Kings blow a 4-goal lead before Danault scores the last-minute winner in 6-5 opening win over Oilers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Kings led Edmonton 4-0 moments before the second-period buzzer, and they were up 5-3 with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third. Both leads vanished under the blizzard of offense so often created by Connor McDavid and the Oilers at their playoff peak.

And then the Kings won their first-round series opener anyway on a profoundly ugly goal by Phillip Danault, who chunked a shot that somehow fluttered past Warren Foegele’s leaping screen with 42 seconds left.

“I got all of it,” Danault said with a smirk.

The Kings have lost three straight first-round series to the mighty Oilers, so they’ll trade any style points for wins. They improbably got the first one Monday night, shrugging off McDavid’s spectacular tying goal with 1:28 left and surging past Edmonton 6-5.

“We could have made it less dramatic, but credit to them,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We had to do it late.”

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Zach Hyman and McDavid scored with an extra attacker to complete the Oilers’ tying comeback, but Los Angeles became the fourth team in Stanley Cup playoffs history to win in regulation despite blowing a four-goal lead.

Los Angeles has home-ice advantage this spring for the first time in its tetralogy with Edmonton, and the Kings came out flying in the arena where they had the NHL’s best home record.

Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists in his Stanley Cup playoff debut, and Adrian Kempe added another goal and two assists for the second-seeded Kings. Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist apiece, and Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves.

“I don’t think we took the foot off the gas, but that’s a high-powered offensive team over there,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “When you give them a sniff, they’ll take it, and they certainly did. Obviously being up 4-1 going into the third period, we want to lock it down and not make it interesting.”

That’s when the Oilers woke up and made it a memorable night: Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry scored before Hyman and McDavid came through.

“We said it many times last year: We never give up,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “They’re a resilient team. They stay composed. We’ve seen a lot of adversity over the last two playoffs, and guys stay with it. They don’t get too rattled when things aren’t going very well.”

McDavid had a goal and three assists for the Oilers, who reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season. Skinner stopped 24 shots.

“From our group in here, the pushback was fantastic and expected,” Oilers forward Adam Henrique said. “It’s tough, obviously, giving up the one right after tying it up.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL