The Kings dropped Game 5 to the Oilers 3-1 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night making it three consecutive losses in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 was a different narrative than we’d seen in Game’s 1-4 as the Oilers carried the play right from the opening puck drop. Now down 3-2 in the series and facing elimination the next time out, the Kings will have to find a path to victory up in Edmonton on Thursday to extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 7 back in LA on Saturday night.
The Kings looked out of sync right from the get go in Game 5 with turnovers, a lack of tenacity and physicality on the forecheck and subpar passing on display early and unfortunately often. Those trends continued throughout the majority of the game as well. With the puck in the Kings end for most of the game, Darcy Kuemper was tested constantly all night and stood tall to the task stopping 43 of the 45 shots faced. Outshot 19-4 in the opening period, the Kings escaped the period scoreless with both teams going 0-for-1 on the man advantage.
The scoring kicked off in the second period and it was the Kings who found the back of the net first for the fourth time in five games. Breaking the scoreless tie 3:33 into the period on their second power play opportunity of the night, Andrei Kuzmenko deflected Anze Kopitar’s shot from point just eight seconds after the man advantage began. Kuzmenko’s net-front redirection gives the trade deadline acquisition three goals in five games these playoffs, while Adrian Kempe also picked up his NHL co-leading 10th point of the playoffs with the secondary assist. The Kings only lead of the game lasted just 2:43 as the Oilers responded with the game-tying goal seven seconds after the Kings had killed off their second power play attempt. Without Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl on the ice, Evander Kane received a pass from John Klingberg in the slot and quickly rifled a wrist shot past the ear of Kuemper on the glove side. The remainder of the second period went without another goal and the game was tied 1-1 with the Oilers leading 33-11 in the shots department after 40 minutes.
The game-deciding goal came with 12:48 remaining in regulation when the Oilers converted on a line rush just after entering the Kings zone. Entering the zone on a 3-on-2 odd man rush, Vasely Podkolzin dished the puck to Viktor Arvidsson and drove the net. Arvidsson eventually ripped a wrist shot from distance and the rebound kicked directly out to Mattias Janmark on the weak side. Janmark one-timed the rebound and beat a sprawled out Kuemper to take a 2-1 lead. While still outshot in the third period, the Kings did register 10 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes of regulation. A number of those shots came in the final few minutes when the Kings pulled Kuemper for a 6-on-5. Unable still to get the puck past Calvin Pickard, the Oilers added an insurance goal via the empty net with 58 seconds remaining to win 3-1.
