PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 5)

The Edmonton Oilers look to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings from the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season with a victory on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series at Rogers Place.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet & Hockey Night in Canada at 8:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

Game previews during the 2024 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 5)

EDMONTON, AB – When you get down to the nitty-gritty of winning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a team's ability to scrape out vital victories when it matters most can come down to their ability to do it in multiple fashions.

As the Oilers arrive back in Oil Country on Wednesday for the opportunity to eliminate the Kings for the third straight season in the Western Conference First Round, they have a keen understanding and appreciation of this idea.

“You try to rely on past experiences,” defenceman Darnell Nurse said. “Each game and each opportunity present different challenges, and I think you just have to be ready for everything.”

The Oilers are feeling more confident than ever that they can play whatever game is necessary to win in the postseason and advance to the second round after they held off the Kings’ best push of the series in a 1-0 shutout victory in Game 4 that required a full defensive effort from every player involved.

“You have to be comfortable playing in those types of situations; those types of games,” defenceman Darnell Nurse said. “It’s not the first one we’ve played around here and it definitely won't be the last either. So for us, we have to be comfortable in those situations.”

“I think it gives us a lot of confidence that we know how to defend as well as we did,” goaltender Stuart Skinner added. “I think that was a huge key.”

Skinner made 33 saves to pick up his first-career playoff shutout, but if it weren't for the contributions of his teammates helping keep LA's shots to the perimeter and their Grade-A chances to a minimum, it could've been a much different result for the Oilers.

The Kings finished with nearly 2:40 more of the OZ possession time than the Oilers and finished with 44 hits after deploying a fast and physical approach right from puck drop that kept Edmonton firmly on the back foot for the majority of Game 4.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard's first-career playoff goal came on the Oilers' only power-play opportunity near the midway mark of the second period, delivering on a blast that made it 1-0 to put the onus even more on Los Angeles to press harder for offence. It was one of only 13 shots for Edmonton on Sunday that tied the franchise mark for the fewest shots they've ever recorded in a playoff game.

The Oilers' penalty kill would go on and make good on its only assignment in the third period, improving to a perfect 11-for-11 this series.

"Especially in the third period, LA turned it on," Skinner said. "They had it on the whole game, but in the third period, they definitely had their pushes. For the guys to be able to block shots and kind of do whatever it takes to get the win, I think it's a big confidence booster and it shows ourselves that we know how to win those types of games."

Skinner says that their experience in Game 4 of holding onto a 1-0 lead is just one of the many scenarios they can add to their list that they're prepared for, having the added confidence of knowing they can win any way possible if they continue to work away at their goal of winning the Stanley Cup one game at a time.

"We were able to go through that experience last year. This year is going to be, I would imagine, a much different experience just like how it already has been through this series," Skinner said. "We are a team that knows how to win, just like how we showed in this series. We know how to win high-scoring games, we know how to win low-scoring games as well, so I think just as a team for our preparation, it's just another game."

Despite leaving with nothing from their one-goal defeat, the Kings will try and channel that same type of intensity that they played with on Sunday in hopes of a better result in a do-or-die scenario at Rogers Place in Game 5.

"We're expecting them to have the same desperation they had the previous game, and also, probably with a lot of belief that they could win," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said.