GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Flames 4 (OT - Game 5)

CALGARY, AB - Trenches breached. Infantry retreating. Lines of communication cut off.
The Battle of Alberta in the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been won in overtime, and the final charge was led by who else?
Captain Connor McDavid.
McDavid scored the game-winner 5:03 into extra time, securing the Edmonton Oilers the series win over their provincial rivals with a 5-4 victory on Thursday night in Game 5 to send the Orange & Blue to the Western Conference Finals.
But a captain is nothing without his soldiers.
Leon Draisaitl provided the game-winning helper as part of a four-assist evening, finishing the series with 17 points in five games. Zach Hyman had a goal and two assists to conclude the series having scored in every game, and Mike Smith battled to make 32 saves on 36 shots for his fourth-straight win and eighth of the post-season.
The Oilers will face either the St. Louis Blues or the Colorado Avalanche for the right to contest the Stanley Cup Final.
"We all want to win. Everybody wants to win," McDavid said. "Our group has been through a lot this year and in years past. It's just made us hungrier and hungrier to be successful. We had to learn a lot of lessons along the way. It's got us to this point and we want to keep it going."

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FIRST BLOOD

The Flames shaved a close call at the blueline when Mikael Backlund kicked the puck right to Andrew Mangiapane, who dumped the puck along the boards and down behind the Oilers net. Backlund followed the play and beat out Evan Bouchard to the puck before Blake Coleman picked out a perfect pass to Mangiapane to one-time the opening goal past Smith at 10:13 of the first period.
Calgary found the first goal in all three games at Scotiabank Saddledome this series, with Edmonton's record this post-season being 2-4 in games where they conceded first. Before Thursday night, their lone victory came in a 5-3 come-from-behind victory in Game 2.

STREAKY SECOND

Backlund put a deflection off Michael Stone's half-board shot top shelf to double Calgary's lead 5:41 into the middle frame to start off the scoring in a second period that shifted ends for momentum more than once.
Darnell Nurse picked the corner through traffic off Draisaitl's feed for his first goal of the series, pulling one back for Edmonton before Jesse Puljujarvi reciprocated that stat to tie the game.

At the end of a long shift for Zach Hyman, the winger still had gas in the tank to skate the length of the ice on a 3-on-1 and send a shot on Markstrom that trickled through and was tapped in by the Finnish forward right before the half-way mark. Almost exactly five minutes later, Hyman was parked at the back post on Edmonton's first man advantage to scrape the go-ahead goal over the line and make it a 3-2 score.
There's been a lot of history made in this series, so how about another record? Hyman's tally started what would be a historic 1:11 stretch in the playoffs that saw four goals, with the Flames tying things back up through Johnny Gaudreau 15 seconds later before retaking the lead with their second goal in 14 seconds when Calle Jarnkrok picked his spot on an open look on Smith for his first goal as a Flame. But 40 seconds onward from that, Evan Bouchard leveled a Bouch Bomb from the point that tied things up 4-4 before the break.
"It was a rollercoaster alright," McDavid said. "To come out of that all square was big for our group. Obviously, we'd like to have the lead, but to come out square and give ourselves a chance to be one shot away in the third period in overtime was huge."
It was the fastest four goals in Stanley Cup Playoff history by a clean 22 seconds.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Kailer Yamamoto made a great inside move on Oliver Kylington coming into the offensive zone inside the 11-minute mark of the third before dropping it to Evander Kane, whose shot was blocked by Chris Tanev but the puck lazily trickled through and towards the empty Calgary net. Markstrom made the slightest of kicks, but it was enough to stop the puck from following its trajectory into the open cage and deny Edmonton what would've been the go-ahead goal with the game tied at four.

WAVED OFF!

Backlund utilized the same outside-inside move on Darnell Nurse that earned him a goal in Edmonton's Game 4 win at Rogers Place, and he did it again on Thursday night with six minutes to go in regulation before the puck was put away just outside the goal line by Blake Coleman's skate after getting tied up with Cody Ceci.
But the Oilers challenged the play for the kick that Coleman gave the puck before crossing the line, sending it upstairs for a tough review for the officials as the puck looked destined to cross the line -- kick or no kick. When the debate was finished, the referees waved off the play citing a distinct kicking motion from Coleman, nullifying the play and reverting us back to a 4-4 scoreline that would hold through the rest of regulation.
To overtime we went.

IN OOOOVERTIME!

Leave it to the captain, Connor McDavid, to score the overtime winner during a Battle of Alberta playoff series that did nothing but solidify his legacy as one of the best to play the game.
With two guys on his back along the halfboards, Leon Draisaitl kicked it backwards to McDavid, who walked into the slot and wristed the series-winning goal off the post and in 5:03 into overtime before sliding through the neutral zone on one knee and getting mobbed by Smith and his teammates off the bench.
"I was just trying to get my legs going. They weren't moving all that well all night," McDavid said. "I tried to focus on skating, got in on the forecheck, got the puck to Leo, and usually when you get the puck to him something good is going to happen. I tried to get open and he made a great play as always. I just tried to shoot it. I just had a second in the slot and tried to shoot it and it found a way in."

PARTING WORDS

McDavid on his game-winning goal:
"That was great. It's hard to put into words what that one meant to me. The guys did a great job of hanging in there all night. It definitely wasn't our best performance, but we stuck in there and got great performances from a bunch of different guys. I'm just happy to contribute on a night where maybe I didn't have my best."
McDavid on winning the Battle of Alberta in the playoffs:
"Special. It's obviously special to win, that is obviously everything. The fans were amazing in both buildings, especially in Edmonton. The energy and the vibe around the city has been amazing."
McDavid on dealing with the swings in momentum:
"There were lots of swings in games. It was a bit crazy there at the end of the second. A crazy game one, we got down in Game 2 and kind of just hung in there all series and found a way to get it done. That really was the moral of the whole series."
McDavid on the play of Draisaitl:
"He was amazing. That's all you can really say. It's hard to put into words how amazing he was out there. Every game, he dominated from start to finish. It was fun to watch tonight."
McDavid on Hyman's tenacity:
"It's fun to watch. The way he hunts pucks and holds on to pucks and how much effort he brings each and every night, it really energizes our team. If you can bring half the effort Hyman does, you're going to have a pretty good night."
McDavid on getting to the Western Conference Final:
"Woody talks about keeping our picture small, just one game at a time, one win at a time. That's all we're trying to focus on. We've had eight wins and we're going to go up against a real good opponent next round, whoever it may be. It's going to be a really good test and we're going to have to be ready for that."

Draisaitl on his 17 points in five games:
"It was a really big goal by Connor. I'm not going to stand here and talk about myself. I thought our whole team did a great job other than Game 1 to adjust to what makes us successful as a team. I'm really proud of the guys."
Draisaitl on coming back in the game and the series:
"That's a good team over there, they've shown it all season. They are really hard to play against. We knew they weren't going to just fold and let us keep going, so it was a great battle I thought. I think it shows the effort in our group and the type of guys we have in our room and the resiliency to stick with it and get back to our game and take control."
Draisaitl on McDavid's incredible series:
"He's everything for us. He's our leader, our go-to guy, he's the guy everyone looks up to when you need him. He's done it all season, he's done it his whole career. For the last two months he's been amazing for us. Eventually, you run out of words, so I'll leave it at that."
Draisaitl on how the team has grown and if they feel vindicated:
"For sure. As you guys know we've had a lot of down moments. A lot of moments where people were hard on us, saying we can't win. We haven't won, we're only half way but it feels good to take that next step for now. It feels good to grow as a team and an organization. This was a hard series, that is a really good team over there and they made it hard on us. They pushed back and we had to push back twice as hard."
Draisaitl on what this means to the Oilers fanbase:
"It's a great feeling. I'm sure the people at home are very excited about it, but again, we're only halfway. We're very excited, happy, and proud of what we've achieved so far this post-season, but there's more to be had for us. That's our ultimate goal, we obviously celebrate this for a day and be proud of it, but we're getting ready for the next round."
Draisaitl on the overtime-goal celebration
"I was celebrating with the fans in the first row. I actually didn't see it go in to be honest, I heard it go off the post and I got snot bubbled in the other side there. So I barely saw it but I heard the post and saw everyone get excited. It was an amazing feeling."

Woodcroft on what he was saying to his team during the third period and overtime:
"For me, I thought we didn't start the game we wanted to start. We fought our way back from 2-0 down. The second period was a little bit of a crazy period, but there were a lot of good things for us in that period as well. In between the second and third, we just talked about the good things we did and that we had to clean up a few things defensively.
"I thought we had our best period in that third period. There were some things that we could clean up heading into overtime, we talked about that, but I think with our group there's a measure of calm, a measure of composure, and a strong belief that we have the people in the room that can get us through any type of circumstance. So we felt good about our chances."
Woodcroft on Draisaitl recording 17 points and setting three NHL records in the series:
"With what Connor's done, Leon's performance has kind of gone under the radar a little bit. But for what he's doing, I think he has the ability to hold people off and make plays in tight spaces. I think he's the best passer in the National Hockey League, the best passer in the world, and the amount of plays he makes for our team is unbelievable. To do that with what he's going through, he's an absolute warrior.
"But I've said this before, when I walked into that room at the beginning of February, I was bullish on our players because I saw a sincere desire to win. Not just the desire to win, but I saw people willing to pay the price to win."
Woodcroft on the layers to Edmonton's commitment, beginning with Hyman:
"Zach is effort personified. You talk about someone who found his groove here this series, kind of finding a way to get on the scoresheet every game. I don't know if you picked it up, but I made a flip during the game [moving Hyman to the top line] and I thought it made us better. He's that type of guy who makes people around him better, but you're talking about the self-sacrifice required to win this time of the year comes down to blocking shots, making hard plays on the wall, guaranteeing pucks behind the other teams' D core a big save, a big faceoff. We got people who are willing to work for each other and it's a fun group to stand behind."

Woodcroft on what the win means to the organization:
"I think the Edmonton Oilers organization is a proud organization. We're proud of our history and the Hall of Fame people that have gone through our organization. We're proud of the different runs the team has gone on throughout the years, but our team wants to contribute to that type of history and our team is looking to make its own mark. The emotion of that moment, it was an important moment for that team, but that said we're going to the third round of the playoffs where there are only four teams left.
"Right now, we're going to enjoy this. I'm going to tell you that we are going to enjoy this one for however long the flight back from Calgary is, but to do this against your arch-rival and close them out in their own building in the fashion that we did, we will enjoy it. We're going to rest up and recuperate, and whoever comes out of that other series is going to be a really good opponent for us."