McDavid, Oilers put out Flames
CALGARY: Connor McDavid’s goal 5:03 into overtime gave the Edmonton Oilers a 5-4 victory over the Calgary Flames and sent them to the Western Conference finals on Thursday.
Darnell Nurse, Jesse Puljujarvi, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers, who erased yet another multi-goal deficit en route to claiming the best-of-seven series 4-1.
Edmonton goaltender Mike Smith made 32 saves.
Leon Draisaitl collected four assists, giving him at least three points in five consecutive games, an NHL play-off record. Draisaitl collected 17 points in the series.
In overtime, McDavid took a feed from Draisaitl in the slot and ripped a shot off the post and in for his seventh goal of the play-offs.
The tally gave McDavid his only point of the night.
“I was bad all night,” the Edmonton captain said. “I was riding the coattails of my teammates and got a great opportunity, and so I’m happy to contribute.”
The Oilers, who are headed to the conference finals for the first time since 2006, will face the winners of the Avalanche-Blues series. Colorado lead St Louis 3-2 entering Game Six this morning, Thai time.
At Raleigh, Teuvo Teravainen scored a power-play goal midway into the second period to fuel the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers in Game Five of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Andrei Svechnikov and Vincent Trocheck also scored and Antti Raanta made 16 saves for the Hurricanes, who hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game Six is tomorrow, Thai time, in New York.
Carolina improved to 7-0 at home in the play-offs, outscoring the opposition 25-8 in games in Raleigh.
Mika Zibanejad scored a goal in his third straight game and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots for New York.
Ranger star Chris Kreider was held without a shot on Thursday and has registered just one in three road games in this series.
Kreider had a career-best 52 goals in the regular season, and he has a teamhigh-tying six in the play-offs.