Kings wash out in Game 6 loss, lose series, 4-1 Draisaitl hits for double in series clincher

In Edmonton, the Oilers held off the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night for a 4-3 win in Game 5, and a 4-1 series win.

The Kings held a 2-1 lead in the game before surrendering three straight to trail, 4-2 head to the third.

“I think we’re probably a better team this year than we were last year or the year before,” the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl said. “We’re more mature, which plays a big part sometimes, but that’s a really good team over there. They make it hard on you.

“It’s an absolute grind against them every night. Hats off to the way they compete and play the game. That being said, we did a really good job of getting our minds ready for that and mentally being ready for the challenge.”

Draisaitl hit for a double in the win.

Stuart Skinner made 18 saves n the win.

“He was outstanding for us,” Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said of Skinner. “Early in the series, we could have done a better job for him, too. It always goes both ways. … And tonight, when he had to, he made the big save. We have full confidence in him.”

Edmonton, took a 1-0 lead midway through the opening stanza on a marker from Evander Kane. He scored off a rush up ice.

Alex Laferriere replied for the Kings with 28 seconds left on the clock in the first period to tie the game, 1-1. The Kings caught Skinner out of position after a dump in.

“It’s a pretty simple write up on this one, I think,” Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller said. “You saw one team execute and one team not on special teams.”

In the middle frame, Blake Lizotte  pushed the Kings into a 2-1 lead at 3:08, he scored on a bad change by the Oilers leaving him open for the shot.

“I didn’t love our first half of the game. I thought we were a little bit slow for whatever reason, but I thought we had a great response,” the Oilers Connor McDavid said. “We found ways to draw penalties. … We found a way to capitalize and then we found a way to close it out. It’s all good things.”

Draisaitl tied the game, 2-2, on a power play strike at 7:44. He scored off a shot from below the the right circle.

Draisaitl collected his double at 12:21, just as a power play ended. He scored off a one-timer from the right circle.

Zach Hyman stretched the lead to 4-2 at 19:07, again, just as a power play ended.

In the third, Adrian Kempe trimmed the gap to 4-3 at 17:42 of the third period, he scored with LA skating with an extra attacker on the ice.

“It’s super frustrating,” the Kings’s Drew Doughty said. “I mean, I don’t really have all the answers for you on what’s missing. We probably just needed some more guys to step up, play better. All of us, every single guy on the team. That’s the only way you’re going to win a playoff series.”

David Rittich made 22 saves in the loss.

“I mean, it doesn’t matter, you’re out of the playoffs regardless of who beats you, but definitely not a great feeling getting the worst of it three years in a row,” the Kings’  Anze Kopitar said. “And it just [stinks] right now.

“We’ve just got to play better, really. Special teams hurt us a lot, obviously, this series. There were parts of the games where we were good, we were dictating the game, but you’ve got to do it, obviously, more often and every game, too, in order to win the series.”