to set up Saturday's win-and-move-on scenario for the Blue & Orange in the building where they staved off elimination in last year's Game 6 of the first round against this very-same Los Angeles side.

Klim Kostin produced a pair of goals in the first two periods of Game 6 to provide some necessary depth scoring behind Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, who both found the back of the net on two of Edmonton's three power plays.

Penalties, however, as they had in the first three games of the series, caught up to the Oilers and led to the Kings tying the game on back-to-back power-play goals from Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala before Kostin restored Edmonton's one-goal lead ahead of the second intermission.

When the stick of Stuart Skinner snapped attempting a pass to Evan Bouchard on a power play with 7:46 gone in the third period, leading to an easy open-net goal for Philip Danault to tie things up, the resolve of the Oilers bent, but didn't break.

For Skinner, the act of having his stick break at the worst possible moment was just another thing to add to his list of first-time experiences that the 24-year-old has endured in his first full professional season and Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance.

"Honestly, I feel like I've kind of gone through quite a bit here losing in overtime, being pulled in the first period, being able to win a game, being able to win a series and then breaking a stick and letting an easy goal go in," he said. "That's all part of life. That's all part of the experience and the lessons that I get to learn, and I'm very grateful for those lessons."

It was an all-too familiar feeling for Connor McDavid, who couldn't help but recall Game 4 of their second-round win over the Calgary Flames in 2022 that saw a 150-foot shot from Rasmus Andersson beat Mike Smith from distance after losing sight of the puck in the stands.

"It's funny, actually. I was having flashbacks to Game 4 against Calgary last year," captain Connor McDavid said. "It's good that we've been in that situation before where a weird one kind of goes in; where you feel like you're doing a lot of good things and it kind of feels funny that the game's tied."

McDavid gave Skinner an assuring tap on the head after Danault's lucky goal before the netminder went back to the bench and received more words of encouragement from his teammates, including tandem partner Jack Campbell.

Composure in the face of adversity would prevail for the Blue & Orange, who didn't let their collective heads on the bench sink below their shoulders after a terrible stroke of luck befell their netminder in the final period of their opportunity to clinch the series.

Kailer Yamamoto came into Saturday as the only Oilers forward yet to record a point in the first round, but he broke out at the right time with the biggest playoff contribution of his young career late in the third period by feeding off his linemates' intensity and scoring the series-clinching goal.

"I played with Klim the whole game. He was firing on all cylinders tonight," Yamamoto said. "He had two tonight, so I knew once we were buzzing around in the o-zone, something good was going to happen.

Yamamoto sifted a shot toward the Kings' goal from the top of the left circle to score the go-ahead goal with 3:02 remaining that eluded traffic in front and the vision of Joonas Korpisalo, who was left with no chance of picking up sight of the puck with a body like Kostin blocking his vision.

"He had a great net front," Yamamoto said. "I think there was like two or three bodies there, but I just shot it and thankfully, it went in."

Perhaps no one was more ecstatic to see Yamamoto score the all-important goal than Skinner, who settled himself over the final 12 minutes after the Kings' fourth goal to do what he needed to do to see out Edmonton's series victory.

"Credit to Skins for shutting the door down after. We weren't exactly solid in front of him coming down the stretch, but he just gave us a chance to win," McDavid said. "And obviously, the little guy [Yamamoto] steps up over here, so it's a credit to both those guys."

Woodcroft affirmed his team's hard-fought Game 6 win and series victory by attesting to their adaptability when it came to dealing with Los Angeles' strong defensive game under Head Coach Todd McLellan and their ability to stamp out entries with their 1-3-1 neutral-zone forecheck.

"I think the first round of the NHL playoffs is a unique experience, and I can't compliment the LA Kings enough because they played a hard series," Woodcroft said. "They're a very unique team in the way they play the game, but we were prepared for it. We altered our game to try and meet this challenge, and in the end, we're moving on."

Overall, Edmonton's answer to all the adversity they faced against a stingy Los Angeles side makes it hard to argue that they weren't two games better over the course of the series like the final line reads.

"I personally think we were the better team throughout," defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. "If you look at all the individual games over 60 minutes, there were stints where were on our heels, but I think for the most part, we were the better team.

"It kind of felt like we got some challenges thrown at us early with some fluky bounces, and I guess the bounces weren't maybe going our way. In Game 5, I thought we got some bounces, we got some greasy goals and tonight again, so over seven games it usually evens out."