In Edmonton, the Oilers trailed the Los Angeles Kings by a 3-1 count heading to the third period.
Connor McDavid pulled the Oilers within 3-2, but Phillip Danault scored to give the Kings a 4-2 advantage.
The Kings needed that cushion because Leon Draisaitl scored shorthanded and power goals to get the Oilers even at 4-4, and force overtime on Tuesday night.
LA’s Adrian Kempe ended the OT early, 1:22, for a 5-4 Kings win, and a 3-2 series lead.
“It was a great start [to overtime] by [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.”
Game 6 is in LA on Friday.
“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].”
Jonathan Quick made 24 saves in the LA win.
“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.”
Kempe also scored in regulation.
“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.”
Troy Stecher staked the Kings to a 1-0 lead in the opening 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].”
Zach Hyman tied it, 1-1, in the middle frame.
Kempe scored to make it 2-1 for LA, and Andreas Athanasiou pushed the lead to 3-1 heading to the third period.
“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.”
Mike Smith made 38 saves in the Oilers loss.
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