For the third consecutive season, the Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Los Angeles Kings to punch their ticket to the second round of the playoffs.

This time, the Oilers dispatched their Pacific Division rivals in five games. Edmonton took down L.A. in seven contests in 2022 and in six outings in 2023.

Leon Draisaitl was key to Edmonton's 4-3 victory Wednesday night with a two-goal performance, while Zach Hyman scored the eventual winner.

Draisaitl is now up to 36 career playoff goals, tying him with Craig Simpson and Paul Coffey for the sixth-most in franchise history.

"It's fun," the German superstar told Sportsnet's Gene Principe postgame. "I like helping my team win when it matters most. It's always my goal to be a big-time player. For the most part, I think I've done that in my career, but hopefully I can keep it going a little bit."

Edmonton did most of its damage in the second period. Blake Lizotte gave the Kings their first and only lead of the game early on in the frame, but Draisaitl scored back-to-back tallies and Hyman capped off the run of three unanswered goals.

Los Angeles forward Adrian Kempe made things interesting in the final minutes of regulation by drawing his team within one, but that's as close as the Kings would get.

Evander Kane opened the scoring for Edmonton in the first stanza, but Alex Laferriere capitalized on a wild carom in the last minute of the period to enter the intermission tied at 1-1.

Stuart Skinner turned aside 18 of 21 shots to help backstop his team to victory. At the other end of the rink, David Rittich surrendered four goals on 26 shots in his fourth career postseason appearance.

The Kings haven't won a playoff series since 2014.

"They're always extremely hard to play against," Draisaitl said. "They certainly don't make it easy on you. Hats off to that group over there, we've battled with them a lot over the last couple years here. It's a great team over there, but so are we."

Next up for Edmonton is a meeting with the Vancouver Canucks or Nashville Predators. The former leads that series 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Friday.

Last spring, the Oilers fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.

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Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has taken a costly roughing penalty in back-to-back playoff games, and Bruce Cassidy has had enough.

"Veteran guy should know better," the Golden Knights coach told reporters following Vegas' 3-2 Game 5 loss to the Dallas Stars.

Pietrangelo didn't speak to the media.

After Tyler Seguin received a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head of Golden Knights rearguard Shea Theodore during the second period, Pietrangelo was penalized later in the frame for swatting his hand into the Stars forward's face.

The contest was tied 2-2 at the time, but Jason Robertson scored the eventual game-winner on the ensuing power play.

Pietrangelo was similarly in the box during a crucial moment in Game 4. After the two-time Stanley Cup champion was penalized for roughing Roope Hintz away from the play, the Stars scored on the man advantage for the first of three unanswered goals during their 4-2 victory.

When asked if he found Pietrangelo's recent lack of discipline surprising or disappointing, Cassidy said "both."

"There's controlled aggression out there all over the ice in every series. ... There's a little bit of a learning curve that goes into it," the bench boss explained. "We should know better, but it happens. ... Margins are too thin."

"We have to take care of our discipline," he added. "We just have to. It's that simple."

Pietrangelo earned zero penalty minutes through the first three games of the series. He was assessed just one minor penalty when these two teams met in the conference finals last spring.

The 34-year-old racked up 24 penalty minutes in 64 games during the regular season.

Pietrangelo has been one of the Golden Knights' key penalty killers since he arrived in Sin City back in 2020. He averaged the second-most shorthanded ice time (2:27) on the team during last year's postseason, trailing only Brayden McNabb.

Vegas won the first two games of its first-round series against the Stars, but the Western Conference's top seed stormed back with three straight victories to put the reigning champs on the brink of elimination.

"We'll hang our hats on the fact that we're the defending Stanley Cup champions," Cassidy said. "There's lots of resolve in that room, a lot of winners in that room, a lot of pride in that room."

Game 6 is scheduled for Friday at T-Mobile Arena.

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The Dallas Stars won 3-2 in Wednesday's Game 5 to put the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights on the verge of elimination.

The Stars have won three straight contests after going down 0-2 to start the series. Dallas is the first to win on home ice in the series.

Jake Oettinger denied Chandler Stephenson on a breakaway late in the third period to preserve the Stars' lead. He finished the game with 25 saves. Adin Hill made 22 stops in his first start of the series.

The Golden Knights have made the conference finals in four of five playoff appearances. Vegas lost in the 2019 first round against the San Jose Sharks in seven games.

Game 6 is set for Friday at Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.

Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Dallas Stars won 3-2 in Wednesday's Game 5 to put the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights on the verge of elimination.

The Stars have won three straight contests after going down 0-2 to start the series. Dallas is the first to win on home ice in the series.

Jake Oettinger denied Chandler Stephenson on a breakaway late in the third period to preserve the Stars' lead. He finished the game with 25 saves. Adin Hill made 22 stops in his first start of the series.

The Golden Knights have made the conference finals in four of five playoff appearances. Vegas lost in the 2019 first round against the San Jose Sharks in seven games.

Game 6 is set for Friday at Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.

Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.