The Edmonton Oilers scored three power play goals in a 6-1 throttling of the Los Angeles Kings, Friday night.
“I thought it was good win,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “I thought we did a lot of good things. Obviously special teams was great. I thought Stu (Skinner) was a rock back there for us. Penalty kill did its thing and five-on-five we were solid I thought. So, a lot of positives, but it just counts as one win, that’s all. Got to be ready for a big one Sunday.”
The Oilers lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
The Oilers scored 6:42 into the first when Mattias Ekholm intercepted Drew Doughty’s pass in the Kings end. Ekholm found a wide open Zach Hyman in front of the net, who jammed his second try past Cam Talbot. Leon Draisaitl made it 2-0 when he converted a back door pass from Evander Kane. On a power play late in the first, Connor McDavid flipped his first of the post-season behind Talbot.
The Kings pressed early in the second and struck when Quinton Byfield found Drew Doughty going to the net for his second of the series. The Oilers came back two minutes later with Kane deflecting Cody Ceci’s point shot.
When asked about playing well in the post-season, Kane said “The drama of it all . . . It just brings the best out of me.”
“Evander’s game is suited for this type of style,” Hyman said. “He plays physical, goes to the hard areas, he scores. You can’t ask for more.
With 14:41 to go in the third, Andreas Englund nailed Kane with a big hit at centre ice. Kane eventually pulled Englund out of the ensuing scrum and scored a convincing decision in a fight. After the refs sorted out the penalties, the Oilers found themselves on a two-man advantage. Hyman knifed home a pass from McDavid to make it 5-1. With tempers flaring, the Oilers had another five-on-three six minutes later with Draisaitl burying a one-timer.
“I saw some emotion, “Kings head coach Jim Hiller said. “You could say did you channel it the right way . . . I don’t know? I saw some players that were pissed off with the result, with where we were at in the game and they didn’t want to go away quietly. So, I’ve got no issue with that part. The first part of the game, yeah, we’ve got some issues there. They were above us, we didn’t get it deep, they came back the other way. It’s a pretty simple formula.”
The Oilers were 3/7 on the power play and 5/5 on the penalty kill.
Stuart Skinner earned the win with 27 saves. Talbot stopped 35 pucks.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three assists.
Game 4 is Sunday night in Los Angeles (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 6:30 p.m, game at 8:30 p.m.).