PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 6)

The Edmonton Oilers can advance to the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a victory on Thursday night in Game 6 against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 6)

EDMONTON, AB – One more victory and we're moving on, but it’s always the hardest one to win.

But with the home ice and experience on their side, holding a 3-2 series lead on the Kings after a dominant 3-1 performance in Game 5 in Los Angeles, there will be no reservations from the Oilers heading into their opportunity for Game 6 at Rogers Place on Thursday to advance to the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight postseason at the expense of their Pacific Division rivals.

You can guarantee, however, that the Kings are going to have a say in that.

“The fourth win is always the toughest to get,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said on Wednesday before the team’s flight back to Edmonton. “We feel excited for the opportunity to do it at home in front of our fans, but we know how well LA has played us, especially through this series. They had our number through regular season, so for us to sit back and not play our best, we're going to be in trouble.

"We need an effort like we had last night and for most of the series to give us our best opportunity to win.”

The Oilers have earned their chance to eliminate the Kings in the First Round for the fourth year in a row on Thursday night in Game 6 by way of winning three straight games in this series to push Los Angeles to the brink following their defeats in Games 1 & 2 that staked them to an early 2-0 deficit.

Since the start of the third period in Game 4 at Rogers Place, the Oilers have thoroughly dominated the Kings by outshooting them 79-36 over the last five periods, which includes the overtime period of their 4-3 victory that evened the series after they trailed until Evan Bouchard tied the contest with 29 seconds left.

“I felt like we started something in the third or the second part of last game, especially in OT,” Mattias Janmark said. “And I felt like we found something in our game and found the upper hand. We tried to not let go of that and we pretty much executed for 60 minutes.”

Bringing that momentum into Game 5 on Tuesday, the Oilers put in a complete and dominant performance, peppering Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper for 46 shots in a 3-1 victory that was Edmonton's third straight comeback victory in the series, which is a first in Oilers playoff franchise history.

“Hockey is funny, it’s carry-over momentum,” Zach Hyman said. “Each game is different, and you don’t necessarily carry over momentum each game. But when you’re feeling good, when you have consistency and start to find chemistry with your linemates, I think you start to be able to play and roll lines over, and everybody feels like they’re contributing.

“I thought tonight, like I said, everybody chipped in… It was probably the best performance we’ve had this year, and having said that, it was only a 2-1 game (before an empty-net goal), so it takes everybody.”

In Game 5, Mattias Janmark gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead in the third period with his second goal of the playoffs – both coming in back-to-back games to match his goal total over 80 games during the regular season.

Janmark had four goals and four assists in 25 games during last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, including the only goal for the Oilers in Game 7 against the Panthers, proving that he can come through in the clutch.

“These are kind of like what keeps you going,” Janmark said. “I kind of had a funny feeling when game 70 hit and I only had one or two goals, I knew I wasn’t going to have a career year. So kind of had a feeling that they might show up here in the playoffs.”

Evander Kane has grown to become more impactful for the Oilers with each passing game this postseason, having two goals and an assist in this series after he scored the tying goal on Tuesday off a great keep-in and pass from defenceman John Klingberg seven seconds after a power play expired.

That tally proved to be vital for the Oilers, making it 1-1 at 13:44 of the second period after they trailed the Kings 1-0 despite having a 21-6 lead in shots at the time. It was a sweet snipe from Kane, but he's been making a home around the Kings crease all series and causing havoc on the forecheck.

"My first game back, I didn't really have any expectations. I just wanted to do my best," he said. "After I got through that Game 3, I felt night and day and just wanted to continue to build off that. I thought in Game 4, I was better, and [in Game 5] I felt better, so I just want to continue to grow my game."

"Last game, we came up pretty well in the third period and probably had our best period in overtime. I think that was a nice reminder of how we can play when we are urgent and desperate, and we wanted to come up with that same mindset and I thought we did a great job of that."

Despite being outscored with the shots heavily in Edmonton's favour, Coach Knoblauch didn't sense his team's confidence waver from the exceptional hockey they were playing at both ends of the rink in Game 5.

"Very focused and very driven," he said. "I didn't feel any frustration from our guys the other night. Nobody was feeling sorry for themselves for not missing an opportunity or anything like that, just a lot of guys saying 'stick with it. We're gonna come out on top if we just continue playing like this and stay with the process'. We're the oldest team in the league.

"I'd assume we'd be up there for playoff games played, so that experience for me being behind the bench and seeing the guys respond, I feel it's paying off."

Klingberg has been a revelation on the Oilers blueline this series along with Jake Walman, who was plus-2 while contributing two shots and three blocks in 20:07 of ice time in Game 5. Both defencemen were carrying injuries into the playoffs, but they've done a massive job making up for the loss of Ekholm.

"Just thinking about Walman joining us at the trade deadline, playing some games and then getting hurt and not being part of it going down the stretch where we were missing a lot of guys. So we didn't have our team and didn't really know what our team was going to look like and how we're going to play together. Certainly, I liked how our team played the other night and hopefully we can get more games like that.

"But also Klingberg, who didn't play for about a year and then coming back and playing a handful of games, getting hurt again and then playing a couple games. It's not easy for anybody to do, and I think he has been a strong addition to our team and he's been great back there."

Calvin Pickard made 21 saves in his third straight victory in Game 5 and will no doubt get the start again for the Oilers on Thursday night. The 33-year-old has only made 17 career playoff starts over 17 seasons of junior and professional hockey, but he's running away with the crease in Edmonton right now.

"I want to pitch in any way I can," he said. "Obviously, getting the start in Game 3 and being down 2-0, you just want to take it one game at a time and those were kind of roller-coaster ride games. But coming back [to LA] tied 2-2, we felt good about where we were at and how we finished off last game and it carried it over, but the next one's going to be the hardest."