Kempe, Kings defeat Oilers in OT in Game 5, take series lead

EDMONTON -- Adrian Kempe scored 1:12 into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Kempe drove the net on a rush off the right wing and slid the puck past goalie Mike Smith to put the Oilers on the brink of elimination.
The Kings lead best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 is at Los Angeles on Thursday.
"It was a great start [to overtime] by [Phillip Danault's] line, they had them in their zone for a minute," Kempe said. "The forwards on our side changed and they didn't get the puck all the way down and we got it back into their zone and caught them on their heels. They were a little tired, and that was pretty much it."

Kempe had two goals and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for the Kings, the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division.
Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Smith made 38 saves for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed in the Pacific.
"It's disappointing," McDavid said. "Obviously, you never like to lose, but they give you seven games for a reason and we need to go get one on the road and bring it back to Edmonton [for Game 7]."
The Oilers battled back from down 3-1 and 4-2 in the third period to send the game into overtime.

Draisaitl tied it 4-4 at 15:08 on the power play. He took a cross-ice pass from McDavid and snapped a shot in from the bottom of the right face-off circle.
Draisaitl scored shorthanded at 12:33 to bring the Oilers within 4-3, finishing off a rush from McDavid down the right wing. McDavid centered the puck looking for defenseman Brett Kulak in front, but it was swept away by Alex Iafallo to Draisaitl in the slot.
"I got asked a lot of questions about momentum the other day and it can swing within the games, and obviously it did in the third," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "They had a real good period and we were on our heels a little bit. We played hard enough and long enough just to get it to overtime, and that was real important for our team."
RELATED: [Complete Oilers vs. Kings series coverage]
Troy Stecher gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 3:53 of the first period. He took a cross-ice pass from Alexander Edler and stepped into a slap shot from the right face-off circle.
The Kings outshot the Oilers 16-5 in the first period.
"We've got to come out a little harder, we've got to come out with our skating legs underneath us," Draisaitl said. "We haven't had that the last couple of games really, not any games really in the series, so we're looking to do that in two days [Game 6]."

Zack Kassian tied it 1-1 at 2:32 of the second period on a pass from McDavid from behind the net.
Kempe gave the Kings a 2-1 lead at 9:29 following a turnover just outside the Oilers blue line by defenseman Duncan Keith.
Andreas Athanasiou increased the lead to 3-1 at 13:34. Brett Kulak had his clearing attempt from behind the goal line intercepted by Dustin Brown. He slid the puck over to Athanasiou, who lifted it over Smith.
"I feel like we're sticking to our game," Kempe said. "In the second and third game [6-0 and 8-2 losses] we kind of fell into their trap and let them play their rush game, and that's not how we wanted to play. They're a really good team when it comes to transition and I feel in this game and the one before [4-0 win in Game 4 on Sunday], we took it back to playing our game, being physical and solid in the D-zone and outworking them."
McDavid scored on the power play at 2:50 of the third period to cut it to 3-2 when he picked up a loose puck off a scramble on a face-off and scored on a backhand.
Danault extended the lead to 4-2 on a power play at 11:06, sweeping in a pass from Kempe at the side of the net.
"I think at the beginning of the series, if someone would have said would you take 2-2 and go into overtime for Game 5, we would have taken it, for sure," Danault said. "That's what we said, and we kept that positive vibe. We had a big first shift and then right away in the second shift, 'Juice' [Kempe] capitalized."

NOTES: Athanasiou was back in the lineup and played 11:50 after being a healthy scratch in Game 4 … Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson has yet to play in the series, out with a lower-body injury … Derek Ryan returned to the lineup for the Oilers after missing Game 4 with an undisclosed injury and had two hits in 11:41. … When a best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 holds an all-time series record of 219-58 (.791), including a 6-0 mark in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. When the road team wins Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead, they win 76.4 percent of the series (81-25). … Quick made his 90th consecutive playoff start to move past Tuukka Rask and Pekka Rinne into eighth place in NHL history. Martin Brodeur (194) has the most.