1 week Ago By Cynthia McLeod
With desperation on their side and a sold-out Rogers Place trying to will them to victory, the Edmonton Oilers came out with a whimper and were staring down the barrel of a devastating first-round exit. A team that has been plagued by slow starts all year served up another one at the worst possible time, spotting the Los Angeles Kings a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes of Game 4. With the Kings in complete control, outshooting Edmonton 28-15 and showing no signs of weakness, it was hard to tell which emotion was stronger among the Oilers faithful — doom or gloom.
Then, the Team That Wouldn’t Die did it again. Two days after scoring twice in 10 seconds to come back and win Game 3, they dropped another stunner on the shell-shocked Kings. Evan Bouchard, who was minus three after L.
A.’s first three goals, closed it to 3-2 with 12 minutes left, then scored again to tie it with just 28.4 seconds separating the Oilers from the end of their season.
And, if there was ever any doubt which way this thing was going to end, Leon Draisaitl ended it, scoring with 1:42 left in overtime to even the series 2-2 heading back to Los Angeles. “It’s probably the most important goal I’ve scored in my career,” said Draisaitl, who had a goal and three assists on the night. “Hopefully there are a couple more to come that are even more importantm but I’ll take that for now.
” This was too close for comfort — if L.A.’s Quinton Byfield clears the puck out of the zone when he had time and space with 40 seconds left instead of trying to deke past Bouchard and score into the empty net, the Kings probably hold on to win — but Edmonton made the right plays at the right time and the Kings didn’t.
“That’s our identity in here, we built that years ago,” said Draisaitl. “That’s a mentality we have that we’re never going to quit no matter what. We’ve shown that in the series so far — maybe a little bit too much, we have to find a way to play with a lead.
“It shows a lot of character and we can be really proud of that but we don’t want to do that every night.” This was Edmonton’s last chance to make a series out of it (in the 347 previous times an NHL team has been up 3-1 in a playoff series, it’s gone on to win 315 times for a 90.8% success rate), but for 40 minutes they couldn’t even make a game out of it.
“I would like to have a better start,” said Connor McDavid. “I don’t want to have to keep digging ourselves out of two, three, four-goal leads. But it’s 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.” The Oilers have been there before, looking bedraggled and overwhelmed, only to do what they keep on doing to the Kings.
Like coming back from 4-0 down to tie Game 1 5-5 in the third period before succumbing to a game-winning fluke. Like trailing 4-3 at the second intermission of a must-win Game 3 and scoring four times in the third period to save their season. “We have a strong belief in here,” said McDavid.
“We have a strong belief that we’re never out. People doubting us, putting ourselves in bad spots, but we’re working. We’re digging our way out and trying to find ways to win games and obviously we found a way tonight.
I’m proud of everyone and how we found a way tonight.” Outshot 14-6 in the first period, the Oilers trailed 1-0 at the first intermission, which wasn’t great news given that in the first 21 games of the Oilers-Kings playoff history, the team scoring first is 19-2. The hole got deeper and darker when Oiler Warren Foegele made it 2-0 early in the second period, and when Bouchard saved up yet another L.
A. Kings goal, just three minutes after Corey Perry had closed it to 2-1 on the power play, it looked over. But, once again, Edmonton made the Kings wilt in the third period.
Edmonton outshot the Kings 33-13 over the third period and overtime. A fluke goal from Bouchard cut L.A.
’s lead to 3-2 with 12 minutes left in regulation, and once the Oilers smelled blood, it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, with 28.4 seconds left, Bouchard put a point shot inside the post to bring the house down.
Draisaitl’s winner on the power play sealed the win. “That’s what this team is, nothing’s ever easy,” said Perry. “We keep battling, we keep pushing.
We found a way to tie the game and then found a way to end it in overtime. We found a way to push back, to fight back. Big guys make big plays at right times.
” E-mail: [email protected] RelatedMomentum swings the name of the game in Oilers' series vs. L.
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