The largest goal scored by the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night was scored by the team’s smallest player.
As the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Kailer Yamamoto scored with 3:02 remaining for his first point of the series.
The fourth line of the Oilers was crucial in a series won by superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Along with Yamamoto, Klim Kostin scored twice and provided an assist.
Yamamoto scores impressive goal against Kings in minor Hockey Game
The Oilers eliminated the Kings from the postseason for the second consecutive year while Stuart Skinner stopped 40 saves and McDavid, Draisaitl, and other scorers chipped in.
Oilers to Face Vegas Golden Knights in second round despite regular season wins
The Vegas Golden Knights are Edmonton’s next opponent in the second round. Although Vegas won the Pacific Division by two points on its way to securing the top seed in the Western Conference, the Oilers still prevailed in three of the four regular-season meetings.
The NHL has not yet revealed the date of Game 1, despite the fact that the series will begin in Las Vegas.
After the Kings tied it at 7:46 of the third period on an unintentional goal, Yamamoto scored the game-winning goal. Skinner breaking his stick allowed Phillip Danault to score while shorthanded.
“It’s good that we’ve been in that situation before where you feel like you’re doing a lot of good things and the game is tied. You didn’t really do anything wrong, but a couple tough breaks,” McDavid said. “Coming down the stretch Skinner gave us a chance to win and obviously, the little guy (Yamamoto) steps up over here.”
Kempe and Durzi score for Kings, but Fiala dominates with two goals and an assist
Adrian Kempe and Sean Durzi both scored for Los Angeles, and Kevin Fiala contributed two goals and one assist. In the Kings’ last four first-round series, they have lost.
For this game, Viktor Arvidsson was elevated to the top line and recorded two assists. Korpisalo recorded 21 stops.
“We gave up too many chances. I mean, Korpi had to make a lot of big saves, in the first especially,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “The playoffs isn’t always about who dominates the game. It’s about who has the hotter goalie a lot of times and whoever gets the bounces. And, unfortunately, we didn’t get them tonight.”
Since defeating the New York Rangers in six games in 2014 to win its second Stanley Cup in three seasons, Los Angeles hasn’t triumphed in a playoff series.
“When you get two power-play goals and a short-handed goal against a team like that you should probably come away with a win. And we didn’t,” coach Todd McLellan said.
RALLYING BACK
Before tying it with a pair of power-play goals scored 100 seconds apart, the Kings were down 3-1 in the second period.
Kempe scored the team’s fifth playoff goal, going top shelf from the right faceoff circle, at 6:36. At 8:16, Fiala equalized the score with a shot that made it past the crowd from the back of the left faceoff circle.
ANOTHER QUICK START
To give Edmonton a quick lead, McDavid deflected Bouchard’s shot 85 seconds into the contest. The Oilers scored within the first two minutes for the fourth time in the previous 17 postseason games.
REGISTRY BOOK
By contributing an assist to Draisaitl’s goal, Evan Bouchard tied the NHL record for most power-play points by a defenseman in a playoff series. It was Bouchard’s sixth helper and eighth point with the man advantage, joining Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders (who did it twice), John Carlson of Washington, and Paul Coffey of the Detroit Red Wings.
THE BIG THREE
The Oilers joined the Winnipeg Jets (2018 second round) and Ottawa Senators (2006 Eastern Conference quarterfinals) as the third club in the past 25 years to have three players earn 10 points or more in a single series.
While McDavid and Bouchard each had 10 points (three goals and seven assists), Draisaitl had 11 points (seven goals and four assists).
