The series is now tied 2-2 after the Edmonton Oilers prevailed 4-3 in overtime north of the border in Game 4 on Sunday night. The Kings held the lead in the third period for the fourth consecutive game, but for the second straight game found themselves on the wrong side of the final score come game’s end.
Unlike Game 3, the Kings began Game 4 as the aggressors. Earning a power play just 1:27 into the game, the Kings set the tone. While the power play went unsuccessful, the Kings continued to keep their foot on the gas and it paid at the midway point of the period. Taking advantage of an errant pass from the Oilers defense in their own zone, Trevor Moore anticipated the play and cut off a breakout attempt along the boards. Linemate Phillip Danault then possessed the puck and fed Moore with a pass as the Thousand Oaks native freed himself going towards the net. Moore quickly wristed a shot five hole and beat Calvin Pickard to take the lead 1-0. Taking the lead with 9:25 to go in the opening period, the Kings stuck their game and took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Enter period two and the Kings immediately added to their lead. Scoring 1:31 in, former Oiler Warren Foegele found himself all alone in front of the opposition’s net after Danault again set his linemate up in a prime scoring position. Foegele went hard to the net with his body and followed the play after being denied on the original shot. Foegele attacked Pickard with a loose puck in the crease, controversially pushed the goalie’s pad and finished the play by putting the puck into the net. The Oilers opted not to challenge and the goal stood. Now up by two, the multi-goal lead lasted just under three minutes as the Oilers struck back on their first power play opportunity. After a point blank shot in the slot by Leon Draisaitl missed the net, the German superstar regathered the puck and found Corey Perry all alone in front of Darcy Kuemper. Perry put an in-tight shot on net, followed up his shot by batting the puck out of midair into the crease and closed out the trifecta with a tap-in goal all on his own. Also close to being challenged, Perry’s midair contact with the puck was close to being a high stick but the Kings opted to let play go and the goal counted. With the Oilers back within one, the Kings didn’t panic and continued with their pressure. That pressure then resulted in a third Kings goal. After losing a defensive zone draw, Kevin Fiala pressured Evan Bouchard at the point and created a turnover. The puck deflected to Alex Laferriere as Fiala broke free and the second-year NHLer fed the Swiss for a breakaway. Fiala knocked the Laferriere pass out of midair to gain possession and went in on Pickard with two defensemen draped on his back. Fiala fought them off and beat Pickard with a shot through the blocker side. The Kings led 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The momentum swung in favor of the Oilers in the third period and the Kings never got their mojo back. First cutting the lead to 3-2 with 12:09 remaining in regulation, Bouchard gathered the puck in the Kings slot after a Draisaitl shot attempt didn’t make it to Kuemper and quickly swiped the puck towards the net. Bouchard’s shot deflected off of Drew Doughty’s skate on its way to the net and beat Kuemper. Still holding onto the lead late in regulation, the Kings were pushed back on their heels and it costed them. Outshot 16-6 in the third period, it was the Oilers 16th and final shot of regulation that knotted the game at 3-3. Just seconds after the Kings failed to clear the puck from their zone, Edmonton took advantage of the one extra opportunity. The puck made its way over to Draisaitl and the German put the puck on a tee for a Bouchard one-timer. Bouchard beat Kuemper over the blocker with 29 seconds to go in regulation and sent the game to overtime.
Enter the sudden death overtime and the Oilers continued to push. In an overtime that saw the Oilers outshoot the Kings 17-7, the Kings just couldn’t reestablish their forecheck and style of play that had been so successful earlier in the night. Bogged down in their own zone for two-plus minutes late in overtime, the Kings took a penalty and the Oilers cashed in. Ending the game with 1:42 to go in the first overtime, Draisaitl eventually found the puck after net-front scrum and buried his first career overtime winner on the man advantage to even the series at 2-2.
After the Kings held the Oilers scoreless on the power play in Game’s 1 and 2 (0-for-5), the Oilers flipped the script on home ice and went a combined 4-for-5 on the man advantage in Game’s 3 and 4.
Kuemper was sensational all night and especially in overtime, stopping 44 of 48 shots.
LAK at EDM | Recap
