For the second game in a row, the Edmonton Oilers have managed to stage a stunning comeback to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Leon Draisaitl scored at 18:18 of overtime on the power play and added three assists as the Oilers battled back to even their first-round playoff series with Los Angeles, coming away with a miraculous 4-3 Game 4 victory over the Kings on Sunday.
After Evan Bouchard scored his second goal of the game with 29 seconds remaining in the third to send it to overtime, Edmonton was given a late power play in OT when Vladislav Gavrikov tripped Connor McDavid. Draisaitl made the most of it, pouncing on a rebound to record his third goal of the playoffs.
Draisaitl said you should never count the Oilers out.
“That’s our identity in here. We’ve built that years ago — it’s a mentality that we have, that we’re never going to quit, no matter what,” he said. “We’ve shown that in the series so far, maybe a little bit too much. We’ve got to find a way to play with a lead.
“It shows a lot of character, and we can be really proud of that. But you don’t want to do that every night.”
Edmonton Oilers tie series after Game 4 win
Edmonton also staged a third period comeback in Game 3 on Friday with two goals in a 10-second span to erase a 4-3 deficit and earn a 7-4 win.
McDavid, who had two assists, was impressed with how his team has been able to battle back, but would like to avoid needing late stage heroics for the rest of the series.
“I would like to have a better start. I don’t want to have to keep digging ourselves out of two, three four-goal leads,” he said. “But it is good that we’ve shown them that we can. We’re a tough group to close out in games. We’ve got some good players that make plays coming down the stretch.”
Corey Perry also scored for the Oilers, who have bounced back with two straight wins at home after losing a pair of contests in Los Angeles to start the best-of-seven series.
Trevor Moore, Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala replied for the Kings, who haven’t won a playoff series since 2014, when they defeated the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup.
“I thought we skated a lot better tonight than we did in Game 3 and had plenty of opportunities to put it away. And did not,” said Kings head coach Jim Hiller. “So, here we are. We go home 2-2 instead. They get a power play in overtime, those are tough.”
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Calvin Pickard made 38 saves in the Edmonton net to record the win, while Darcy Kuemper stopped 43 shots in the loss for the Kings.
The Kings started the scoring midway through the first period as the Oilers got careless in their zone and allowed Phillip Danault to dig it out of the corner and pass it to Moore, who sent his second goal of the series through Pickard’s legs.
They made it 2-0 just 1:31 into the second on another turnover as Pickard was able to make the initial save on Foegele, but he was able to deposit the rebound into the net for his first of the post-season against his former team.
Edmonton got one back on the power play four minutes into the middle frame as Perry displayed deft hands, batting his own rebound out of mid-air into the crease and then scoring his second of the playoffs.
The Kings took advantage of yet another turnover to regain the two-goal edge as Fiala fought through for a breakaway and fluttered a shot past Pickard for his third.
The shots through 40 minutes favoured the Kings 28-15.
Edmonton pulled back within one with a fluke goal coming 7:51 into the third period as a Bouchard shot that was going wide instead deflected off of defender Drew Doughty’s skate and past Kuemper.
The Oilers pulled off a near miracle and tied it up with just 29 seconds left and Pickard pulled for an extra attacker as Draisaitl picked up his third assist, sending it back to Bouchard who blasted the puck blocker-side for his second of the game, not long after a huge play to keep it in at the blue line.
Bouchard became the fourth player in NHL history to record multiple goals in back-to-back playoff games.
Kuemper stood on his head in overtime, making 17 saves in extra time before Edmonton’s power-play winner.
“Of course it’s painful, but that’s playoffs though,” Danault said of the loss. “It’s 2-2, it’s back to even. Now we go back home and play hard, put our heart on the line and anything can happen.”
Game 5 takes place Tuesday in Los Angeles.
