Global Courant 2023-04-30 09:50:47
Kailer Yamamoto scored the late third period winner for the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-4 victory over the Kings in Los Angeles to close their playoff series on Saturday.
The Oilers took the best-of-seven conference quarterfinal from four games to two. Edmonton will meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
Yamamoto scored his first of the playoffs at 16:58 of the third period. He circled to the top of the throw-in circle and threw an off-speed shot through traffic into the top corner of the Los Angeles net.
Klim Kostin scored two goals and had an assist and Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist for the Oilers.
Leon Draisaitl also scored for Edmonton. Defenders Evan Bouchard and Vincent Desharnais each had two assists.
LOOK | Yamamoto scores late winner:
Yamamoto’s goal at end of 3rd period stands as Oilers eliminate Kings from postseason
Kailer Yamamoto’s goal in the third period proved to be the winner as Edmonton beat Los Angeles 5-4, giving Edmonton a 4-2 victory over the Kings.
Stuart Skinner made a series-high 40 saves for the win.
The Oilers’ goaltender was unlucky enough to break his stick in the third period, leading to a short-handed goal by Kings to tie the game.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists for Los Angeles. Philip Danault scored the short goal and Sean Durzi and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 21 shots in the loss after being pulled in the second period of Game 5 in Edmonton.
Edmonton led 2–1 and 4–3 at intervals, despite being outshot 33–19 over two periods.
Danault scored the short-handed tying goal at 6:42 of the third.
Skinner appeared to break his stick on a pass on the ice, leaving the puck in front of the crease for Danault to hit over the outstretched keeper.
PHILLY D ARE YOU ACTUALLY A GRIP pic.twitter.com/a1SjVRit3A
Kostin collected his second of the game by jumping on a loose puck in the slot at 10:54 of the second period to make it 4-3 for the visitors.
Fiala had tied the Kings with a power play goal at 8:16 when he threw a shot with Skinner’s glove.
Fiala, who sat out the first three games of the series with a lower body injury, produced a goal and five assists after rejoining the Kings lineup.
Draisaitl, McDavid speed up Oilers offense
The two sides traded power play goals earlier in the second. Draisaitl made it 3-1 with his seventh goal of the series at 4:05, but Kempe reduced the deficit at 6:36.
Draisaitl one-shot McDavid’s cross-ice pass past Korpisalo for his 70th career playoff point in 43 games.
Leon on another level pic.twitter.com/GS5yEer3EQ
That’s the third-fastest in NHL history, behind Wayne Gretzky (29 games played) and Mario Lemieux (36), according to league statisticians.
Kempe scored his fifth of the series with a wrist shot into the top corner of a Fiala feed.
Kings defender Drew Doughty prevented a third Edmonton goal in the first period. He stopped a blast from Darnell Nurse with the inside of his left foot, when Nurse had an open net for a target.
The Oilers led 2–1 on Kostin’s goal at 12:12. The Russian carried the puck over the blue line to the high slot where he hit the puck over Korpisalo’s stick.
Durzi even drew the Kings at 8:13. Fiala skated the puck into the zone and advanced to Durzi, who took advantage of the traffic for Skinner to beat him with a low shot.
McDavid scored his first equally strong goal of the series 85 seconds into the opening game.
Bouch puts on The Captain pic.twitter.com/7yva6aaYGW
Korpisalo made a first stop on McDavid, but the Kings’ goalie lost control of the rebound to allow Edmonton to cycle through the zone again.
Bouchard sent the puck to McDavid on Korpisalo’s right and the Oilers captain sent the puck under the L.A. goaltender’s cushion.
Edmonton converted one of two power play chances to go 9-for-16 in the series. The Kings went 2-for-3 on Saturday and 6-for-20 overall.
The Oilers played the full seven games to beat the Kings in last year’s first round en route to the Western Conference Finals.
Edmonton was swept four consecutive times in that final by eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.
