LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers in a final period thriller 6-5.
The game winning goal would come from center Phillip Danault with 42 seconds remaining. With a two-on-one break the other direction, winger Trevor Moore hit the breaks and passed to Danault in the slot, who barely struck the one-timer. The puck slowly floated through the air, but still managed to get past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner to make the score 6-5.
After the game, Danault was asked about the game-winning shot.
"I got all of it," Danault joked. "Great play from [Moore]... just a great play, a great drive."
The game’s scoring started just under three minutes into the game when Los Angeles struck on the powerplay. After a failed rush, the Kings settled momentarily before winger Kevin Fiala launched a perfect pass from the right circle all the way to the far post to winger Andrei Kuzmenko, scoring the opening goal of the playoff series.
The Kings certainly were happy to score not only first, but also on the powerplay because last year against Edmonton, they failed to convert on the man advantage during the five games.
L.A. would push their lead up to two by the end of the period, thanks to a goal from center Quinton Byfield from the side of the cage. With immense pressure on Skinner and the Oilers' defense, Kings' defenseman Drew Doughty took a shot from the top of the left circle, which was blockered up in the air by Skinner. Byfield caught the puck and brought it down to the ice, where he would shoot it from just behind the goal line, bounce it off the leg, then back of Skinner, and into the back of the net.
The Kings would head into the first intermission up 2-0, with a power play goal and massive penalty kill. Part of the reason that the man-down defense was so effective was the man in cage — Darcy Kuemper — who had a few gigantic saves, numerous of which sliding from one side of the crease to the other to get a body on the puck.
After the game, head coach Jim Hiller would mention staying strong on the penalty kill.
"There are going to be times when we break down and they just create something, we know that," Hiller said. "I thought we did a really good job, they had a couple looks that were really dangerous, and they are going to have those. I like [that] we put more pressure on them than in years past."
The start of the second period is when the physicality would begin to ramp up with numerous hits on both sides. Leading the way was defenseman Joel Edmundson and the Kings' fourth line featuring center Samuel Helenius and wingers Alex Turcotte and Jeff Malott — all of whom were playing in their first playoff game — that laid the body and applied the forecheck, while the other Kings lines kept chipping away and the Oilers defense.
Skinner would not let his team down, though, as five minutes into the second period, he stopped a Grade-A opportunity on a wrap-around from Kuzmenko to keep the score within two goals. The Los Angeles faithful would not let up, constantly starting a “Skinner” chant to get into his head.
The physicality continued when Edmundson nearly hit winger Corey Perry into his bench, which got the entire Kings crowd cheering for the great hockey being played.
Though Skinner was playing great, it was only a matter of time before the Kings would strike again with just over five minutes left in the period. After an initial great save on winger Adrian Kempe, the puck rolled behind the net, where Kuzmenko would pick it up and send it in front. Kempe would corral it, cut from the left side of the crease to the right and tuck home L.A’s third goal of the game to move it to 3-0.
A fourth goal was scored only three minutes later, after a terrible turnover to the middle of the ice left Danault wide open in the slot at the hash marks. Danault took his time and buried the shot on the glove side to score 4-0.
Distress could be seen on nearly every player from Edmonton as they skated back to the bench with their head down.
The Oilers did find the net six seconds before heading to the locker room for the second intermission. A beautiful play by center Connor McDavid led to the Canadian with his hands free and eyes up to find center Leon Draisaitl on the opposite circle for a one-timer past Kuemper. Though not the score they would like, the Oilers got within three at the end of the period to score 4-1.
With the momentum on their side to start the period, Edmonton would score within the first three minutes of the third period. Mattias Janmark scored right in front of the net, as he got a lucky bounce in a net-front battle leading to an open goal.
Shortly after, Los Angeles got on the power play, bringing life back into Crypto.com Arena. Skinner continued to play strong and aggressive in his crease leading to multiple great saves.
The powerplay was when tensions started to rise as well. The first stoppage led to a skirmish where Kuzmenko was shoved over and pushed along the ice, and the second whistle also led to some pushing and shoving. Defensemen Jake Walman and Darnell Nurse led the charge for the blue and orange in physicality, ultimately leading to the Kings heading to a two-man advantage.
Directly off the faceoff, L.A. pushed their lead back to three goals. Kempe would receive the puck off the faceoff win and feed Fiala at the left circle for a one-timer, which whizzed past Skinner. The fans in Los Angeles continued to yell at the goaltender, with the score now at 5-2.
After the game winger Zach Hyman commented on the special teams from both sides.
"They were better than us on special teams," Hyman said. "[In the] playoffs, special teams are huge. We took too many penalties obviously... as a group we could collectively be a lot sharper."
Edmonton would get one right back after McDavid passed to Perry right in front of the net. With 12 minutes to go, Edmonton made the game manageable again at 5-3, but the Kings still looked like the significantly better team.
After an unsuccessful challenge on a delay of game, Los Angeles headed to a two-man powerplay for the second time in the third period. The powerplay was an all-out war in front of the net, with the Kings having multiple opportunities on one-timers on both sides of the ice from Fiala and Kempe but came up empty.
After the game, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch talked about the impact that the five-on-three kill had on the game.
"After [the penalty kill], it carried a lot of momentum for us," Knoblauch said. "[McDavid], [Draisaitl], made some really good plays to get us back in the game."
Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson would get called for hooking with about seven minutes left in the game, but the L.A. penalty kill stood strong and kept the Oilers off the scoreboard.
The Oilers would pull their goalie with about 3:45 to go to get an extra skater, and it would certainly pay off. McDavid would pull off a little bit more magic as he joked out Doughty and passed the puck to Hyman on the back post to bring the score within one with a little more than two minutes left in the game to make the score 5-4.
It wouldn't stop just there, as McDavid --- with three assists to his name --- scored only 36 seconds later. After flying up the right side of the ice, McDavid flicked a puck above Kuemper's shoulder and into the net to tie the game 5-5.
It would end with Danault, though, with his game-winner with 40 seconds remaining.
After the game, captain center Anze Kopitar was asked if he thought they ever took their foot off the gas.
"I don't think we took our foot off the gas," Kopitar said. "That's a high offensive power team over there, and when you give them a sniff they'll take it and they certainly did. Obviously 4-1 going into the third period, we want to make sure we lock it down and not make it too interesting like we did tonight."
With the win, the Kings move to 41-0-4 when scoring three or more goals this season. Both Hiller and Fiala mentioned how great it is to play at home, and especially now in the playoffs.
"I don't know what it is, the vibe in the building it's a fun place to play and a great atmosphere for fans," Hiller said. "Whatever it is, the combination of all those things has turned out pretty well here at home."
"They were awesome today, like always," Fiala said. "We are going to need them again... they push us. We appreciate it, and we want to win for them."
Los Angeles will host Game 2 on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena.
