Kings blow 4-goal lead but beat Oilers on last-minute goal in Game 1

LOS ANGELES — The Kings squeezed a blowout and a squeaker all into the first game of their opening-round playoff series at Crypto.com Arena on Monday night, beating the Edmonton Oilers, 6-5, in a contest that saw them storm to a 4-0 lead, only to break a 5-5 tie with 41 seconds to play.

Edmonton eliminated the Kings from the past three postseasons and in the first two of those series, the Kings also won Game 1. A key difference from last year’s clash, apart from home-ice advantage for the NHL’s best home team, has been the special teams battle. The Kings won that Monday with two power-play goals and nothing allowed shorthanded, though they did cede two six-on-five markers in a 36-second span during the dying embers.

“We could have made it less dramatic, but credit to them,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We had to do it late.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night, in the same place and at the same time.

Phillip Danault, who scored eight goals all season, deposited two on Monday, including the game-winner in the final gasps of a contest that left the crowd breathless. Andrei Kuzmenko and Adrian Kempe posted matching totals of a goal and two assists. Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield each tallied and added a helper. Darcy Kuemper stopped 20 shots in his first playoff start since raising the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022.

Edmonton captain Connor McDavid burst forth with a goal and three primary assists. Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry picked up a goal and an assist apiece. Mattias Janmark scored and Evan Bouchard had three helpers. Stuart Skinner made 24 saves.

The Kings exalted with 41.1 seconds showing on the game clock.

Vladislav Gavrikov knocked down McDavid’s pass and cleared the defensive zone before Trevor Moore skated down the puck and found a trailing Danault. His effort looked more like a 12-6 knuckle curveball than a wrist shot and it might have grazed Warren Foegele, but like the win, it counted.

“I got all of it,” Danault joked. “It was a great play from (Moore). I think it might have hit Foegele. Just a great play, a great drive by (Moore), so, we’ll take it.”

“It was a little bit scary, there were ups and downs, big time, being up 4-0 and them coming back, and, you know, they have their offensive machine,” he continued. “We have to learn from this, but we’ll take the win and move on.”

In some ways, it was a tale of two games, with Edmonton scoring all its goals in the final 20:05 on Monday after being dominated for essentially two whole periods.

Edmonton scored twice with the extra attacker after having killed off two full minutes of two-man disadvantage.

McDavid scored the equalizer himself, driving the net and knifing the puck past Kuemper with 1:28 left.

He had weaved into the low slot and slipped the puck by a prone Drew Doughty to set up Hyman’s redirection 36 seconds earlier.

“It’s the playoffs. This group has been through games like this, numerous times,” Hyman said. “Sometimes games aren’t scripted like you think they’re gonna go and you have to find a way to win. We fell short today, which sucks, but we have a history of bouncing back and I’m sure we’ll play a lot better in Game 2.”

The Oilers have reached the conference finals, the second round and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final after their previous victories over the Kings, spearheaded by McDavid and Draisaitl.

“We have some really talented players who can will us back in the game and they did that,” Hyman said.

At the 7:43 mark of the third period, McDavid had his second pivoting primary assist, this one to Perry. He spun off Gavrikov this time and captain Anže Kopitar on the prior effort, perhaps the two strongest men in black and silver.

After Hyman illegally checked Brandt Clarke in the head and Jake Walman cross-checked Danault in the face, the Kings had their first two-man advantage and their second power-play goal of the night. It was Kempe serving up Fiala’s one-timer from high in the right circle. Kempe and Kuzmenko, who had the secondary assist, both earned their third points of the evening.

Kuzmenko, 29, played in his first playoff game in what Kopitar called “a great debut.”

Edmonton got its second goal off of Janmark’s crease-crashing effort 2:19 into the third period.

The Oilers went 16 minutes with a shot on goal and had just 10 through 40 minutes, but their 10th got them on the board with 4.7 seconds showing on the second-period clock.

McDavid drop-stepped off Kopitar to force an abrupt defensive rotation, opening up Draisaitl for a one-timer from the right circle. McDavid and Draisaitl now have 74 points in 19 playoff games against the Kings over four postseasons, nearly four combined points per contest.

That softened the blow from two middle-frame goals for the Kings.

At the 14:47 mark, Bouchard’s Teddy Ruxpin-soft clearing attempt was gobbled up by Kempe, who nearly scored unassisted. Instead, he had to await a recovery and Kuzmenko’s feed for a goal that sent the Swede skipping across the ice with his tongue out like Michael Jordan.

“He’s an unbelievable player, he’s one of the most underrated players league-wide,” Kopitar said. “Come playoff time, he’s got that little edge that he plays with that’s very encouraging and also very contagious throughout the lineup.”

Bouchard served up another pizza, this time to Byfield in the slot. He slid the puck a few inches to Danault, whose wrist shot made it 4-0. Byfield and Fiala had applied forecheck pressure to key the sequence.

In the opening salvo, Byfield made it 2-0 when he knocked Doughty’s shot out of the air with his glove and shoveled it toward the net, where it banked home off of Skinner’s back with 33 seconds left.

It only took 2:49 of this year’s series for the Kings to score more power-play goals than they did in all five playoff games last season (0 for 12). Fittingly, it was Kuzmenko, the trade deadline bargain who has become an offensive catalyst.

The Kings’ five-forward unit overwhelmed the Oilers to the point that Fiala’s seam pass could have been deflected home by Byfield almost as easily as it was by Kuzmenko at the back post.

“It was great timing to get the first one out of the way, get the crowd into it, get the guys into it,” Fiala said. “Everybody was hyped up.”

After the game, Byfield was quick to point out that Monday’s match served as yet another reminder that “no lead is safe in the playoffs.”

“We were up 4-0,” Byfield said. “Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of closing that game out, but a win’s a win.”