Trevor Moore scored a power play goal 3:24 into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Friday night. The Kings lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
“We had our looks, we had our chances and they find a way to get a power-play and score in overtime,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the game. “That’s just the way it is. Playoff hockey it’s tight, it’s little breaks here and there, and they seem to be getting them.”
The Kings took the lead when Alex Iafallo swatted in a rebound with 32.5 seconds left in the first.
The teams combined for three power play goals in a span of 1:58 in the second. Connor McDavid rifled a shot top corner on Joonas Korpisalo. The Kings were penalized again shortly after the goal, allowing McDavid to strike again with a shot past Korpisalo’s blocker. However, Leon Draisaitl was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for tapping Drew Doughty with his stick right after the goal. Adrian Kempe scored on the ensuing man advantage to make it 2-2.
With the teams playing four-on-four, Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson broke in two-on-nothing, but Stuart Skinner came up with a stretching left skate save.
Both teams failed to score on a power play opportunity in the third period.
In overtime, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for slashing Alex Iafallo’s stick. On the power play, Gabriel Vilardi worked the puck in front to Moore, who fired a shot past Skinner’s blocker’s to end it. The goal stood after a lengthy video review as officials checked to see if the Vilardi ticked the puck with a high stick.
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“It’s a play where the greatest player in the world is two feet away as it happens and his arm comes straight up in the air because he knows that it hit the stick, otherwise he wouldn’t put his arm up in the air, he would keep playing,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said of McDavid. “It appears to me in the video that the puck’s going straight up in a trajectory and deadens. In the end I’m going to go with the greatest player in the world whose three feet away.”
Korpisalo finished with 38 saves. Skinner stopped 28.
The Oilers are 2-10 in their last twelve overtime games dating back to 2017.
Game four is Sunday in Los Angeles (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5 p.m. Game at 7 p.m.)
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