Janmark had great response after scoring massive Game 5 winning goal
You can officially add “Edmonton Oilers playoff hero” to Mattias Janmark’s resume.
The veteran Swede came up clutch in Tuesday night’s Game 5 victory over the LA Kings, notching the winning goal midway through the third period. Janmark pounced on the rebound off a Viktor Arvidsson shot, beating Darcy Kuemper upstairs.
That was Janmark’s second goal of the playoffs, which matches the total number he scored throughout all 80 regular-season games he played this year. There’s no doubt that the veteran finds a new gear when the playoffs roll around.
So, how did it feel to score such a big goal after struggling to find the back of the net all season? Janmark was asked that after the game.
“You always black out a little when you score big goals like that,” Janmark said. “The puck ended up on my stick, and I just tried to bury it.”
"You always black out a little when you score big goals like that… The puck ended up on my stick & I just tried to bury it."
Mattias Janmark on what was going through his mind when he scored the #Oilers game-winning goal.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/ElkIRhdAAb
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 30, 2025
This isn’t the first big playoff goal that Janmark has scored for the Oilers ā far from it, actually. The depth forward was great for Edmonton during last season’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, scoring four goals at key times, including the only Oilers goal in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers.
Curiously, his regular-season output is so small, yet something seems to click when the postseason rolls around. Even Janmark admitted to not being the happiest with his season up until the playoffs.
“Parts of the year didn’t go as I wanted. For parts, I felt like I was playing really well, just the goals didn’t come,” Janmark told reporters. “I had a funny feeling when game 70 [of the regular season] hit, and I only had one or two goals, I knew I wasn’t going to have a career year.
“Kinda had a feeling that it might show up here in the playoffs.”
Having “The Janitor” score a game-winning goal in a critical playoff game is exactly the type of production this Oilers team needs to make another long run. McDavid and Draisaitl were held to just two combined points in Game 5.
This shows the floor is wide open for another unexpected hero to take centre stage in Game 6 on Thursday night.