GAME RECAP: Kings 6, Oilers 2 (Game 2)

LOS ANGELES, CA – We're going to need you, Oil Country.

The Edmonton Oilers will return to Rogers Place trailing 2-0 in their first-round series after Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar each recorded four points for the Los Angeles Kings in a 6-2 victory on Wednesday in Game 2 at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings went 3-for-6 on the power play, tallying once in each period to improve to 5-for-10 with the man advantage in the series.

After Edmonton combined for 25 power-play goals over their past three playoff matchups with Los Angeles, including nine goals in each of their last two meetings, the Kings have scored five PPGs while also going a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill over the first two games of the series.

"If we have to have an opportunity to turn this thing around, it's special teams," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "But you look at the goals against, there are certain things that we can do better; not that we have to change our system, but we just need to elevate our play – mostly when we're on the kill."

The Kings were leading 4-0 when Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the board during the second period by redirecting home his second goal of the series that was assisted by defenceman John Klingberg with 6:06 remaining in the frame.

Winger Viktor Arvidsson's deflection in the first five minutes of the third period drew the Oilers within a pair, but the Kings would score three unanswered goals over a span of a 4:25, including two tallies from Kempe, to secure the 6-2 victory that means they'll head to Edmonton with a 2-0 series lead.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 23 saves on 28 shots before being lifted in the third period for Calvin Pickard, who came in to stop two of three shots after being beaten on the first attempt faced from Kempe at 11:09 of the final frame, giving both him and Kopitar their fourth points of the night.

"We've got to dig in and we've got to be better, and this group has a lot of character in here," Leon Draisaitl said. "So we'll regroup, let this one go and go back home and try to bring our best game."

The Oilers will return to Rogers Place for Game 3 on Friday night looking to respond in the series on home ice.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers came out with a much better start in Game 2 with more shots in the opening frame (11) than the first 40 minutes of Game 1, but just like they did on Monday, Edmonton couldn't convert on their opening power play while Los Angeles made the most of their chance to grab the early momentum.

Evander Kane got a bit too physical early in his season debut when he cross-checked Brandt Clarke in the numbers near the benches to send the Kings to their first power play, where the LA defenceman scored off the rush to give the hosts the 1-0 lead for the second game in a row.

Moments before the Kings took the lead, Connor McDavid and Connor Brown combined for a great shorthanded chance, but after the hosts came up ice on the rush, Clarke would get on the end of Warren Foegele's pass to the back post to redirect it past Stuart Skinner at 8:44 into the opening period.

The Oilers didn't allow a single power-play goal last year during the last playoff series between these two sides, but Clarke's marker was already the third PPG they'd allowed to the Kings, and things would only get worse as Game 2 went on.

"It's just the details to our game," Nurse said of the penalty kill. "Whether it's sticks or finding lanes, we haven't been good enough on the kill. Each of us knows that individually, starting with myself, we've gotta be better."

Edmonton had their best chance to equalize past the midway mark on their next power play when Zach Hyman was stopped point blank by Darcy Kuemper after McDavid made the terrific pass in front from the corner to set up his linemate before Vladislav Gavrikov cleared a dangerous rebound.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers have found themselves in this position before.

Trailing 3-0 in the second half of the middle frame, another spark provided by Leon Draisaitl gave Edmonton something to work with.

Quinton Byfield roofed the Kings' second goal against Stuart Skinner 4:14 into the second period when Draisaitl and Nurse couldn't track the puck along the wall, which allowed the LA winger to come in and pick his spot over the left shoulder of the Oilers netminder as he dropped to the butterfly.

Continuing their special teams dominance in the series, Andrei Kuzmenko made it 3-0 for the Kings just over six minutes later on a hooking penalty to Trent Frederic before the period's 10-minute mark when he put away Adrian Kempe's hard shot that bounced off the boards behind Skinner's net.

The Kings improved to 4-for-9 on the power play in the series, while another failed conversion by the Oilers dropped them to 0-for-5 against their aggressive penalty kill that's forcing Edmonton's top unit to execute on every one of their passes.

"They're just winning that battle right now. That's really all it is," Draisaitl said. "They're beating us in that department, so we've got to fix some things and be better when the next one comes."

"It's very expected," he added of LA's penalty kill. "I think the first game we created lots of looks that probably could have ended up in some goals. We haven't, there's no going around that, so we just have to cash in. We've got to dig in a little deeper and execute."

The Oilers didn't get their first shot of the period until the 11:43 mark, but a determined pushback from the Blue & Orange saw them get on the board through Draisaitl almost two minutes later on a perfect redirection from the German to place John Klingberg's low effort from the point under the crossbar.

Draisaitl has now picked up at least a point now in 16 straight postseason games against the Kings (16G, 13A) after scoring his second goal of the playoffs, which was his 19th against the Kings in the playoffs. That's the most in NHL history anyone's scored against Los Angeles in the postseason.

THIRD PERIOD

Arvidsson deflected home Kulak's shot to pull the Oilers within a goal by scoring against his former team at 4:05 of the period to make it 3-2, but mistakes with the puck and taking penalties for the Blue & Orange contributed to the Kings running away on the scoreboard to take a 2-0 series advantage.

After combining to get one back for the Oilers, Arvidsson and Kulak combined to commit a turnover in Edmonton's own zone just over two minutes later to allow Adrian Kempe to finish off a pass from Anze Kopitar and restore Los Angeles' two-goal lead.

"I don't necessarily see "A making plays to beat us. I see us gift-wrapping opportunities, and that's different," Knoblauch said. "If they make a heck of a play and they're able to score goals, you tip your hat and say 'there's not much we can do.' But I don't think I've seen very much of that. I think it's been mostly gaffes that have cost us."

Henrique took an undisciplined soon after for taking one too many shots on Byfield, and the Kings power play went back to work and scored for a third time when Kevin Fiala put a cross-crease feed onto the tape of Anze Kopitar to make it 5-2.

"We've been hanging our goalie out to dry on quite a few occasions, and he's actually made some huge stops for us in a timely manner," Nurse said. "So we've got better all around."

At this point, Coach Knoblauch elected to change goaltenders by replacing Stuart Skinner with Calvin Pickard, but on the first shot that he faced, Kempe would add his second of the game on a wicked snipe over his right shoulder to all but put Game 2 out of reach for the Oilers.

"I think it's just a break for Skins. We were down 5-2, so give him a break, but also sometimes when the goalies change, there's a little boost to our team or a spark. It's a long shot, but at that moment after the TV timeout, it was time to give it a try."

With some players getting their feet under them in Game 2, including Evander Kane, there's continued confidence in the Oilers locker room they can turn this around on home ice.

"I've seen the majority of this team face difficult situations – a lot more difficult than it is right now," Knoblauch said. "We had two elimination games against Vancouver. We had four elimination games against Florida. There's absolutely no quit with this group, so while it's not an ideal position being down two games, there's certainly no panic, especially from what I've seen from the majority of this group."