The Edmonton Oilers win a big Game 3 after two goals in 10 seconds during the third period to win 7-4.
The game only sat at 4-4 for ten seconds during the third period as defenseman Evan Bouchard scored his second goal of the game to put Edmonton up 5-4. After a faceoff win, Bouchard gathered the puck and dropped it to winger Leon Draisaitl, who struck a crisp pass right next to the cage to Bouchard to put the Oilers up 5-4. This was Edmonton's second goal on the powerplay of the game and their second of the series as well.
"We'll take a rest," head coach Jim Hiller said. "Just like we did after we won both games, take a look at it, regroup... it might sound a little boring but this is how these things go. It's emotional."
With the Oilers playing their first game of the series at home down 2-0, the fans at Rogers Place seemed to take on the opposite role of the L.A. fans: singing the Canadian National Anthem and then chanting Kings' goaltender Darcy Kuemper's last name to try and get into his head.
The game started unlike the former two, with the Oilers hitting the scoreboard first, just under three minutes into the game. It would be center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who knocked in the first goal on a great pass from winger Zach Hyman. After the puck was pushed to Hyman from center Connor McDavid behind the net, Hyman fed a pass toward the middle, where Nugent-Hopkins scored his first of the series to make the score 1-0. This was the first time that the Oilers scored a goal in the first period and have led at all in the series.
"We can play from behind, we can play from the lead," said defenseman Drew Doughty in the post game press conference. "We are a good hockey team. We have done it all season and now we believe we can get it done in the playoffs as well. Unfortunately we didn't tonight. We will look at some of the things that we did in the third that probably we did not right, but we'll also look at the good things that we did, and why we had the lead going into the third."
The Oilers would get their first powerplay opportunity a little over nine minutes into the primary frame after interference was called on winger Andrei Kuzmenko. The Oilers would score directly off the faceoff on a shot from Bouchard. After Draisaitl won the faceoff straight backward, Bouchard drilled a low slap shot blocker side on Kuemper to make the score 2-0. This was the first powerplay goal of the series on a Kings penalty kill that has looked extremely good so far.
The two teams would play in the neutral zone, focusing on the forecheck until about three minutes remaining in the first period, when Draisaitl and defenseman Joel Edmundson would each get called for slashing to force four-on-four hockey for two minutes.
The open ice was exactly what the Kings needed to get things going, with winger Adrian Kempe scoring his fourth goal of the series to bring Los Angeles within one. After Doughty held on to the puck at the point, he pushed it to the far wall, where Kempe walked in and shot it over the shoulder of Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard. This extends Kempe's point streak up to 17 games and moves the score to 2-1 Edmonton, where the teams would stay heading into the second period.
"I thought we had some really good looks the first period, despite being down 2-1," Hiller said. "It's a long game, we knew they were going to come... they scored twice, good for them... we gotta get out there and play and that's what we did."
Both teams came out firing in the second frame, with Edmonton getting numerous chances, including one from Bouchard off the crossbar. The physicality escalated before winger Evander Kane --- playing in his second game since last year's Stanley Cup Final --- was called for a high-stick, putting L.A. on the powerplay for the first time in Game 3.
"Both teams are probably saying let's stay out of the box," Doughty said. "We are saying that for sure. Penalties are going to happen though. Bottom line is we gotta get out there and kill it and do our best job... still wasn't bad tonight, they scored but whatever."
After a massive amount of pressure on Edmonton, winger Kevin Fiala re-entered the zone on the right side and flicked a wrist shot over Pickard's left shoulder and into the top corner to tie up the game at two.
The goal run for Los Angeles continued, as Doughty scored his first goal of the postseason with the assist from winger Trevor Moore. After a pass from Moore, Doughty let a screened shot fly from the point, which flew into the back of the net to put L.A. up 3-2. This is the second straight game that the Kings' second powerplay unit has scored a goal.
The Oilers would not go down quietly, tying the game up only minutes later when winger Connor Brown scored to make the score 3-3. A great pass from Kane in the corner hit the tape of Brown right in front of the net, who pushed the puck past Kuemper to tie it up at three.
Directly off the faceoff, though, a full-ice pass to Moore led to possibly the goal of the playoffs to push the Kings back up one. Nine seconds after the Brown goal, Moore found himself on a breakaway where he one-hand flicked a shot between the legs of Pickard to make the score 4-3. This goal was only 9 seconds after Brown's goal to tie the game.
With a lot of offense in the second, the third frame started with a diving save from Kuemper after he was sprawled on the ice on the far post from the puck.
The Oilers seemed to keep all the pressure on L.A., as they had 16 scoring chances passing halfway through the third period, while the Kings only had four.
"They were playing down a goal, they were playing desperate," Doughty said. "Not that we weren't playing desperate. I mean that's just human nature, sit back a little bit more than you should. They brought it to us."
Edmonton continued the pressure as former King Viktor Arvidsson took the puck into the Oilers' offensive zone, launched a wrister that hit the outside of the post and flew into the corner.
The pressure seemed too much, as a scramble in front of the net led to Kane hitting a puck off his skate and putting it into the goal. The call on the ice was no goal, but after looking at the replay, it seemed that Kane hit it off his skate and then his stick, which slowly went past Kuemper and into the goal. The call was reversed, so the score now stood at 4-4 with under seven minutes remaining.
Hiller would use his challenge, but the call on the ice stood, so L.A. would be assessed a two-minute penalty and would now be down a man with a tied score.
It would only be 10 seconds later that Bouchard brought the Oilers up 5-4.
"We were obviously hoping the challenge would go away," Doughty said. "But at the same time we were talking about getting ready for the [penalty kill] if that was necessary and get the job done there. Unfortunately we didn't... they got those empty netters. Whatever, we are up 2-1 and we played well tonight for a lot of that game. We gotta hold our heads high and move on."
Los Angeles pulled their goaltender with about two minutes to go to try and tie the game up and send it to overtime. Instead, they would turn the puck over at the blueline and McDavid took it the length of the ice to flick it into the empty net to make it 6-4.
After a few huge saves by Pickard, the Oilers would clear and Brown scored his second goal of the game to make it 7-4 on the empty net.
The two teams will battle in Game 4 on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Rogers Place with the Kings leading the series 2-1 over the Oilers.