The Edmonton Oilers’ season is now on the line after losing Game 5 to the Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Tuesday night. The Kings now lead the series 3-2 and are heading home to close the deal on Thursday.
While the home crowd is usually an advantage for the hosting team, it didn’t seem like it was all game long on Tuesday for the Oilers.
Edmonton clawed its way back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime in Game 5 of their first-round matchup, but fans weren’t impressed with how they started the game and lacked fight in the overtime, in which Adrian Kempe scored his second goal of the night to get the crucial win.
Mark Spector was first to notice that the home crowd was booing the Oilers, tweeting out that fans were having enough of the players getting dominated shift after shift.
It is true that in the first period, the Oilers look timid and weren’t playing like this was a playoff contest. Fans also commented of the Oilers’ lack of energy on social media.
The Oilers came into the third period down 3-1 and of course, the two superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl took matters in their hands. The captain got his team without one as he scored on the power-play and Draisaitl scored a short-handed goal, with a tally with an extra man moments later.
With the game tied, it headed to overtime where Kempe scored 1:12 into the extra period.
Tough loss and fans weren’t impressed either with the Oilers’ showing in overtime. Former NHLer Ryan Whitney, who’s been cheering on his former team since the beginning of the postseason, said:
“Just a pathetic start to that overtime. We didn’t even touch the puck. My left ear is on life support for Christ sake.”
I bet that if he had been in the crowd in Edmonton, he would have booed too. Game 6 takes place Thursday night in Los Angeles. Edmonton needs a win to stay alive.
