GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Kings 4 (Game 1)

EDMONTON, AB – Game won, Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers began their 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff campaign with a statement 7-4 victory in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Kings, receiving a post-season hat trick from Zach Hyman, five assists from Connor McDavid and four helpers from Evan Bouchard to take a 1-0 series advantage over their familiar playoff opponents and Pacific Division rivals.

"Whenever you can get up in a series, it's always a good feeling – especially with the way we did it," Bouchard said.

The Kings were victorious in both Game 1s during their post-season meetings with the Oilers in 2022 & 2023, but this time around, it was Edmonton's turn to pick up the important opening victory with a full-team effort, winning their first Game 1 on home ice since 2017 against the Anaheim Ducks.

"One game at a time," Hyman said. "I think it just helps you in the sense that now, you've only got to win three instead of four. You're not behind the gun, so it's good. We've got to defend home ice, so it's important to take care of business here."

Edmonton jumped on Los Angeles early to take a two-goal lead into the second period, where the Blue & Orange were able to stretch their advantage to four off goals from Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before the Kings had their best offensive spell of the night with tallies from Mikey Anderson and Adrian Kempe to make it 4-2 heading into the final frame.

Leon Draisaitl scored the first of two power-play goals for the Blue & Orange just 1:08 into the final frame, scoring from an impossible angle to restore Edmonton's three-goal lead until Hyman brought the hats down to the ice with his hat-trick goal by becoming the 13th different Oilers player in franchise history to score three times in a playoff game.

"I think they were just calm and composed. I don't think they were in a rush tonight," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I think we were able to just pass the puck around rather than skating it, and we looked really organized. The passing and the execution was outstanding, and the power play was the difference in the game tonight. We won by three, and the three power-play goals obviously had a big impact on the game."

Los Angeles scored twice in the final five minutes of the third period, but Warren Foegele completed the Game 1 victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Netminder Stuart Skinner was stellar on Monday night, backstopping Edmonton to a 1-0 series advantage by making 33 saves on 37 shots as part of his team's perfect 2-for-2 penalty kill on Monday night.

"I think the whole unit in general, we've been having a lot of conversations and obviously doing our pre-scout as they're doing theirs, so I thought we were rolling really well," Skinner said. "I thought we had really good chemistry and just a lot of good communication between the PK group. They were incredible in front of me."

The Oilers will look to take a commanding two-game lead in the series in Game 2 back at Rogers Place on Wednesday night.

FIRST PERIOD

Right from the moment they stepped onto the ice and into the cauldron of Rogers Place, the Oilers were determined to come out of the gates in front of their home fans with the attitude of trying to set the tone for the entire series in the first period to claim their first win on home ice in Game 1 since 2017.

You can consider that call answered by the Blue & Orange, who put together a commanding opening frame to take a 2-0 advantage through the opening 20 minutes of their 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff campaign.

"I loved the way we came out and played with some desperation early on, trying to impose our will on them in that first period," Henrique said. "So I thought we did a good job there, and that's just something that we need to be able to carry over for 60 minutes."

In the first minute, heavy hits delivered by Warren Foegele and Darnell Nurse on Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe got the energy levels inside Rogers Place rocking to a high decibel level as they sought to meet the physical demands of the postseason almost immediately.

The Kings would get the first real offensive chance, however, with Kevin Fiala getting loose right off a faceoff in the Oilers zone and forcing Skinner into an important left-pad save in the game's opening two minutes.

Not long after, a knuckle puck from the blueline by Evan Bouchard caused some distress for Kings' netminder Cam Talbot, who had to fall backwards in the crease after not knowing where the puck was beneath him. But the siege was certainly on for the Oilers, who couldn't convert two looks from Hyman and Henrique that went through the Kings' crease before Draisaitl had a breakaway broken up.

It was only a matter of time before the Blue & Orange broke through.

The crowd inside Rogers Place and outside in the ICE District Plaza went into liftoff just before the seven-minute mark when Edmonton's leading goalscorer from the regular season capped off an incredible zone entry and spin move from McDavid, who burned Mikey Anderson with the spin-o-rama before his original pass to Hyman was knocked down, but the captain's winger made no mistake on the rebound by firing it five-hole along the ice through Talbot.

It was Hyman's 20th career playoff tally, as well as his 15th in an Oilers uniform as he's now scored a playoff goal in eight straight seasons dating back to 2016-17 with the Maple Leafs.

Before the midway mark of the period, the Oilers would take a two-goal lead off the perfect snap shot delivered by Henrique to the top corner, with Hyman and Bouchard picking up the helpers to make it multiple points apiece in the opening 20 minutes.

Hyman offloaded a lateral pass to Henrique at the top of the left circle before Edmonton's trade-deadline acquisition from Anaheim walked down and left Talbot with no chance, placing his effort under the bar to the former Oilers netminder's blocker side at 10:24 of the opening period.

Henrique hadn't recorded a playoff goal – or even a point – since 2012 as a member of the New Jersey Devils.

"It felt good," Henrique said. "Just trying to attack simply. I don't know how the play really evolved. We kept it in at the blueline and I was able to find some ice downhill and just be a confident shooter, really. It's as simple as that."

Edmonton could've extended their lead to three before the break on a two-on-one between Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins, but No. 93 wasn't able to bury his chance on a wide-open net, sending the puck wide to keep it 2-0 heading into the second period.

SECOND PERIOD

Just as fast as Edmonton showed it could be a long night for the Kings – and a long series – the Kings proved just as fast that it wasn't going to be that easy.

It was an all-too-familiar combination for the Oilers on their third goal of Game 1 that came 4:50 into the middle frame, with McDavid once again linking up his winger Hyman with another magical spin move from below the Kings' goal line to set up the 50-goalscorer with a tap-in from in front of the LA crease.

McDavid fooled Doughty with a perfect pirouette down low before rounding the net on his backhand and connecting with Hyman, who was positioned in front of the crease to complete the play past a flat-footed Talbot stuck in his butterfly from watching his former captain orchestrate Edmonton's three-goal lead.

Three-and-a-half minutes later, the '*Nuuuuuuuuge!' made it four for the Oilers with a power-play marker buried at the opposite post of Leon Draisaitl, who walked in from his spot inside the right circle and made it routine for Nugent-Hopkins with a stellar pass onto the tape of No. 93 to redirect home his 40th career playoff point from the blue paint.

The longest-tenured Oilers player is looking to become the third player in NHL history to play his first 13-plus seasons with the same franchise and win his first Stanley Cup with the team. But the Kings, trailing by nearly a handful midway through the second period, provided a stark reminder that there's 16 games for the Oilers to win before that happens.

Los Angeles thoroughly controlled the second half of the period and got themselves within two before the intermission. It could've even been a one-goal difference if Trevor Lewis was given a different outcome on an official review that negated his team's chance to make it 4-2 with seven minutes remaining, but the Kings would ultimately get that goal before heading back to the dressing room trailing by two.

Mikey Anderson beat Skinner with 9:04 on the clock in the second period through a screen set by Trevor Moore, giving the Kings life before a fortunate bounce off the skate blade of Bouchard brought them within two of tying Edmonton. Adrian Kempe rounded the Oilers net and threw the puck to the back post before it bounced off the Oilers defender and into the back of the net with 2:04 left in the frame.

Late in the period, Pierre-Luc Dubois' second minor penalty of the night set up an Oilers power play of 1:40 in the final frame that would be pivotal to the Blue & Orange closing out any hopes LA might've had of mounting a comeback in Game 1.

THIRD PERIOD

The Kings tried to make it interesting, but nothing was preventing the Blue & Orange from exiting Rogers Place on Monday with a Game 1 victory and the hats falling to the ice in celebration of Hyman first post-season hat trick.

First, it was Draisaitl delivering Edmonton's fifth goal from an insane angle on the power play, dropping to the bottom of his office located inside the right circle and placing his shot under the crossbar behind Talbot to make it 5-2 for the Oilers just 1:08 into the final frame.

"They had their push in the second," Hyman said. "I think grabbing hold of it in the third and scoring a big power-play goal, that's just a huge goal to settle the group down and kind of be the dagger."

McDavid and Bouchard picked up the assists on Leon's PPG and the two were playing provider all evening with a handful of helpers apiece, picking up the assists again not long after when Hyman brought the hats down – 1,131 of them to be exact – from his own power-play office at the back post.

The Oilers captain served up his fifth assist of the game with a routine pass to Hyman's blade, nearly mirroring the winger's 50th goal he scored in Ottawa during the regular season with an easy conversion for Edmonton's third goal to finish 3-for-4 on the power play in Game 1.

"I thought the power play scored at opportune times in the game, and that's what we talk about a lot is not how many times you score, it's when you score," Hyman said.

"It definitely helped," Bouchard said of the power play. "Come playoff time, special teams are a huge part of the game. We won that battle tonight, and there's always room to improve. We're going to do that tomorrow."

The winger became the 13th different Oilers player to record a post-season hat trick with his 22nd career playoff goal and the 17th he's scored with the Oilers. During the third period, Hyman was slashed in the hands during a breakaway and spent the next minute or so keeled over on the OIlers bench, but he was able to finish the game and confirm during his post-game availability that he's fine.

Late in the game, the Kings struck twice through Dubois and Moore over a 1:08 stretch to make things interesting, but Warren Foegele's hard-worked empty-net goal from along the Kings' bench with 26 seconds remaining solidified Edmonton's 7-4 victory in Game 1.