May 4, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 6 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings had one of the most wild starts I can ever recall seeing. Quinton Byfield got the Kings on the board just 1:19 into the game. The teams exchanged goals in a 33 second span, starting with the Oilers tying the game 1:45 after Byfield had opened the scoring. The Oilers blinked and they were behind again thanks to Brandt Clarke. But, the Oilers would respond again 2:18 later, this time on the powerplay. The Oilers became the first team in NHL history to score two game-tying goals within the first six minutes of a playoff game!

The Oilers started pulling away from there. They took the lead 12:49 into the first period, and had built up a three-goal lead by the 16:35 mark of the second period. Jordan Spence scored to make it 5-3 with 1:59 left in the middle frame just to make things a little more interesting going into the third period.

That score held firm until Anze Kopitar deflected a Drew Doughty shot home to pull the Kings within one with 1:55 left in the game. The Oilers would add an empty netter and hold on for the 6-4 win and handshakes.

Callouts

The Kings scored the first goal of the game five times in the six-game series. The Oilers responded quickly this time, but trailing early is a trend that needs to stop in round two.

It’s hard to ignore the fact that one of Evan Bouchard or Darnell Nurse (or both) was on the ice for all four Kings goals in Game 6. The only one I took issue with was the opening goal by Byfield. It appeared to be a neutral zone misread by Bouchard. Nurse had a streaking winger on his side, and the puck carrier (Kevin Fiala) was closer to the Kings net, but still in the neutral zone on Nurse’s side. Byfield was streaking up the middle. Bouchard got stuck in no man’s land. It looked like he had chosen to mark Fiala, but that forced him to vacate his side of the ice. He also gave Fiala a massive gap, which meant Bouchard wasn’t doing anything useful on the play. Bouchard’s misread forced Leon Draisaitl to try to track down Byfield in the middle, but Draisaitl wasn’t able to win that race. Bouchard should’ve identified the dangerous player streaking through the middle knowing he had back pressure coming from Draisaitl to address Fiala.

Standouts

The Trent Frederic – Adam Henrique – Connor Brown line was fantastic in Game 6. The trio created pure chaos in front the Kings net that led to the 1-1 goal, which was a Brown shot that banked in off of Henrique. Frederic scored the 5-2 goal by finishing off a play that started with four Oilers below the faceoff dot in their zone and ended with Frederic and Henrique basically in the crease while Brown centered it with two defenders draped all over him. Brown sealed the deal for the Oilers with the empty netter. Brown had a goal and two assists, Frederic had a goal and an assist, and Henrique had a goal. They provided some needed depth scoring in a massive win for the Oilers. They also had a five-on-five expected goals percentage of 73.35% in the game, which is tremendous.

Shoutouts

Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were both in on two key goals in the first period. Nugent-Hopkins scored a powerplay goal to tie the game at two, and Hyman earned a secondary assist. Hyman did a great job of battling to get his stick into a shooting lane and tipping home a Nurse point shot after a face-off win by Nugent-Hopkins to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead to cap off a crazy first period. Their line with Evander Kane had a 61.51% xGF% at five-on-five.

Nurse was on the ice for three of the four Kings goals, but he also got a goal and an assist in a winning effort. He got a pass from Podkolzin after joining the rush, and he found himself all alone in the high slot with enough time to have a coffee and read the morning paper before burying a wrist shot and giving the Oilers a 4-2 lead.

Calvin Pickard’s save percentage was only .852 (23 saves on 27 shots), but he made some key saves down the stretch to preserve the Oilers’ lead and to hold on for the win. Pickard won four straight games for the Oilers in this series.

Wrap

Every game in that series was pure cinema, including Game 6. The first six minutes of that game were off the rails! Oilers fans were far from comfortable even when the Oilers had a three-goal lead in the second period because they had seen their team erase a three-goal lead in Game 1 (although they were unable to win that game). The Kings made it interesting in the final two minutes, but the Oilers prevailed.

The most encouraging thing about this win from an Oilers perspective is that the team scored six goals with a chance to eliminate an opponent, and they got one point from Draisaitl and Connor McDavid combined. The Oilers’ depth came through in a big way when it mattered in Game 6.

The Oilers will now advance to face the Vegas Golden Knights in round two, which begins on Tuesday night.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers take series lead in dominant yet tight Game 5 win