Zach Hyman knows people started counting the Oilers out after Edmonton stumbled to start this season’s playoff campaign.
The team didn’t give up and, on Tuesday, that persistence was rewarded with a 3-1 win over the L.A. Kings in Game 5.
Edmonton now holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and can advance Thursday when the first-round matchup shifts back to Alberta for Game 6.
“If you just don’t go away, if you keep believing, you give yourself a chance to win,” Hyman said. “Playoffs are an emotional roller-coaster for both teams. You have to make sure you can steady yourself.”
“Even after a win like tonight, it’s back to business. We have a huge opportunity to close it out at home and that’s the mindset right now.”
Edmonton pressed from the outset Tuesday, outshooting L.A. 19-4 across the first period.
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The Kings did not register a shot on goal until more than eight minutes into the opening frame when Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard denied Kevin Fiala from the side of the net during an L.A. power play.
“The feeling after the first period was we’re outplaying them and we have them where we want them and we have to keep pushing the gas,” said Mattias Janmark.
The fourth-line centre gave the Oilers the lead at the 7:12 mark of the second period after Viktor Arvidsson’s shot pinged off the pad of Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper. Janmark collected the rebound and popped it in to give Edmonton a 2-1 cushion.
The Oilers have chased the Kings for much of the series and lost Games 1 and 2 after surrendering six goals in each.
Something flipped for the team midway through Game 4, where Edmonton took control in the third period en route to a 4-3 overtime win, said winger Evander Kane.
“It was a nice reminder of how we can play when we’re urgent and desperate,” he said. “And we wanted to come out with that same mindset tonight. And I think we did a great job of that.”
The Oilers outshot the Kings 46-21 over three periods on Tuesday, only to be repeatedly denied by Kuemper.
Facing a hot netminder can cause a game to go awry, said Pickard, who stopped 20 shots on the night.
“It was one of those games where you could have got away from it because it wasn’t going in the net,” he said. “And credit to their goalie, he played fantastic. But we didn’t stray away from the game plan and got rewarded for it in the end and buckled down.”
The key to beating a goalie who’s playing well is simply to keep going, Hyman said.
On Tuesday, the Oilers did.
“In the playoffs, there are games where you have 10 shots and you win, we’ve done that. And then there are games where you have 45 and you’re only able to score two, and you just have to stick with it,” Hyman said.
“You don’t know what type of game it’s going to be. But if we play like the way we played tonight, we’re going to be on the right side of things more often than not.”
Edmonton fell behind 1-0 when L.A. winger Andrei Kuzmenko scored a power-play marker early in the middle frame.
For the third game in a row, the Oilers rallied for a comeback victory.
The three-game stretch marks the first time in franchise history that Edmonton has recorded three consecutive comeback wins.
After recording just two goals over 80 regular-season games during the 2024-25 campaign, Janmark has two goals in five playoff appearances this year.
The 32-year-old Swede also contributed four goals and four assists in 25 post-season games last year when Edmonton made a run to the Stanley Cup final.
Janmark said there were times this season, when he felt like he was playing really well, but the goals didn’t come.
“You want to score always, but these are the moments that keep you going. I had a funny feeling when game 70 hit and I only had one or two goals, I knew I wasn’t going to have a career year,” he said. “I had a feeling it might show up in the playoffs.”
