EDMONTON – The Los Angeles Kings survived a pair of comebacks from the Edmonton Oilers to win 5-4 in overtime in Game 2, tying their first-round series.
Anze Kopitar had the winning goal at 2:06 of the extra frame, his 25th career playoff goal. The matchup shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Friday.
The Kings led 2-0 before the game was 15 minutes old, thanks to a pair of goals from Adrian Kempe, who’s been a thorn in the Oilers’ side in recent years. They entered the first intermission with a 3-1 advantage after defensemen Brett Kulak and Drew Doughty exchanged markers.
But the Oilers fought back to tie the game in the second period, thanks to goals by Dylan Holloway and Zach Hyman, with the latter’s coming on the power play.
Kevin Fiala put the Kings ahead again at 1:46 of the third, but Holloway replied 97 seconds later to re-tie the game.
Kopitar, the Kings’ captain, had two assists to go with his overtime goal.
Kempe still a problem for Oilers
Across the last three playoff series between the Kings and Oilers, it is clear who has become the leading force for Los Angeles. Kempe dislodged longtime Kings scoring leader Kopitar with a team-best 75 points this season and has been the Kings’ standout over the first two games of this series.
Kempe provided the spark the Kings needed after the lopsided Game 1 defeat. The right wing got into shooting position after Kopitar intercepted Evan Bouchard’s pass in the Edmonton zone and drilled a wrist shot past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner for a 1-0 lead just 3:19 into the first period. Kempe later triggered a three-on-two rush with a pass breakup at his blue line and drove to the net for a mid-air redirection of Kopitar’s pass to double L.A.’s lead.
Before that, Skinner had foiled another golden chance by the Swede. Kempe’s big first period continued a run of success against Edmonton. He had a goal and an assist in Game 1. In Edmonton’s six-game victory last season, Kempe scored four times. And in 2022, the winger scored his first two playoff goals in Game 5, the second being the overtime winner.
“When I look at him, he’s just a big-time competitor,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “He wants the puck in those moments. Obviously when he gets it, he’s had times when he’s able to cash in on it and be the hero for us.”
Holloway makes his mark
Holloway showed so well in the final six games of the season after a recall from AHL Bakersfield — he had five points — that it was impossible for the coaching staff to exclude him from the playoff lineup. But because Holloway doesn’t play special teams and was relegated to the fourth line for Game 1, it was hard to figure how he’d have much of an impact.
Well, he did just that in Game 2 by scoring twice.
With the Oilers trailing 3-1 approaching the midway point of the second period, Holloway forced a neutral-zone turnover and then got his feet moving. Within seconds, he received a pass from linemate Sam Carrick in the high slot and wired a wrist shot home.
Holloway then ripped another wrister past goaltender Cam Talbot’s glove – this time high – 3:23 into the third period to tie the game at 4-4.
Goal-scoring aside, his speed, forechecking and physical play have been welcomed by the Oilers.
Here’s something you can take to the bank: Holloway will be in the lineup for Game 3.
Oilers’ power play looks unstoppable
Edmonton’s power play wasn’t nearly as proficient as it was in Game 1, when it went 3-for-4, but it was arguably more electrifying.
The Oilers scored on just one of their three chances, but that goal was a thing of beauty. Zach Hyman drifted away from the front of the net to allow for Leon Draisaitl to set him up for a one-timer into a gaping cage. The goal was Hyman’s fourth of the playoffs after his Game 1 hat trick.
If not for Talbot, the Oilers would have been more production with the man advantage. The Kings netminder flashed his glove on Evan Bouchard and Draisaitl in the second period – although the Bouchard save was on the same opportunity as Hyman’s goal. Still, the Oilers looked like the Harlem Globetrotters working that puck around.
The Oilers were 9-for-16 in the six-game series last year. Throw in their efforts from the first two games, and it would behoove the Kings to stay out of the box.
Skinner needs to find a way
The Oilers have been the best team in this matchup. It really hasn’t been close.
Through the first two games – and especially based on Game 2 – there appears to be just one possible path to a series victory for the Kings. That path is if Stuart Skinner can’t make enough saves.
Misfortunate mostly caused a below average stat line of four goals on 37 shots for Skinner in Game 1. But two nights later, it was clearer that another save or two should have been made.
The only Kings regulation goal that Skinner can’t be faulted on in the slightest is the second one — a double deflection last touched by Adrian Kempe.
Kempe’s opener and Drew Doughty’s breakaway markers weren’t terrible chances to let in, but they weren’t unstoppable. Kevin Fiala’s wobbling shot from the corner, which put the Kings ahead again at 1:46 of the third, must be kept out.
Overall, Skinner allowed five goals on 26 shots on Wednesday.
Skinner doesn’t have to stand on his head. He needs to just prove good goaltending in this series. The Oilers need a bit more from him.
Kings’ special teams continue to be dicey
If the Kings are going to win this series, they have to reach a standoff when it comes to dealing with Edmonton’s vaunted power play, while also generating something positive on their own chances with the man advantage.
The Kings’ power play struck out on its two opportunities in Game 1 and didn’t fare any better Wednesday. On their initial chance, as Corey Perry served the first of two minors in the second period, the Kings were guilty of passing up shots as they focused on moving the puck around the Edmonton zone. An eventual turnover led to Ryan McLeod getting a short-handed breakaway, but Talbot was there for the key stop.
Their second power play provided no momentum, as Viktor Arvidsson got the only chance that Stuart Skinner made an easy save on. A third opportunity came in the third period with the score tied at 4-4, but the Kings only got shots from Kopitar and Quinton Byfield, which Skinner turned aside. And the Kings’ penalty kill could not go unscathed, with Hyman burying his fourth goal of the series off a pass from Draisaitl.
But while Talbot was again heckled by a loud Rogers Place crowd in Game 2, the embattled goalie did come up with a tremendous lunging glove save on a one-time chance by Draisaitl after Connor McDavid set him up with a gorgeous no-look pass. The Kings did kill off two of their three short-handed situations as they capably took care of Byfield’s tripping penalty in the first period.
(Photo of Anze Kopitar’s overtime goal: Perry Nelson / USA Today)
