GAME RECAP: Kings 4, Oilers 3 (OT - Game 1)

EDMONTON, AB - The Los Angeles Kings came from behind to steal Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Edmonton Oilers and take an early 1-0 series lead with a 4-3 overtime victory on Monday night.
Alex Iafallo scored the overtime-winner on the power play after defenceman Vincent Desharnais was called for a tripping penalty that led to the Kings left-winger finishing off Viktor Arvidsson's pass from below the goal line at 9:19 of overtime.
"We had the game in our hands. We just let us slip away," Desharnais said. "We took too many penalties, and they just buried. I thought our penalty kill was really good in the second period, but they have some good players out there too and we just let it slip away."
Adrian Kempe scored two timely goals for the Kings, while Anze Kopitar produced a goal and three assists in a poised veteran performance.
Leon Draisaitl had two goals for Edmonton, who held 2-0 and 3-1 leads in the third period, but conceded the tying goal to Kopitar with 17 seconds remaining while down 6-on-4 with defenceman Evan Bouchard in the penalty box for high-sticking.
The Kings went 2-for-6 on the man advantage after the Oilers took six of the last seven penalties called over the final 40 minutes following Bouchard's goal that made it 2-0 on a two-man advantage in the first period.
"Anytime you're asking yourself to kill six penalties in a playoff game, it's not ideal and it taxes too many people," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "It's asking a lot of that special teams unit, and certainly we can better in that situation."
The series continues on Wednesday night with Game 2 at Rogers Place.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. LAK
POST-RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Leon Draisaitl
POST-RAW | Evan Bouchard
POST-RAW | Mattias Ekholm
POST-RAW | Vincent Desharnais
OTHER SIDE | Kings Coach Todd McLellan
OTHER SIDE | Alex Iafallo & Adrian Kempe
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

On the ice. Into the mayhem. On the board.
Draisaitl blew the roof off Rogers Place 6:57 into the first period as Edmonton opened Game 1 in front of a charged-up crowd at Rogers Place with the zeal of a Stanley Cup contender that feels their destiny is well within their own grasp in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The German sent the puck low to the left corner from the top of the Kings zone for Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark to go toe-to-toe with Kopitar and defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov in a puck battle.
Janmark, who had plenty of jump all night, pulled the puck out of the scrum and tried to feed it towards the front of the net before it struck the left skate of Matt Roy and fell right to the uncontested blade of Draisaitl, who dropped to one knee and delivered the opening goal short side under the blocker of Joonas Korpisalo.
Leon became the third-fastest player in NHL history (38 games) to reach 60 career playoff points, behind only Wayne Gretzky (26 games) and Mario Lemieux (34 games).
The terrific start from the Blue & Orange wasn't about to end there as they continued to pour pressure on the stymied Los Angeles side in the opening 20 minutes.
"We did a lot of good things. I loved our first period," Woodcroft said. "I thought we came out skating at the level that we wanted to skate at. I thought we did things to earn power plays and we built a 2-0 lead."

BOOOOOOUUUUUCH!!!

Handing the NHL's best power play in League history a two-man advantage doesn't seem like the best recipe for getting back into the game.
Bouchard made sure they'd regret it by lifting the lid off Rogers Place for a second time in the game's opening twelve-and-a-half minutes.
Connor McDavid drew a collective gasp from the gallery when he took on the entire Kings defence with a mystifying rush up the ice that the captain nearly completed, but he was able to draw a hooking penalty from Drew Doughty to draw the first power play of the night in favour of the Oilers.
Not even half way into that power play, McDavid was once again loose to drive up the right side and out of the Oilers end for a potential 2-on-1 opportunity until Mikey Anderson had to pull him back and set up a two-man advantage for Edmonton's historic power play that set the new NHL record for power-play percentage in the regular season at 32.4 percent.
Bouchard had the puck all alone at the top of the 5-on-3 with space in front of him as Los Angeles dropped to defend the front of the net. The blueliner exploited the space and wired a pin-point wrist shot off the post before it wrapped around the top of the Kings cage and back out to make it a 2-0 advantage for Edmonton that would hold until LA forged their way back in the final frame.
"I think when you've got a two-goal lead going into the third period, you're [playing] somewhat of a decent game," Bouchard said. "When you go into third period up two goals, you've got to find a way to close out in the playoffs."

GETTING ONE BACK

Los Angeles wasn't about to roll over and accept defeat.
Early in the final frame, LA cut the deficit in half after the Oilers had a 2-on-1 broken up by sliding stick of Gavrikov to send the Kings quickly up the ice in transition.
The Kings countered through Adrian Kempe, who received a cross-ice pass from Kopitar and dangled his way over the blueline and into to the slot before firing a backhand that beat Stuart Skinner over the left shoulder just 52 seconds into the third period, spelling a strong response for LA after having Edmonton run the show over the first 40 minutes.
This game was well and truly on with over 19 minutes left.

RIDING THE HOT HANDS

Draisaitl and Kempe were doing their part to drive their teams and deliver the offensive lifts when needed.
Leave it to Leon to raise the energy levels in Rogers Place back to a fever pitch after Kempe cracked the armor of the Oilers early in the third period. The German swooped back to a scrambled play inside the Kings crease and found his moment to strike on a loose puck and score his second of the game to return Edmonton to a 3-1 lead at 8:46 of the final frame.
But just as Draisaitl did for Edmonton, Kempe responded for Los Angeles once again after getting the puck inside the right circle off an offensive-zone draw on the left and wristing his second goal far side on Skinner to keep the Kings in striking distance with still over eight-and-a-half minutes remaining.
"I thought we controlled the game pretty well up until they scored their second, to be honest," Mattias Ekholm said. "I thought the first period, were all over them. The second period, obviously the penalties got them some momentum, but I still thought we managed it pretty well."

LAST-GASP EQUALIZER

So close to the finish line, Los Angeles levelled the score.
Bouchard's stick rode up the body of Trevor Moore in the final two minutes of play and clipped the Kings forward up high, awarding the Kings the chance to equalize with Edmonton down a man due to a high-sticking penalty. Los Angeles elected to pull Korpisalo for the six-on-four advantage, and it paid off.
Arvidsson traversed the left circle and sauced a backhand to the other side for Philip Danault, whose one-timer looked to have been stopped by Skinner until the puck popped out behind the Oilers netminder before being jammed into the empty net by Kopitar with 17 seconds on the clock.
"It's a 3-1 game and eight minutes left or whatever, so we've got to lock that down," Draisaitl said. "They made some good plays, scored a couple of goals, but we can definitely be a little smarter and more mature."

KINGS CLAIM VICTORY

Overtime heartbreak.
Edmonton was all over Los Angeles in sudden-death overtime until the tide changed when Desharnais was called on a hard-luck tripping penalty in the neutral zone that was the sixth infaction to go in LA's favour out of the seven power plays that came after Edmonton's 5-on-3 in the first period.
"They happen," Desharnais stated simply.
"The puck was loose at the blu line and it was flat. As I was going to get it, it just bounced over my stick, so it's one of those bounces and then I just try to turn around and he called [the penalty]."

The Kings didn't waste much time, winning the faceoff and completing a quick passing play between Arvidsson and Iafallo before the latter lifted Los Angeles to the 4-3 come-from-behind Game 1 victory at 9:19 of overtime with a one-timer below the hashmarks to the left of Skinner's net.
"We felt like we covered it pretty well, but they squeaked one through, so nothing to dwell over. It's what happens," Ekholm said. "I think the way we played 5-on-5, if we keep that up it's going to benefit us in the long run."
It's a similar script to last season's meeting between these two sides in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Kings took Game 1 of the series at Rogers Place by the same 4-3 scoreline in overtime.
"It's a long series. That's why you got seven games," Bouchard added. "So I think we've got to learn from this definitely and be ready for next game."

PARTING WORDS

Draisaitl on how the Oilers will regroup for Game 2 beginning with practice on Tuesday:
"We played some good hockey for the most part and then take the negatives and learn from it... It's not how we planned it. We obviously wanted to go out and win this game, but we didn't, so got to regroup and get ready for the next one."
Desharnais on the experience of playing in his first game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
"I've got better. I thought in the first period I was a little flat falling here and there, but yeah, I'll better for sure.
"The fans are crazy. The messages we've been getting, just seeing them on the streets, and just the atmosphere tonight was electric. Obviously, we want to do better for them. They're giving us a lot of emotions, a big boost, and we owe them a win."
Ekholm on losing Game 1 after going 18-2-1 to end the regular season and the emotions of the playoffs:
"Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's going to happen, but we'll have to make sure it's a one-off and nothing that keeps happening. It's something that I'm sure we'll address here and make sure of what we need to do, but again, it would have been one thing standing here if it was an absolute crapshoot in the third. I thought we managed to puck. We were in their offensive zone. They score with 17 seconds left at six-on-four. It's tough to defend those. So again, you got to learn, you got to move on, but at the same time, it's one game out of seven."
Woodcroft on the team's maturity and lessons learned from this game to prepare for Wednesday's Game 2:
"I would think that we have a mature group. We've been through some battles here. We understand that there's things that we did well, but in order to find a way to win, it's got to be for the full 60 minutes and we'll show some of the good and some of the stuff that we have to learn and get better."