Kane & Bouchard score 10 seconds apart in the third period on Friday night as the Oilers rally for four unanswered to secure a 7-4 victory at Rogers Place in Game 3 of their first-round series with the Kings
EDMONTON, AB – There’s no quittin’ in Oil Country.
Evander Kane equalized in the third period before Evan Bouchard notched the game winner just 10 seconds later with his second goal of the night as the Oilers rallied with four unanswered in the final frame on Friday night to claim a 7-4 win over the Kings in Game 3 of their first-round series at Rogers Place.
The Oilers led 2-0 in the first period off goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard before Adrian Kempe scored before the break at four-on-four, sparking a run of three straight goals from the Kings – including two more on the power play – before Connor Brown and Trevor Moore traded markers 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 a power-play goal 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, cutting the Kings’ lead to 2-1 in the series.
Connor Brown scored twice in the victory, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each attributed two assists, and Evander Kane also added an assist to go along with his first goal of the playoffs.
Connor McDavid finished with a goal and two helpers, and goaltender Calvin Pickard stopped 24 of 28 shots to pick up his third career playoff victory.
The Oilers will have the opportunity to even the series on Sunday night in Game 4 at Rogers Place.
Bouchard & Brown score twice as the Oilers earn their first victory
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 after a rousing opening 20 minutes at Rogers Place that started with an early explosion from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The Oilers were knocking on the door inside the opening five minutes with a handful of glorious chances at breaking through early, 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 it level.
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.
Nugent-Hopkins buries Hyman’s pass to open the scoring in Game 3
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.
After being a point-per-game player (1.28) with 32 points in 25 playoff games last year, Bouchard has a goal and four assists in three games, while hoping that his 2-0 goal would unlock Edmonton’s man advantage that’d been thoroughly dominated by Los Angeles’ five PPGs so far in the series.
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 kill Adrian Kempe lost the coverage of Connor McDavid to pick his spot cleanly over the left shoulder of Pickard to make it 2-1 before the intermission.
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.
Bouchard blasts home a power-play goal to make it 2-0 Edmonton
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 doing an overall better job on the penalty kill 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 from the Oilers left Kevin Fiala alone on the right side to beat Pickard to the same spot Kempe beat him.
Half a period later with the Oilers killing another penalty, Connor Brown would be denied on a partial shorthanded break before defenceman Drew Doughty scored on a wrist shot from the top of zone that eluded a triple screen on its way past Pickard from distance on LA’s next rush up ice.
It was a cruel turn of momentum for the Blue & Orange, as the Kings’ power play improved to 2-for-2 in Game 3 and 7-for-12 in the series.
Brown chips in Kane’s pass to tie the game at 3-3 in the second
Just as quickly as the Oilers tied it up just over two minutes later on a terrific pass from Evander Kane that picked out Connor Brown, the visitors answer back almost immediately, scoring nine seconds later to restore their lead at 4-3 before the second intermission.
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 piece of vision to find Brown in front from along the boards in the corner to redirect 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) datung 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 that came quickly off the ensuing faceoff found the stick of Trevor Moore at Edmonton’s blueline, resulting in the winger getting around Jake Walman and being able to tap it through the five-hole of Pickard just nine seconds after.
The Kings led 4-3 after 40 minutes, having led after two periods in each game of the series.
But this is Oil County, and we do not go quietly on home ice.
Connor & Evan talk to the media after the Oilers Game 3 victory
Evander Kane is back in the playoff atmosphere that he thrives in, and the Oilers are back in this series.
Kane has been all over the ice in his first two playoff games and was attacking the blue paint inside the Kings’ crease with under seven minutes left in regulation when he managed to will the puck over the goal line with his second effort after it originally looked like he might’ve kicked the puck over the line.
Connor McDavid wrapped it around the net into the crease, where Kane was able to push the puck towards goal with his skate before getting a piece of it on the follow-through with his blade to nullify any potential kick that could’ve denied him & the Oilers their deserved equalizer to make it 4-4.
The goal was originally waved off, but after two reviews that led to a lengthy delay – one by the officials for the kick and another by the Kings for goalie interference – Edmonton’s tying goal would be confirmed, while also setting up a power play for the chance of taking the lead.
Kane converts in the crease to tie the game at 4-4 in the third
It took close to 10 actual minutes to determine if Kane’s goal would count, but only 10 seconds of actual game time for the Oilers to take the lead.
Turning to the man advantage, Bouchard skated up ice with the puck off the ensuing faceoff and dropped it to Draisaitl inside the Kings’ blueline, and with the attention on the German superstar carrying the puck, the Oakville, Ont. product followed his route to the net and deflected in his terrific return feed to make it 5-4 on Edmonton’s second power-play goal of the game.
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.
The Oilers would add two empty-net goals – both the products of some amazing individual efforts to lock up the victory to leave the series at 2-1 Kings heading into Sunday’s Game 3 at Rogers Place.
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 to make 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 Adrian Kempe with a sliding effort before it was cleared down the ice by Vasily Podkolzin, and Brown beat out the iceing before burying his second.
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.
Leon speaks to the media after Friday’s 7-4 victory in Game 3
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