In Edmonton, the Los Angles Kings were outmatched on Saturday night.
Mike Smith made 29 saves and the Oilers downed the Kings, 2-0, in Game 7 to move on to second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Connor McDavid had a goal in the win.
“It feels good to do it in that fashion,” McDavid said. “There is always a lot of talk about the defensive side of the game, so for our group to step up in a big moment and play like that in a 2-0 win with ‘Smitty’ playing great and contributions from everyone, it feels good.”
LA held a 3-2 series lead, but could not get over the hurdle.
“Right now, it’s very frustrating, obviously,” the Kings’ Anze Kopitar said. “This series was hard-fought, and we gave it all and we should be proud of that. There is certainly an element of growth within the group throughout the season and throughout the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs. It didn’t go for us today and it’s extremely frustrating because we came in here believing we can get it done, and we didn’t.”
After a scoreless first period, the Oilers broke through on a goal from Cody Ceci.
“I’ve been getting a lot of opportunities playing with these guys and I find myself getting more chances and more opportunities to chip in offensively,” Ceci said. “I am just trying to play with as much confidence as I can and help out as much as I can. We are just trying to go on a run here.”
The Oilers dominated the second period, outshooting the Kings, 24-11.
“Sometimes it’s what the other team is doing, and they played a [heck] of a game,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “They’re figuring some things out over there and I thought we had a great first period. In the second period, we couldn’t connect from one player to the next to get it going. We would just about connect, or we couldn’t make the second play, and it countered and came back into our end.”
Edmonton awaits the winner of Game 7 between the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars on Sunday.
“I think for our team that series pushed us in a certain way that made us grow,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We learned a lot about ourselves over these last two weeks and the price that needs to be paid to have success at this time of year. I’m proud of our group and am looking forward to moving on to Round 2, whoever that is against.”
Jonathan Quick made 39 saves in the LA loss.
“I think they played a little better, they had more energy and more experience,” the Kings’ Phillip Danault said. “They played better as a team the last two games. We didn’t play bad, but they played a little better. They had a little more power, and they were a little more ready, but we’ll learn a lot from this and use it next year.”
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