EDMONTON, Alberta — The Edmonton Oilers might have been down, but they proved you can’t count them out.
Connor Brown had a goal and two assists as the Oilers punched their ticket to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman and Trent Frederic each had a goal and an assist and Adam Henrique also scored for the Oilers, who won four straight to take the best-of-seven series in six games.
Calvin Pickard made 23 saves.
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“We got offense from all over the lineup today, it’s great,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who had an assist to give him 11 points in the series. “You need that, you need different guys stepping up. I thought [Brown] had his best game as an Oiler, maybe. He was fantastic. Pickard, obviously … you go down the list, we had guys step up. It wasn’t our best, but we found a way tonight and that’s what good teams do.”
The Oilers will take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
“This is a resilient group, one that believes that no matter how much we are pushed up against the wall that we can find a way to win and it was a testament to it this series,” Nurse said.
Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Anze Kopitar replied for the Kings, who have been eliminated by the Oilers in the first round in four consecutive seasons. Los Angeles hasn’t won a playoff series since 2014, when it beat the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 of 28 shots for the Kings.
“This one’s tough to swallow obviously. Having the season we had, and to have the guys in this locker room and come up short again, it’s frustrating — this one hurts a little more,” Kopitar said.
The Kings scored on their first shot just 1:19 into the first period as Kevin Fiala sprung Byfield on a breakaway.
Edmonton tied it 3:04 into the first as Brown took a shot through traffic that hit Henrique up high and caromed into the net.
The Kings responded 33 seconds later on just their third shot on Pickard as a low percentage shot from Clarke appeared to deflect off Nurse’s stick and went up high and in.
The Oilers tied it again at the 5:55 mark of the opening period on the power play as McDavid made a nice cross-ice feed to Nugent-Hopkins. Edmonton became the first team in NHL history to record two tying goals in the opening six minutes of a playoff game.
Edmonton took its first lead with seven minutes to play in the first as a long shot by Nurse was deflected in by Hyman to make it 3-2.
Los Angeles got to within 5-4 with its goalie pulled and 55 seconds remaining as Drew Doughty’s point shot hit Kopitar’s stick on its way into the net.
Brown put the series away with an empty-netter with two seconds left.
