The Oilers’ best performance of the season came at the best time: ‘We want to finish the job’

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LOS ANGELES — Sometimes scorelines don’t tell the whole story. A 3-1 win by the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5, a victory aided by an empty-netter, was Exhibit A.

Not only did the Oilers come up with easily their best game of the series against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, but it was also their most dominant and complete performance of the entire season.

This one wasn’t even close, or at least it shouldn’t have been. As Kings coach Jim Hiller bluntly said, “They were just better in every way.”

“I don’t remember the last time we played as good a game as that,” winger Zach Hyman said. “It was still a nail-biter.”

Sure, it was a tight margin, but the Oilers have made a clear case for which team is better in this matchup yet again. They’re now on the verge of knocking the Kings out of the first round of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.

What a time for them to put their foot down, too.

The Oilers had been the second-best team for much of this matchup before Game 5. Winger Evander Kane felt they were stuck in “regular-season mode” during the first two contests. They trailed heading into the third period in every game and required near-miracle comebacks just to even things up.

They led for not quite 30 minutes before the series shifted back to Los Angeles. To suggest they were close to being swept isn’t an understatement. It’s the grim truth.

But momentum — a finicky word this time of year — swung massively in their favour in the third period of Game 4. The Oilers, trailing by two goals, got a pair of them by defenceman Evan Bouchard — the second with 28.4 seconds left in regulation — before Leon Draisaitl won it in overtime.

The Oilers took over that Sunday night, owning a decisive 33-13 advantage on the shot clock from the second intermission onward. They pushed the pace, exuding desperation and playing the style they wanted.

The goal was to carry that over and finally have a better start. They sure did that.

“We found something in the last game and carried it over into this game,” Hyman said. “We were able to throw out any line against any matchup. We were a pretty balanced attack.”

It felt as if the ice was tilted toward the Kings’ end all game. The Oilers outshot them 19-4 in the first period as part of a 46-22 advantage overall. These weren’t low-calorie tries, either. Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper was the only reason the game was close.

There wasn’t a passenger in the group on Tuesday night.

“We challenged every line to bring something,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.

Challenge accepted.

The Oilers were undeterred despite Andrei Kuzmenko opening the scoring by tipping in a point shot on a power play at 3:33 of the second period. Kane tied it up less than three minutes later, seconds after an unsuccessful Oilers man advantage when his shot from the high slot ricocheted sharply off Vladislav Gavrikov’s left skate.

They never relented from there.

“There was a feeling in the room that we’re playing like we should and we’re the better team tonight,” winger Mattias Janmark said. “We’ve got them where we want them.”

Still, it took Janmark depositing a rebound off a rush at 7:12 of the third to give the Oilers their first lead, one they wouldn’t surrender. And, with that, plus a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins empty-net marker, the Oilers secured three consecutive postseason comeback wins for the first time in franchise history, per the NHL.

Suddenly, it’s their series to lose.

“When we were down 2-0 (in the series), everybody pretty much wrote us off,” Hyman said. “We didn’t look great in the first two games, didn’t look great in the third game for two periods. But I think we just rely on our experience as a group. If you just don’t go away, if you keep believing, you give yourself a chance to win.”

That Janmark scored the winner was fitting on this night.

This Oilers win wasn’t one earned off the backs of their two all-world superstars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — though they both notched an assist on Nugent-Hopkins’ insurance marker. No, this was, as Kane called it, a “total team effort.”

And there’s no player on the roster whose role is more understated than Janmark’s.

“He likes the competition. He likes the playoff atmosphere,” Knoblauch said. “Some guys fade when the stakes are high. Other guys raise their game. Janmark is definitely a guy that raises his game.”

That Janmark stepped up while centring the fourth line with Vasily Podkolzin and former King Viktor Arvidsson as part of a massive victory just made sense.

Janmark was unhappy with his regular-season performance last year but responded by being an instrumental part of the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. He was an ace penalty killer and had four goals — as many as he had during the campaign — two of which were scored while the Oilers were short-handed.

It seems like history is repeating itself. Though Janmark felt he had some good moments during the regular season, he managed just two goals in 80 games. He’s already matched that in five contests in these playoffs.

The one he scored Tuesday was as important as they come.

“These are the moments that keep you going,” Janmark said. “I had a funny feeling when Game 70 (of the season) hit and I only had one or two goals, I knew I wasn’t going to have a career year. I had a feeling it might show up in the playoffs.”

The Oilers left their goaltender, Calvin Pickard, with little to do for the first time in the series. Not that Pickard wasn’t a helpful contributor; his most important stop came when he got his right pad on Kevin Fiala’s wraparound attempt with Kuemper on the bench and the Kings searching for the tying marker.

“They’re pressing at the end and he’s standing solid in the crease,” Kane said.

“He made all the saves he needed to make,” Hyman said. “If your goalie lets in one goal, you’re in pretty good shape.”

This was the type of effort the Oilers have been craving since this fourth-straight matchup against the Kings began.

The last two victories were part opportunistic and part lucky. The were no doubts about this one.

“We pushed back,” Kane said, “and we want to finish the job again.”

Now, the Oilers are squarely in the driver’s seat.

They wouldn’t have earned this lot earlier in the series, but they deserve full marks for it based on their Game 5 performance.

“Everybody took a big step and, collectively, we looked as good as we have,” Hyman said.

(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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