EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl scored twice, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win their first-round NHL playoff series.

Edmonton eliminated Los Angeles in the opening round for the third straight year after coming out on top in six games in 2023 and seven in 2022.

Zach Hyman — with his seventh goal of the postseason — and Evander Kane also scored for Edmonton, which only dropped a 5-4 loss in overtime of Game 2 in the best-of-seven series.

Evan Bouchard added three assists, and Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two each as Edmonton’s offense broke out at Rogers Place. McDavid extended his points total to a playoff-leading 12 (one goal, 11 assists).

Stuart Skinner made 18 saves after posting a shutout in Edmonton’s 1-0 win at Los Angeles in Game 4.

Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere and Blake Lizotte scored for Los Angeles, and David Rittich stopped 22 shots in his second straight start.

The Oilers move on to the second round, where they’ll face the winner of a matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators. Vancouver leads the series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Down 2-1 in the second period, the Oilers scored three consecutive goals to take 4-2 lead.

Draisaitl had a power-play goal at 7:44 after a couple exchanges with McDavid to tie it. Rittich appeared to rob Draisaitl with a desperation glove save, but fans cheered as if it were a goal upon seeing the replay and officials ruled the puck crossed the line after a video review.

The Oilers’ power play went 1 for 4 but scored twice just after time expired on a penalty. Edmonton finished 9 for 19 with the man advantage in the series. Los Angeles was 0 for 1, going scoreless on 12 power plays.

McDavid and Draisaitl connected again just after a penalty expired with 7:39 left in the period for the German forward’s fifth of the playoffs.

The undisciplined Kings put Edmonton up a man again near the end of the period. This time, Hyman tapped home a puck on the goal line moments after Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois stepped out of the box to make it 4-2.

The Oilers hunkered down to hold off the Kings most of the third. But with the goalie pulled, Kempe deflected a shot past Skinner with 2:18 left to trim the deficit to one.

The Kings pressured for an equalizer in the final two minutes until Phillip Danault hooked Draisaitl with 19.7 seconds left – sending Edmonton on a power play and squashing L.A.’s chances of a comeback.

The Kings limited the Oilers to 13 shots in Sunday’s 1-0 loss and had the same game plan working early, holding Edmonton to one shot through the first 10 minutes of the game.

Kane, however, opened the scoring on Edmonton’s second shot of the night at 10:17 with a soft backhand that slipped past Rittich.

Los Angeles tied it with 28 seconds left in the first when the puck caromed around the boards and bounced in front of the net to Laferriere, who shot into an open net with Skinner out to play the puck.

Lizotte then scored 3:08 into the second to give Los Angeles its only lead of the game and quiet Rogers Place before Edmonton replied with an onslaught.

It’s the first time the Oilers have advanced from the first round in three straight years since 1990-92.

The Oilers fell 4-2 in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights last year.

McDavid became the sixth player to record 10 or more assists through the first five games of the playoffs – and the first in nearly 30 years. Draisaitl joined McDavid and Sidney Crosby as the third active player to record 10 points in four or more playoff series.

“When Finn was born, I turned to Ruth and said, just wait. He’ll cry, he’ll cry… But he never did,” says Martin, wiping tears from his eyes.

Warning: This article contains distressing content.

His wife, Ruth, had just given birth to their first son. But after a traumatic delivery, Finn was born pale and limp, needing urgent resuscitation.

Ruth was also injured, suffering a birthing tear so severe it required surgery.

As the room at the London-based birthing centre flooded with doctors ready to whisk their son away, Martin asked his wife: “What do you want me to do? Stay with you, or go with Finn?”

Follow Finn, she told him. As the plastic cot containing his newborn son was wheeled out of the room, a sense of helplessness swept over him. “There was nothing I could do for either of them,” he says, his voice breaking.

While we talk, both Ruth and Martin break down in tears, taking turns to comfort each other, but when I ask if they want to take a break, they refuse. They are clear that what matters now is sharing Finn’s story.

“He was our first,” says Ruth, adding that she had no idea what to expect from the birth in June 2021. “Everyone was still coming out of COVID times.”

Despite this, she said the pregnancy “was smooth sailing”.

“It was when we turned up for the actual birth that things went horribly wrong.”

Ruth gave birth to Finn at the Oasis Birth Centre, a midwife-led unit within the Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington, Bromley. It is mainly used for women with uncomplicated pregnancies, with access to birthing pools, massages and aromatherapy.

If extra care is needed during labour, patients are transferred to a delivery suite which the hospital trust’s website says is “just seconds away”.

The website adds that it intends to give parents the “control and support” they need and a place where they can “feel at home”.

But that wasn’t Ruth’s experience.

From the moment she entered the building, she says: “I wasn’t being listened to.”

Despite her labour progressing quickly and feeling the “overwhelming” urge to push, Ruth says, the midwives largely left her and Martin alone in the birthing pool with no real guidance.

“I remember on a couple of occasions saying to Martin, ‘Why are they not with us? Why are they not telling us what to do?'” she adds.

During this period, midwives failed to identify that Finn was in foetal distress.

Tragically, he suffered a severe brain injury as a result of complications during labour. He was starved of oxygen, a condition called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

Read more from Sky News:
Women ‘failed at every stage’ of maternity care
Mother left with injuries after giving birth breaks ‘silence’

Ruth and Martin would later learn that midwives failed to check Finn’s heart rate in line with national guidelines. There should have been at least 24 readings, but only eight were recorded.

One of his biggest regrets, says Martin, is that during the birth he told Ruth: “They are the professionals. We need to trust them.”

The brain damage Finn experienced during birth was so severe, consultants eventually recommended turning off the support that was keeping him alive.

Instead of leaving hospital with their beautiful baby boy, Ruth and Martin, in a deep state of shock, left with a memory box containing mementoes including a lock of Finn’s hair.

“No one expects that,” she adds tearfully.

“Finn had a blessing done by a vicar,” Martin recalls. “Then later that day, we turned his ventilator off and held him while he died.”

Ruth and Martin are now also parents to their second son, Remy, who has brought joy back into their lives. They are taking care to ensure the 17-month-old knows all about his big brother.

“We have Finn’s pictures around the house. Martin handmade the cot for Finn. It’s got his name engraved in it, and Remy uses it now,” Ruth says. “And we had Finn’s handprint made into a stamp so we can include him in birthdays and Christmas cards.”

The inquest into Finn’s death concluded on 25 April, Ruth’s birthday.

Coroner Dr Julian Morris found there was a lack of clear leadership at the birthing centre, and a failure to follow established guidelines in place. He committed to writing to all birth centres across London to give recommendations.

“If other birthing centres operate like that three years later, the likelihood is that more children will die as a result of poor care, understaffing, and a lack of leadership and management,” says Martin.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust apologised to the Kennedy family and said it “fully accepts” the coroner’s findings.

Tracey Carter, director of midwifery for King’s College, said: “In recent years, we have made positive changes to maternity services at the trust, including a review of midwifery staffing, enhanced training for midwives and ensuring more senior supervision in the department at all times.”

But Martin thinks the same guidance needs to be given to birthing centres across the country, to help avoid future tragedies.

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For now, their focus is on their family, and getting justice for Finn.

“You have to carry on,” Martin says. “You have to pick yourself up and make sure you try and get justice for your children.”

The 2023-24 NHL regular season was an entertaining one, with races for playoff position, point and goal leaders, and major trophies all coming down to the bitter end.

But not every fan base got to enjoy all of it so much.

With eliminations piling up, it’s time to look ahead to the offseason. Clubs that didn’t quite hit the mark this season will use the draft, free agency and trades in an effort to be more competitive in 2024-25.

Read on for a look at what went wrong for each eliminated team, along with a breakdown of its biggest keys this offseason and realistic expectations for next season. Note that more teams will be added to this story as they are eliminated.

Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Metro teams were written by Kristen Shilton, while Ryan S. Clark analyzed the Central and Pacific teams. Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey. Projected cap space per Cap Friendly. Dates listed with each team are when the entry was published.

Jump to a team:
ANA | ARI | BUF | CGY
CHI | CBJ | DET | LA
MIN | MTL | NJ | NYI
OTT | PHI | PIT | SJ
SEA | STL | TB
WSH | WPG