Bring on the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 6-4 on Thursday, finishing off this first-round series in six games. This is the fourth year in a row that the Oilers have beaten the Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Let’s go through what happened in Game 6.
The Kings opened the scoring just over one minute into the first period, capitalizing on a misplay by Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard. Quinton Byfield was sprung on a partial break and he made no mistake, putting L.A. up 1-0 early.
Under two minutes later, the Oilers had an answer. There was a mad scramble in front of Darcy Kuemper, with Connor Brown eventually picking up the puck and taking it to the slot. Brown’s shot took two deflections, one off a King defender and one off Adam Henrique and into the back of the net for the 1-1 tie.
The Kings scored again just 33 seconds later, once again on a weak-side rush opportunity. This time, it was Brandt Clarke who ripped it past Calvin Pickard to restore the Kings’ lead. This is one that Pickard needed to save.
But again, the Oilers had an answer. Just under six minutes into the first period, the Oilers had their first power play of the game, and Connor McDavid found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the faceoff dot. The longest-tenured Oiler snapped it past Kuemper to tie the game once again.
With about seven minutes left in the first period, the Oilers won a faceoff after a television timeout. Darnell Nurse shot the puck once he got it, with Zach Hyman tipping it over Kuemper’s shoulder for the 3-2 lead. What a wild first period.
The Oilers added an insurance goal with about five minutes left in the second period, as they had a nice passing play on the rush, with four different Oilers touching it. The last one was Darnell Nurse, who shot the puck over Kuemper’s blocker and in to make it 4-2.
It took 96 seconds for the Oilers to extend their lead to three. The Kings gave up a rare odd-man rush, with Brown outwaiting the last Kings defender to put it out front of the net. With Trent Frederic and Henrique in front of the net, the former scored his first goal as an Oiler to make it 5-2.
You knew that the Kings would push despite being down by three, and that push came soon after. With just under two minutes to play in the second period, Nurse made an ill-advised pass to a changing Podkolzin, springing the Kings on an odd-man rush. Once again, the puck went to the trailer, and Jordan Spence beat Pickard for his first career playoff goal to send the Oilers up 5-3 into the third period.
The Kings pulled Kuemper for the final four minutes of the game. In the final minute of the game, they managed to beat Pickard to get within one, but the Oilers held steady and allowed them no time to set up. With an eighth of a second left in the game, Connor Brown put the dagger in the Kings to take the series 4-2.

Takeaways…

Connor McDavid picked up his 10th point in this game, the eighth time he’s reached the double-digit mark in a single series. Only two other players have reached the 10-point mark at least eight times: Mark Messier, who did it eight times, and Wayne Gretzky, who did it 21 times. He’s incredible.
The Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard experiment isn’t working. Each of the first two Kings had the two players on the ice, giving up a pass to the weak side, which allowed the Kings to score. On individual pairings, they’re both strong players, but when they’re together, they bring out the worst in one another. That said, this was Nurse’s best game of the series, picking up a goal and an assist, and they both settled down after the first period.
One area of play that the Oilers need to clean up moving forward is giving up odd-man rushes. It’s been a problem all series and was a big problem in this game, giving up a handful of breakaways and three-on-twos. Jake Walman, in particular, has made some questionable pinches this series, even if his play has been good all things considered.
Calvin Pickard saved 22 of 26 shots for an .846 save percentage. What that doesn’t tell you is that he made a couple of big saves in the second period, one on a breakaway and another on a two-on-one. The biggest one came with the Kings’ netminder pulled, robbing a King with his pad to keep it a then 5-3 game.
Speaking of big saves, John Klingberg made one in the third period as well. What a revelation he has been in the first round, as he’s stepped up for an injured Mattias Ekholm.
If you watched that clip, you also saw why Klingberg had to make that save, as Pickard was run over. Surprisingly, no call was made on the play, which is a bit odd because Viktor Arvidsson received a goalie interference call in the first period. This is a great example of game management.
Connor Brown has had a great postseason so far, scoring three goals and five points in six games. Like Mattias Janmark (who had an assist in this game), Brown has stepped up his play in the postseason the past two seasons. Great signing.
Up next for the Oilers is the Golden Knights in the second round. Unfortunately, the date and time for Game 1 are yet to be known, but the Golden Knights will get home ice advantage in this series.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.