On Wednesday night, the underdog Los Angeles Kings battled all night, allowing captain Anze Kopitar to net his third career overtime goal for a 5-4 victory over the heavily favored Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. After opening the game with a 2-0 lead, Los Angeles had to hold off the Oilers all night, who rallied from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits, but with a quick overtime goal at 2:07, the Kings are headed back home with a split as the series tied at one game apiece.
As the ultimate underdogs in the series, Los Angeles demonstrated that they could hang with Edmonton’s high-octane offense, led by Connor McDavid, who picked up his sixth point in two games with an assist on Zach Hyman’s fourth of the series, which tied the contest at 3-3 at 10:33 of the second period.
Dylan Holloway, who earned a call-up to the main roster before the playoffs, countered Kevin Fiala’s go-ahead goal at 1:46 of the final frame for his second of the night to keep the Oilers in the game at 4-4 with 17 minutes to play. Although Edmonton fell behind earlier, they kept pressuring, racking up over 31 shots, and were not shy to play physical, outhitting Los Angeles 55-53.
Stuart Skinner looked shaky between the pipes, making 21 saves in the loss, while his counterpart Cam Talbot rebounded for his playoff win since May 26, 2021, finishing his night with 27 saves.
In the first period, Adrian Kempe gave the Kings a comfortable 2-0 lead with goals at 3:19 and 14:57 of the first period. Brett Kulak got Edmonton on the board with a goal at 17:33 before veteran Drew Doughty found the back of the net at 18:02 for a 3-1 lead going into intermission. Holloway scored his first of the night at 7:51 of the second to make it 3-2 in favor of the Kings.
The Oilers lead the best-of-seven series 2-0, with Game 3 scheduled for Friday night at Crypto.com Arena at 10:30 p.m. ET.
