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Home ice was a nonfactor for the Kings in Game 3, losing to the Oilers in a 6-1 blowout.
Edmonton’s offense, which has been electric all series, scored three times in the first period, putting the game out of reach from the moment the puck dropped from the referee’s hands. Winger Zach Hyman scored twice in the game, including the first goal, bringing his total up to six in the series.
Two more goals followed Hyman’s initial lamp-lighting, as centers Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid hammered the Los Angeles defense to help Edmonton run away with the game. The Kings’ penalty kill struggled throughout the game, allowing three power-play goals…
Drew Doughty finally put LA on the board in the second period, catching goalie Stuart Skinner out of position to bring the deficit back to two. But the Oilers knew that they couldn’t become complacent and continued to overwhelm netminder Cam Talbot and company.
Drew Doughty with goals in back-to-back games. 👑 pic.twitter.com/VvZTwhtOze
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 27, 2024
Edmonton proceeded to score three unanswered goals, including two on the power play. Hyman and Draisaitl each tallied their second goal of the game in the third period.
Winger Evander Kane also connected for his first goal of the postseason just two minutes after Doughty’s, which kick-started another wave of momentum that the Oilers rode.
“We were not there, and they were more hungry and they had more chances,” said winger Kevin Fiala.
The Oilers’ power play is now a whopping seven-for-15 in the series, as the Kings’ special teams, which was a strong suit for the team during the regular season, just hasn’t been able to contain Edmonton’s high-functioning and deep offensive unit.
“We have to stay out of the box, obviously, and we just need to play our game,” said defenseman Matt Roy.
McDavid’s three-point night brought his series total to nine, with one goal and eight assists. Five Oilers have tallied at least four points in the series thus far, as the team’s offense has been able to exploit Los Angeles’ lacking defense with ease.
LA also went zero-for-five in Game 3 on power play chances. While the Kings’ offense came alive in the first two games, in Game 3, Edmonton was simply one step ahead of interim head coach Jim Hiller’s bunch. The Kings have yet to score on the power play this postseason.
“You’ve got to find a way,” said Hiller. “I thought we did a pretty good job in Game 2, so we’ll just have to make sure we do that same job in Game 4.”
Game 4 will also be at Crypto.com Arena and will be a must-win game for the Kings with the series shifting back to Edmonton afterwards. But LA will need to adjust to the Oilers’ offense early if it wants to even the series. The Kings’ forechecking was not up to par in Game 3, which proved costly.
The Kings’ offense will also need to wake up and produce at an even higher level than it did in Games 1 and 2 to avoid a series loss to the Oilers for the third straight year. Good discipline will also be an important factor in limiting the Oilers’ extra-man chances.
Game 3 was captain Anže Kopitar’s 95th career playoff game, which is a Kings franchise record. The team will need his veteran leadership to help right the ship in Game 4, which will begin on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. as Los Angeles tries to recover from a blunderous first postseason performance in front of its home fans.
Kasey Kazliner
Kasey Kazliner
Kasey Kazliner is a Communications major from the Bay Area. He is a host on The Talk of Troy and Sports SCene. Kazliner is also the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks beat writer for The Talk of Troy and writes a weekly NHL column, The Silver Shield. He is the play-by-play voice of USC hockey and received the Koechling Media Award for his broadcasting….
