Kopitar, Kings defeat Oilers in OT in Game 2 to even West 1st Round series

EDMONTON -- Anze Kopitar scored 2:07 into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

Kopitar, who also had two assists, skated into a deflected pass by Quinton Byfield in the offensive zone and beat Stuart Skinner glove side on a partial breakaway.

“Honestly, it was kind of a whacky play where Mikey (Anderson) throws it up the boards, and I think it was [Byfield] who tipped it, or was trying to tip it just to prevent the icing,” Kopitar said. “Next thing you know, I had it right on my stick, so I figured I’d make the most of it.”

Adrian Kempe scored two goals, and Byfield had two assists for the Kings, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division. Cam Talbot made 27 saves.

“He had a big hand in winning us the hockey game tonight,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said of his goaltender. “I heard [the Talbot chants] prior to the game, so what do you say? The fans are on him, he goes in there, he wins us the hockey game.

“You get to overtime, he makes some big saves, and the guys leave with the win and now we’re squared up. So, I would say he’s done his job pretty well.”

Dylan Holloway scored two goals, and Leon Draisaitl and Mattias Janmark each had two assists for the Oilers, who are the No. 2 seed from the Pacific. Skinner made 21 saves.

"I think there's a lot to clean up," Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They are a good team, they're going to get their chances, but we were giving them some opportunities we didn't need to."

The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1. Game 3 will be in Los Angeles on Friday.

“One game for them, one game for us,” Hiller. “And now we go to L.A.”

Kempe gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 3:19 of the first period. Kopitar intercepted a clearing attempt by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard at the blue line and passed to Kempe, who snapped a shot glove side on Skinner from the high slot.

Kempe then made it 2-0 at 14:57. Kopitar's backhand saucer pass on a 3-on-2 rush was deflected by Bouchard, but Kempe was still able to swat it out of the air past the glove of Skinner.

“Everything happened so quick," Kempe said. "'Kopi' threw a pass there, and I don’t know if it bounced off [Bouchard's] stick, and everything kind of just stopped through the air, and everything was slo-mo, so I just tried to whack it out of the air.

“I think their goalie thought it was going to go far side, and it ended up going short side, so it ended up working out well. It was a little bit of luck, but you deserve it sometimes.”

Brett Kulak cut it to 2-1 at 17:33 of the first, skating into a drop pass from Draisaitl and beating Talbot blocker side with a slap shot from the top of the left circle.

Drew Doughty responded 29 seconds later to put Los Angeles ahead 3-1. He had his stick lifted on a breakaway by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but the puck still slid five-hole on Skinner.

It was Doughty's first playoff goal since Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Holloway made it 3-2 at 7:51 of the second period, taking a pass in the high slot from Sam Carrick and beating Talbot under his glove with a wrist shot.

Zach Hyman, who had a hat trick in Game 1, tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 10:33. He took a cross-ice pass from Draisaitl and buried a one-timer from the left circle into an open net.

Kevin Fiala put the Kings ahead 4-3 at 1:46 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer from along the right boards that appeared to catch Skinner by surprise.

“Since the third period of Game 1, just some really tough bounces are happening,” Skinner said. “That's not saying that it leaked into tonight, it’s just that they're getting some good puck luck right now. We've also had our fair share of puck luck as well.

“That's how hockey works sometimes. Luck wasn't on my side tonight.”

Holloway tied it 4-4 at 3:23, roofing a shot glove side from the top of the right circle.

“In the first period, we dug ourselves a big hole being down 2-0 and 3-1, but after that I thought we played a lot better, especially in the second period,” Knoblauch. “I felt like if we were ever able to get the lead we could have finished the game, but we were never quite able to do that."

NOTES: It was Kopitar's third career playoff overtime goal, the most in Kings history. It was also his first playoff overtime goal since Game 1 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. ... It was Kempe's third career multigoal playoff game. ... Edmonton is 4-for-7 on the power play in the series. Los Angeles is 0-for-5.