2023-04-20 04:22:09
SUMMARY
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 to tie the series 1-1.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and Stuart Skinner scored the first playoff victory of his career. Phillip Danault hit the target for the Kings, who came close to returning to Los Angeles with a 2-0 lead.
Just like in Game 1, the Oilers struck early. Less than three minutes into the game, Derek Ryan got the crowd going by beating Joonas Korpisalo.
The powerful power play of the Oilers made its own later in the first period. Connor McDavid delivered a brilliant snap to Draisaitl who scored with a perfect shot. Author of 32 power play goals in the regular season, Draisaitl doubled the Oilers lead. McDavid thus collected his first point in this series.
Greatly dominated in the middle period of this duel, the Kings found their spark plug in Danault. The Quebecer worked well near the net to beat Skinner and reduce the gap to a single goal.
Is the two-goal lead really the worst in hockey? After seeing the Kings erase two two-goal deficits in Game 1, the Oilers once once more lost a two-goal lead in that game. In his first game since March 26, Gabriel Vilardi tied the game with a nice breakthrough at the net with 46 seconds left in the second period.
Edmonton needed a big start in the third and Klim Kostin responded. The Russian surprised Korpisalo with a wrist shot from the left circle to put the Oilers back in front following just 140 seconds in the third.
The Kings knocked on the door a few times late in the game, but Skinner refused to back down and the Oilers allowed their fans to return home with a smile.
Game 3 of this series is Friday night in Los Angeles.
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