EDMONTON, Canada — The Edmonton Oilers played like they couldn’t afford to lose Friday. And they didn’t, scoring two goals 10 seconds apart late in the third period to beat the Kings 7-4 in a wild first-round playoff game that saw the lead change hands three times in the final 25 minutes.
The Kings still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Edmonton. But the Oilers’ win means the series will return to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday.
Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown each had two goals for Edmonton, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Evander Kane also scored.
McDavid’s goal and Brown’s second goal were empty-netters after Bouchard scored on a power play to put Edmonton ahead with 6:32 remaining.
The Kings’ goals came from Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore, with two of those scores coming on the power play.
The Oilers, desperate to get back in the series, benched goalie Stuart Skinner, who allowed 11 goals in the first two games, in favor of Calvin Pickard. But Pickard fared little better, giving up four goals on 28 shots.
Still, Edmonton played with urgency, taking its first lead of the series less than three minutes in when an unguarded Nugent-Hopkins took a Zach Hyman pass directly in front of the net and pushed the puck under Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.
Bouchard doubled the lead six minutes later, firing a slap shot past Kuemper from the top of the circles three seconds after the Kings’ Andrei Kuzmenko went off for interference. It was Edmonton’s first power-play goal in six tries in the series.
The Kings responded with three unanswered goals.
Kempe started the rally late in the first period, deflecting a left-handed shot off Pickard from the center of the right circle with the teams skating four on four. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs, matching Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy for the NHL lead.
More importantly, it took momentum away from the Oilers, allowing Fiala to even things early in the second period with a power-play goal from nearly the same spot from where Kempe scored. Doughty’s power-play goal less than five minutes before the second intermission then put the Kings in front for the first time.
The Kings were 0 for 12 with the man advantage in last season’s series loss to Edmonton, their third consecutive playoff series loss to the Oilers. This year, against the same team, the Kings have converted seven of 12 power-play opportunities.
After Brown pulled Edmonton even again, Moore scored nine seconds later when he drove to the net and poked the puck past Pickard.
Things got really wild in the third period, with the Oilers scoring four goals in less than seven minutes to put the game away.
Kane tied the score again, scoring off a mad scramble in front of the net, then waiting several long minutes for a replay review to confirm he pushed the puck in with his stick, not his skate.
Kings coach Jim Hiller, in the most controversial decision of the game, choose to challenge, claiming goaltender interference. But the goal stood and Hiller’s unsuccessful challenge gave the Oilers a man advantage. Bouchard needed just 10 seconds to make the Kings pay, scoring Edmonton’s second power-play goal on a tip-in from Kuemper’s left. Kuemper made 29 saves.
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