Kings score timely power-play goals to take series lead against Oilers

LOS ANGELES -- The Edmonton Oilers keep opening the door with undisciplined penalties, and the Los Angeles Kings continue to walk through it with timely power-play goals in the Western Conference First Round.

The Kings scored two power-play goals in a 3-2 overtime win against the Oilers in Game 3 at Crypto.com Arena on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 4 is here on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSW).
The second came from forward Trevor Moore, who scored at 3:24 of overtime after receiving a centering pass from Gabriel Vilardi in tight and one-timing it off the left post and in.
"Special teams is huge, and to get a goal like that in overtime, that's what we work for," Kings forward Alex Iafallo said. "We got to keep doing good things special team-wise, and it's going to be a huge part of the series."

It was the second time in the series the Kings scored a power-play goal in overtime. Iafallo scored the winner in Game 1 at 9:19 of overtime after Anze Kopitar tied the game with a power-play goal with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Kings lead the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 15 power-play opportunities so far, having converted on four of them (26.7 percent). During the regular season, Los Angeles was fourth in the NHL on the power play at 25.3 percent.
"It's a tight-checking series, we knew that all along," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. "It's breaks here and there, it's little calls here and there, and we haven't seemed to be getting any of the bounces. We had our looks, we had our chances, and they found a way to get a power play and they score in overtime."
The power play in overtime of Game 3 came after Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was assessed a slashing penalty for breaking the stick of Iafallo, who was cutting to the front of the net.
"He cuts across the middle, and you're trying to clamp down on his stick and not take a whack," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Obviously, I came down too hard and his stick might have broken. If you're the ref, you can't fault him for that. I come down too hard and break his stick, so maybe I got to be in a better position to not put myself in that situation."
RELATED: [Complete Oilers vs. Kings series coverage]
But also like Game 1, the Kings used the power play to tie the game after falling behind.
During the celebration of McDavid's second power-play goal of the second period, Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for slashing Kings defenseman Drew Doughty on the leg on the way to his teammates in the corner. 18 seconds later, Adrian Kempe took a long pass of the end boards and one-timed a slap shot past Stuart Skinner for his third goal of the series.
"The goal was huge. It was even better because in the first period we had a bunch of power plays and we really couldn't convert on them," Kopitar said. "We couldn't get anything going, so we set that play up and obviously, it worked out."
Said Draisaitl: "We can definitely be smarter. I took a bad penalty there, and that's on me."

Both teams had one power play in the third period, but neither were able to convert. The Oilers outshot the Kings 40-27 in regulation, but Los Angeles had the only four shots in overtime.
"We have a lot of confidence, and [Kopitar] and [Doughty] are incredible leaders," Moore said. "They keep us on the right track all the time no matter what the score is. They keep us chugging along and playing our game."