GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Kings 4 (Game 3)

EDMONTON, AB – There's no quittin' in Oil Country.

Evander Kane equalized in the third period before Evan Bouchard notched the winner just 10 seconds later on the power play as the Edmonton Oilers rallied with four unanswered goals in the final frame to claim a 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night in Game 3 of their first-round series at Rogers Place.

"That's playoff hockey," Evander Kane said. "Those are moments that are important, and we had one in the third period, so it was nice to pull through. But it's only one win, and we have to take care of business again on Sunday to try to get this thing tied up at two."

The Oilers led 2-0 in the opening frame off goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard before Adrian Kempe scored at four-on-four before the break, sparking a run of three straight goals from the Kings including two more on the power play before Connor Brown and Trevor Moore traded tallies in a nine-second span to make it 4-3 Kings after 40 minutes.

Despite two separate reviews for a kicking motion and goaltender interference, Kane got credit for the equalizer with 6:42 remaining in regulation before Bouchard notched his second power-play goal of the game only 10 seconds later by redirecting home Leon Draisaitl's terrific pass to lift the Oilers into a 5-4 lead.

Connor McDavid and Connor Brown tacked on empty-net goals to secure the 7-4 victory, which cuts the Kings' lead to 2-1 in the series.

Brown scored twice, and McDavid finished with a goal and two assists while Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each attributed two helpers in the win. Goaltender Calvin Pickard stopped 24 of 28 shots to pick up his third career playoff victory.

"I really thought that we had a great process today," Brown said. "I thought we did a lot of things to control the play and scored some big goals at key moments, so it was a good win and I think we'll only continue to get better."

The Oilers will have the opportunity to even the series on Sunday night in Game 4 at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

There's just no better place to experience playoff hockey than in Oil Country, and the Blue & Orange embraced their return home by looking like an entirely different team to begin Game 3 in an exciting opening frame at Rogers Place that got going with an early explosion from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"It was nice to get back in our own beds and get in front of our home fans, and I thought that gave us some energy, especially early on, and we were able to push through and get a nice win," Kane said.

The Oilers were knocking on the door with a handful of glorious chances inside the opening five minutes, where Trent Frederic had the puck bounce onto his stick in the slot for a dangerous opportunity that needed netminder Darcy Kuemper to make a quick glove save to keep things level early.

But the Oilers weren't going to be denied, sending out one of the NHL's best lines last season in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman for a shift that saw them battle down low to create space in front for No. 93 in front to beat Kuemper with the inevitable low-blocker finish to make it 1-0.

McDavid poked the puck around Mikey Anderson and shielded the puck from Vladislav Gavrikov near the Kings' net to leave it for Hyman, who drew in two opponents before throwing it to a wide-open Nugent-Hopkins in front to flip his effort blocker side past his former Red Deer Rebels teammate in Kuemper.

It was Nugent-Hopkins' first goal of the playoffs after he recorded seven goals and 15 assists in 25 post-season appearances in 2023-24. The longest-tenured Oilers player of 14 seasons is in his seventh post-season campaign and now has 18 goals and 44 assists in 76 career playoff games.

Edmonton had yet to convert on on five opportunities with the power play in the series, but it was time for them to buck that trend after Evan Bouchard blasted home a certified Bouch Bomb™️ for his first of the playoffs that was dropped quickly following Andrei Kuzmenko interference penalty.

Leon Draisaitl won the draw to Bouchard, who walked into the middle and utilized a screen put in place by Corey Perry to fire a rocket past Kuemper at 8:43 of the period to make it 2-0, with the Los Angeles netminder making claims of goaltender interference that quickly fell on deaf ears.

However, the Kings would get themselves on the board playing four-on-four in the final three minutes of the opening frame after well-known Oilers killer Adrian Kempe lost the coverage of Connor McDavid before picking his spot cleanly over the left shoulder of Pickard to make it 2-1 before the intermission.

McDavid whacked his stick against the boards in frustration, and while the Oilers still made a few mistakes on Friday night, Coach Knoblauch believes they're becoming fewer and far between as the series progresses.

"As much as I'd like to say that we'll never make a mistake and it's gonna be clean, that's not gonna be the case. I still thought it was much better than the first two games," Knoblauch said. "There were still some things where maybe we didn't need to give that up. Our reloads to give up an odd-man rush were maybe a little slow. We were hanging around the offensive zone a little bit longer than we needed to.

"The turnovers were probably our biggest improvement. I thought we broke the puck out pretty well. I think we've done it pretty well throughout the series, but I can't recall having more than one or two big mistakes tonight. Watching the video, I'll probably find some that I ignored, but I think our game is getting better."

It wasn't a power-play goal, but the Kings would continue their success on the man advantage in the middle frame to ultimately take the lead in Game 3.

SECOND PERIOD

The dominance of the Kings' power play in this series continued with two more goals in the middle frame to lift Los Angeles into a 3-2 lead before an Oilers equalizer in the final three minutes from Connor Brown was wiped away nine seconds later with the fans inside Rogers Place still on their feet celebrating.

Bouchard could've given his team a 3-0 lead early in the period if he hadn't cracked the crossbar with a wicked slap shot from inside the left circle, and that missed opportunity to grow their advantage wound up costing them when Evander Kane was sent to the penalty box for high-sticking not long after.

Despite the Oilers doing an overall better job slowing down Los Angeles' potent five-forward power play, the Kings made it 2-2 with 5:43 gone in the period after another missed defensive assignment left Kevin Fiala alone on the right side to beat Pickard to the same spot that Kempe beat him earlier.

Half a period later with the Oilers back on the kill, Brown would be denied on a partial shorthanded break before defenceman Drew Doughty scored on a wrist shot from the top of zone on LA's next rush up ice that eluded a triple screen on its way past Pickard from distance.

It was a cruel turn of momentum for the Blue & Orange, as the Kings' power play improved to 2-for-2 in the game and 7-for-12 in the series.

Kane has made an immediate impact since recovering from off-season surgery that costed him the entire regular season, and the winger came up with a sublime backhand pass from along the boards in the corner to find Brown out front to shovel it home to make it 3-3 with 2:41 left in the second period.

Brown notched his first of the postseason and third in the playoffs as a member of the Oilers, while Kane's terrific helper was his first point in any game (regular season or playoffs) dating back to Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.

But Oilers fans weren't cheering for long after Joel Edmundson's bounce pass found the stick of Trevor Moore quickly off the ensuing faceoff, resulting in the winger getting around Jake Walman at the blueline and being able to tap it through the five-hole of Pickard just nine seconds after Edmonton tied it.

The Kings led 4-3 after 40 minutes, having led after two periods in each game of the series.

But this is Oil Country, and we refuse to go quietly.

THIRD PERIOD

Evander Kane is back in the playoff atmosphere that he thrives in, and the Oilers are back in this series.

"He's one in a million, man. It's unbelievable what he's able to do when the lights are on," Brown said of his teammate. "I thought he had a great game tonight. Not only did he have two big impactful plays, but I thought he was holding onto the puck, forechecking well, and our line was able to sustain some offence and a lot to do with him.

"I missed a full season and it took me about 60 games to score, but it took him six periods."

As he improves his match fitness and handle on the puck with each passing game after spending 10 months out due to injury, Kane was attacking the blue paint inside the Kings' crease with under seven minutes left in regulation when he tied the game with his first of the playoffs that originally looked like he might've kicked over the line.

"For Kane, we talk about what a factor that he can be in a series or a game like this for being able to finish checks," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "He had a couple big hits, and then obviously, the two goals that he was a part of. It was a huge game from him."

Connor McDavid's wrap-around attempt hit a stick blade and bounced into the crease, where Kane kicked the puck towards goal before he got a piece of it with the blade of his stick on the follow-through to nullify any potential kick that could've denied the Oilers their deserved equalizer.

It was originally deemed no goal, but after two reviews – one for the kicking motion and another by the Kings for goalie interference – Edmonton's equalizer was confirmed, while the failed challenge from the Kings gave the Oilers a chance to take the lead on the power play.

"It was obviously huge," Bouchard said. "We were fighting all third period to get one. We knew it was going to have to be a dirty one, and when they challenged, you really don't know with goal interference. But when we saw it was a good goal, we knew we had to pounce on them."

It took close to 10 minutes to determine if Kane's goal would count, but only 10 seconds of actual game time after that for the Oilers to take the lead.

"I shot the puck in the net, so I knew it was just a matter of them seeing it on the replay and I felt good about it," Kane said. "Then they challenged it, so you never know what can happen in those situations, but it was a good boost for our team.

"It was an important goal, and then the power play goes out and does its thing."

Off the ensuing faceoff at centre ice Bouchard skated up with the puck and dropped it to Draisaitl inside the Kings' blueline, and with the attention on the German superstar, it was Bouchard who followed his route to the net and deflected in the return feed to make it 5-4 on with his second PPG of the match.

"I think it was a little bit of pre-scout," he said. "We knew they like to drop back a little bit with their middle guy. I kind of had that one drawn up before, and Leo held onto it just enough to hit me wide open and he made a great pass."

"I don't know if I'm going to be at the net too much, but it paid off."

While the Kings' power play was the difference in the first two games of the series, the Oilers were able to match its output in Game 3 to limit the impact.

"In Games 1 & 2, they beat us with more power play goals than we did," Knoblauch said. "Tonight, we were able to score as many as they did, and we feel that our five-on-five play so far in the series has been good. We need to hopefully win those special teams battles, and tonight if we;d won it, then it'd probably be a little more comfortable for us. But absolutely, we need to get better there."

With two assists in Game 3, Draisaitl extended his playoff point streak vs. the Kings to an impressive 17 games – the longest streak in NHL history behind next to only Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky, who each reached 19 games during respective streaks in their careers against Calgary and Los Angeles.

After being at a point-per-game last year (1.28) with 32 points in 25 playoff games, Bouchard now has a two goals and four assists in four games this series.

The Oilers would then add two empty-net goals, which were both the product of some amazing individual efforts to lock up the victory.

Zach Hyman crushed Drew Doughty near the Oilers bench with the Kings' net empty, which allowed the winger to throw a backhand pass to the middle of the ice for McDavid to pick up and skate all the way down the ice to throw it into the empty cage for insurance by making it 6-4 for Edmonton.

Los Angeles tried their luck again by pulling Kuemper, needing two goals to tie the game in the final 1:40 of regualtion, but Pickard made a magical stop to deny Kempe with a sliding effort before it was cleared down the ice by Vasily Podkolzin, and Brown beat out the icing to bury it for his second of the game.

The Oilers scored four unanswered goals in the third period, announcing that this first-round series is far from over as we get set for Game 4 on Sunday.

"We've got a lot of character," Draisaitl said. "If we go down, we're going to go down swinging. We've created that approach here. We've created that attitude within this organization, and we're not going to back down until we're out."