GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Kings 2 (Game 2)

EDMONTON, AB -Call him Klutch Kostin.
Klim Kostin scored his first ever playoff goal 2:20 into the third period, which ended up being the game winner, to give Edmonton a 4-2 victory at Rogers Place on Wednesday night to tie the series with the Kings at 1-1.
The Oilers were once again able to limit the Kings offence for the most of the night, holding Los Angeles to just 25 shots. So far through two games, the Oilers have manhandled their opponent at even strength, outshooting them 66-45. The biggest discrepancy between the Kings and Oilers thus far has been in the penalty box, where LA holds a 10-4 power-play advantage through Games 1 and 2.
Wednesday night's contest seemed to be following a very similar script to the opening game of the series. For the second time in a row, the Oilers jumped out to a two-goal first period advantage only for the Kings to battle their way back into the game.
Derek Ryan and Leon Draisaitl gave Edmonton the 2-0 first-period advantage before Phillip Danault and Gabriel Vilardi nullified it in the final 5:22 of the second frame. Unlike Game 1, those goals would be the last time the Kings would see the scoresheet on the night.
"Obviously a really good start to go up 2-0," Zach Hyman said. "We were playing fast on the forecheck and getting pucks back, doing all those things to maintain possession. It was a great start and then obviously we gave it back, but a huge goal for us by Klim in the third there got us the win."
Kostin's goal gave Edmonton the late advantage, which would be doubled by Evander Kane in the final minute with an empty-net tally.
"You always get moments where you go into the third period tied, or down one, or up one," Stuart Skinner said. "I think just being able to have that experience, we've played in games like that before. We played in a game like that just the other day. So as a team, we have the leaders and just everybody in here knows how to bounce back from that."
Skinner notched his first-ever NHL playoff victory by turning away 23-of-25 shots from the Kings on the evening, while his cross-crease counterpart Joonas Korpisalo allowed three goals on 36 shots in the loss.
The Oilers will head to Los Angeles for Game 3 of the series on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

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OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. LAK
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Draisaitl, Kostin
POST-RAW | Stuart Skinner
POST-RAW | Mattias Ekholm
POST-RAW | Zach Hyman
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Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

For a second game in a row, Rogers Place was sent into an uproar early in the first period.
After a much more measured beginning to Game 2, the Oilers found a breakthrough courtesy of some sublime hands by Draisaitl and Ryan's willingness to get to the dirty areas.
The German superstar took care of most of the work crossing the Kings blueline, back-hand dragging the puck around Carl Grundstrom and firing a shot off the boards behind Korpisalo. Ryan was in the right position for the rebound, shovelling the puck by the Kings goaltender at the 2:34 mark of the period for his first of the playoffs and his third ever post-season goal.
The goal was all part of an excellent start by the Oilers, who didn't allow the Kings to register their first shot on goal until the 2:02 mark of the period despite a Los Angeles power play.

PESKY KINGS

Despite a thoroughly commanding performance by the Oilers for the first 30 minutes, the pesky Kings were able to hang around the game finally breaking through with 5:22 left in the second period.
It was Danault who did the damage, receiving a behind-the-net feed from Adrian Kempe and hacking a trio of short-range backhanders on Skinner until one finally popped over the goaltender's pad and into the net.
The Kings gained some more momentum after a pair of power plays- --one from a Draisaitl tripping call and another when Evander Kane batted the puck out of midair and over the glass for delay of game. Edmonton killed off both Los Angeles advantages, but the visitors used the push to tie the game before the period ended.
It was Vilardi, who missed Game 1 due to an injury, scoring the goal on the rush by tucking the puck in the smallest gap between the Skinner's skate and the post to make it 2-2.

KLIM IS HIM

The Rogers Place crowd was a little deflated after a pair of late second-period goals by the Kings sucked the air out of the building, but Kostin gave them life early in the third.
The rugged Oilers winger collected the puck and leisurely made his way towards the Kings net, firing a sneaky shot through a Los Angeles defender and by Korpisalo to send the building into a frenzy. The marker, coming 2:20 into the third, was Kostin's first-career playoff goal and was followed by his signature, emphatic celebration.
"It's emotion, right?" Hyman said. "Klim is a guy who plays with emotion and he's physical, he's got a great shot; he almost scored one in the first too when he hit the bar and then was able to put that one in. Just a great goal for him and a great goal for our team."
The burly Russian forward has all the makings of an Oilers playoff fan favourite and he took his first step towards icon status with the game winner.

PLAYOFF LEON

It's scary to think a 128-point regular season player can get better in the playoffs, but it looks like Draisaitl is doing that once again for the Blue & Orange.
Fresh off a two-goal Game 1 on Monday, the 27-year-old continued to pile on the points in the series on Wednesday. Draisaitl set up Ryan's opening tally with some excellent stick work, but it was on the Oilers lone first-period power play where he continued to thrive.
With Iafallo in the box for tripping, the best man advantage in NHL history went to work. After being held scoreless in Game 1, it was Connor McDavid who set up the Draisaitl goal like he had so many times in the regular season. The Oilers captain zipped a seeing-eye pass through a bevy of skaters and sticks right onto the platter for a trademark Draisaitl one-timer from the right circle and Leon's third goal of the playoffs and second point of the period.
Draisaitl notched a late assist on Kane's empty netter to cap off a three-point night.
The Oilers superstar's 1.64 points per game in the playoffs is the second-most in NHL history among players who have played 30 games, trailing only Wayne Gretzky's 1.84 mark. Draisaitl has 64 points (21G, 43A) in 39 postseason games with the Blue & Orange.
"He's playing amazing; strong, physical, winning faceoffs and doing all those little things that all adds up in scoring goals and making plays," Hyman said. "That's just who he is. One of the best in the world, right? He's an elite player and he shows up at this time of year."

PARTING WORDS

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft on if he thought the game would slip away:
"Yeah, not to us. It didn't look like that. Actually, you know what, for us, we have a team that I thought played a really good hockey game again today save for maybe a few minutes there in the second period we would've liked to have back. In between periods, we talked about how that's a growth opportunity for our team and as we move forward here in both games, I thought we controlled the bulk of the play in both games. We had a couple of minutes we'd like to have back in both games, but in the end, we found a way to win the game tonight."
Head Coach Jay Woodcroft on play of his goaltender:
"I don't know if someone in the coaches room told me or if I read it somewhere, but I think he's the first rookie goaltender in Edmonton to win a playoff game since Grant Fuhr. I said this the other day when he broke Grant Fuhr's record, anytime you're mentioning the same sentence with Grant Fuhr you're doing something right."
Stuart Skinner on the goal scored by Grundstrom:
"Not to take it away from him, he made a great play, but it was a little bit of a lucky bounce I would say. But at the same time, he got me to bite on his forehand, went back to the backhand, and I didn't have a lot of time to put my toe bridge on the post. Either way, I've got to put my foot down, kind of get the blade a little bit farther down, and then hopefully that prevents the goal. I'm happy that he did it because now I know what to do."
Skinner on not facing a shot for the first 18 minutes of the game:
"No matter how long it takes for me to get that shot, it's my job to make that save and I'm going to do my best, no matter what the score clock says or anything like that. I have my job and I'm going to do my best to keep the puck out of the net."

Zach Hyman on the Oilers depth scoring on the night:
"Let's not forget about DR too, right? That's a huge goal to start the game off right. So those guys stepped up big time tonight and you need scoring from everybody. You need to battle when you're out there and it was just two huge goals."
"I think the playoffs, this is the ultimate team game, right? This is the ultimate team time of year, right? Everybody puts the 'me' stuff aside. We don't really care who scores and it's huge that DR and Klim stepped up tonight. If you go on a long run, everybody's going to have their moment. Everybody's going to be the hero of the game or whatnot. So huge game from them, huge goal from Klim at the end to give us the win."
Hyman on the performance of the Kings through two games:
"Yeah, listen, you got to give them credit. They're a good team. They're a really good defensive team. They play hard. They don't give you much space. I think we've had our looks, and it'll fall eventually, but you just got to keep going out there. The key thing is just driving play. You want to be driving play in the other team's zone, and once you get chances, things come from there."
Mattias Ekholm on the mood in the locker room between the second and third period:
"I think it was a really good mood. I think that's beauty of the playoffs, it's the game of the momentum swings, and when we had it in the first, they're trying to come back. They come back and we had a good period. We got to just zero going in a third, and the mentality would just go out and take it. We can't sit back here. We got to go out trying to attack and that was a really good individual performance by Klim that got us that go ahead goal and then was able to lock it down in a really good manner."
Ekholm on the third period:
"I'll be honest. I think the third in Game 1 we did a lot of the same thing. We flipped them up, made them go 200 feet the whole time. They didn't really get any sustained offense. It's about when they get the red and dump it in. It's about breaking out and not having them spend too much time in our end and I think we did that even better tonight. Obviously, the result followed."