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The Edmonton Oilers restored the natural order of things Friday, pounding the Los Angeles Kings back into their role as the second-best team in this series.
If there was any fear that the Kings had figured Edmonton out and were about to use the home-ice advantage they’d stolen in Game 2 to pull an upset, it was dead and buried by the end of the first period.
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And so were the Kings.
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The Oilers wrapped this one up in 20 minutes, jumping out to a 3-0 lead on goals from the Big Three — Zach Hyman at 6:42, Leon Draisaitl at 15:36 and Connor McDavid at 18:34 — and never looking back.
“We had a strong start and just built off of that,” said Darnell Nurse. “That first period was great for us.”
Evander Kane left his mark on the night with a Gordie Howe hat-trick, picking up an assist in the first period, a goal in the second and a fight in the third after taking a high hit from big Andreas Englund.
The 6-1 victory gives the Oilers a 2-1 series lead, restores home-ice advantage and reestablishes Edmonton’s dominance in a rivalry that’s seen them win 11 of the last 15 games dating back to last season. They’ve scored 17 goals in three games.
“We did a lot of good things,” said McDavid, who finished with three points. “Special teams was great. Stu (Skinner) was a rock back there for us. The penalty kill did its thing and five-on-five we were were solid. A lot of positives but it just counts as one win, that’s all. We have to be ready for a big one Sunday.”
This was all Oilers from the quick start to the suffocating finish.
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“When all those things are going in the right direction we’re a force,” said Nurse. “We have to continue to do it. We can’t just do it one game and take the next game off. That’s what makes Game 4 so important.”
Rebounding after a shocking 5-4 overtime loss in Game 2, the Oilers were in peak playoff form. Hyman’s first goal to make it 1-0 was nothing more than a determined forward jamming away at the puck in the crease. McDavid’s power-play goal was the same thing — he took it to the net and had three hacks at it before it was 3-0 Oilers.
Perhaps the most deflating goal of the series came late in the first period when the Oilers walked right through L.A.’s vaunted 1-3-1 and made it 2-0 on Draisaitl’s sharp angle shot. The Kings had plenty of time to get set up but Draisaitl and Evander Kane gained the zone and scored without even having to break stride.
Draisaitl became the fastest player in NHL history to score 20 goals on the road, taking just 26 games to move ahead of Kevin Stevens and Bernie Nicholls.
SAD ZEBRAS
Referees Peter MacDougall and Chris Rooney butchered this one, missing obvious penalties, calling chintzy ones and finally taking Los Angeles out of the game for good in the third period by giving Edmonton a two-man advantage for a full two minutes after a scrum at centre ice.
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It was an absolutely bizarre ruling — handing three minors to L.A. and one to Edmonton after the fairly harmless shoving match. Edmonton made it 5-1 on the ensuing five-on-three.
Just a rough night that both of them would probably want to have back.
Skinner a winner
Stuart Skinner didn’t have to worry much about the pressure of needing a bounce-back game or having the weight of the series on his shoulders. He had a 3-0 lead before the Kings had their eighth shot on net.
Still, Skinner did all he needed to do on a night that his team was firing on all cylinders — don’t give the other guys anything easy. He turned in a strong night overall, stopping 25 of 26 shots.
California toast
Returning to Los Angeles was supposed to be the bump the Kings needed to pull ahead in the series, maybe for good. They were 12-2-1 in their last 15 home games, after all, while the Oilers haven’t been great on the road (8-7-2 dating back to February, not counting the two throwaway road games at their end of the season when they were resting a bunch of their players).
But it was the Oilers who made Crypto-com Arena their own.
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Killing them softly
L.A.’s power play is where momentum goes to die. They had two power plays in the first 10 minutes, a golden opportunity to take the lead and bring the crowd to life, and they couldn’t do anything with them. Same goes for a second-period man advantage with the score 4-1. The Kings are 0-for-9 in the series.
“As a guy who spends a lot of time on the power play, when things are’t clicking it can be frustrating,” said McDavid. “Our kill did a great job. They were flying around the nice not allowing them to get set up and when they were set up we were doing a great job of being in lanes.”
Edmonton’s power play, meanwhile, has six goals in three games.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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2024-04-27 06:56:15Z
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