The Edmonton Oilers are moving on.
After falling behind 2-0 in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, the Oilers stormed back with four straight wins, capping the comeback with a 6-4 victory in Game 6, to punch their ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This one wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t without fireworks.
The game started at a frantic pace, with both teams trading goals in a wild first period that saw five goals scored. LA struck first just 79 seconds in, as Quinton Byfield buried his third of the series off a feed from Kevin Fiala. The Oilers didn’t take long to answer, with Adam Henrique tying things up just under two minutes later.
The Kings briefly regained the lead with a Brandt Clarke goal at 3:37, but once again, the Oilers had a response, this time via a power-play tally from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Zach Hyman then gave Edmonton their first lead of the night with a tip-in at 12:49, capping off a five-goal opening frame and giving the Oilers a 3-2 edge.
Edmonton controlled much of the second period, extending their lead with goals from Darnell Nurse and Trent Frederic, who scored his first as an Oiler. Jordan Spence gave the Kings a glimmer of hope late in the frame, cutting the deficit to 5-3 with a goal at 18:01.
That hope nearly turned into heartbreak for the Oilers when Anze Kopitar scored with 55 seconds left in the third to make it 5-4. But Connor Brown sealed the win and the series with an empty-net goal in the dying seconds, his third goal of the postseason and perhaps his most clutch yet.
The Oilers' stepped up once again. Connor McDavid added his ninth assist of the series, Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and a helper, and Zach Hyman continued his strong two-way play with a goal and a point on the power play. Darnell Nurse, who has faced criticism in the past, responded with a goal and an assist in his best outing of the playoffs.
It was a complete team effort, with depth players like Frederic, Brown, and Henrique all chipping in at key moments. Edmonton’s comeback in this series was marked by resilience, opportunistic scoring, and improved defensive play after the first two games.
The Oilers now await the Vegas Golden Knights who closed out their series tonight with a 3-2 win. The Knights also need 6 games wo defeat the Minnesota Wild. This series will a rematch of the second round from a couple of years ago where the Oilers lost and the Knights eventually went on to win the cup, the Oilers look to flip that script this year though.