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The Los Angeles Kings took a 3-2 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers yesterday, picking up a 5-4 overtime win in Game 5.
The Kings opened the scoring only about four minutes into the game, with Troy Stecher ripping a shot through traffic and past Mike Smith. Once again, they outplayed Edmonton in the first period, leading 16-5 in shots by the end of the frame, but only had a one-goal lead coming out of the period.
The Oilers tied the game early in the second period, with Connor McDavid taking the puck around the net and putting a nice pass right to Zack Kassian in front who buried it. However, the Kings regained the lead midway through the period, with Adrian Kempe taking a pass from Anze Kopitar and sliding the puck through Smith. Then only four minutes after that, the Kings capitalized on a turnover and Dustin Brown found Andreas Athanasiou at the side of the net to score, with Los Angeles taking a 3-1 lead, which they carried into the second intermission.
In the final frame, however, Connor McDavid got possession off a faceoff on a power play and went to the backhand in close, roofing a shot over Jonathan Quick to cut the lead to a single goal. The Kings didn’t sit back though and on a power play later on, Phillip Danault managed to redirect a puck to the net and it somehow found its way through Mike Smith to increase the lead back to two goals.
It didn’t last long though and on the second half of a double minor, the Oilers got the puck for a rush back the other way and Leon Draisaitl managed to bury a shorthanded goal, cutting the deficit right back to one again. Then on a power play only three minutes later, McDavid found Draisaitl with a great cross-ice pass and he wired it past Quick, tying the game 4-4. The Oilers had a surge of momentum after that and pressed to score again regulation, but the Kings escaped, sending the game to overtime.
The breather did the Kings a lot of good and only a little over a minute into the extra frame, Adrian Kempe made a great play to drive down the wing and cut to the net, sliding the puck around Smith to win it for Los Angeles.
It was another really strong game by the Kings and despite blowing the two-goal lead in a pretty rough last eight minutes or so of regulation, Los Angeles was the better team through the majority of the outing. They outshot the Oilers by a 43-28 margin and were propelled by another great start.
Adrian Kempe also had a huge performance, stepping up with his first two goals of the series. He was all over the ice and managed nine shots in the win. Troy Stecher also has two goals, four points and is a plus-five in the two games he's played in the series.
Again though, special teams is an area the Kings have to be very mindful of for the rest of the series. They went 1-for-5 on the power play and while they surrendered only three power play opportunities to Edmonton, the Oilers were deadly, scoring on two of them.
The Kings now have an opportunity to upset the Oilers and close out the series at home on Thursday.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM MAY
Playoff Preview: Kings vs. Oilers
Kings hang on for Game 1 win over Oilers
Kings suffer blowout loss to Oilers in Game 2
Kings suffer another blowout loss in Game 3, now trailing Oilers in series
Kings shut out Oilers in Game 4 to even series 
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