The Kings dropped Game 3 in their return to Los Angeles on Friday night and in doing so, now trail the Oilers 2-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series. Losing by a lopsided score of 6-1, the Kings will look to put this game in the rear view mirror and bounce back on Sunday night in Game 5.
It took just over six minutes for the Oilers to find the back of the net and take the 1-0 lead. Following a defensive zone face-off win, the Kings turned the puck over on the breakout and Mattias Ekholm found a wide open Zach Hyman in front of the net for the game’s opening goal. Continuing with the subpar period, the Oilers would double their lead with 4:24 to go in the first when an elevated in the lineup Evander Kane fed his second line linemate Leon Draisaitl with a behind the back pass for a one-time snap shot for a 2-0 lead. Late in the period, the Kings took a penalty and gave the Oilers their second power play opportunity of the game and this time took advantage of it. Taking just 10 seconds to score on the man advantage, Connor McDavid notched his first goal and seventh point of the series by taking the puck to the net and following up his own rebound to find pay dirt. Shots favored the Oilers 16-8 after 20 minutes.
The Kings showed a glimpse of hope by netting the game’s next goal to bring the score to 3-1 in the second period. Getting on the board 5:32 into the second period, a fresh Quinton Byfield hopped on the ice in the offensive zone, received the puck and instantly found a streaking Drew Doughty on the weak side for a backdoor goal. Life back in the building, the two-goal deficit lasted just 2:07 as Kane collected his second point of the game and series with a net-front deflection that found its way past Cam Talbot and into the net. The Oilers led 4-1 after 40 minutes and held a shot advantage of 26-18.
Enter period three and chaos ensued. In a period that saw 80 total penalty minutes between the two teams, including four 10-minute game misconduct ejections, it was the Oilers that found continued success on the power play. Netting two more power play goals, Hyman added another goal to his stat line with his league-leading sixth goal of the playoffs along with Draisaitl potting another goal with another one-timer on a 5-on-3. The two Oiler goals pushed the eventual final score to 6-1.
Talbot made his third consecutive start of the playoffs and stopped 34 of 40 shots.
