Oilers score 4 goals in third period to beat Kings 7-4, trail series 2-1

Los Angeles Kings' goalie Darcy Kuemper (35) looks for the puck as Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) skates around the net and Phillip Danault (24) defends during second period NHL playoff action in Edmonton on Friday, April 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown each had a pair of goals as the Edmonton Oilers finally showed signs of life, coming away with a wild 7-4 playoff victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers, who had allowed 12 goals in their first two post-season losses in Los Angeles and trailed 4-3 with just under seven minutes to play.

“We’ve got a lot of character. We’re going to go down swinging, if we go down,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who had a pair of assists. “We’ve created that approach here and that attitude within this organization and we’re not going to back down until we’re out.

“It feels good right now to get that win, but it’s not going to do much if we don’t follow it up in two days here and take this back to L.A. 2-2.”

Kane, who played just his second game after losing the entire regular season to injury, said it has taken the entire team a while to get it together.

“I thought the first two games we were kind of still in regular season mode and tonight, especially in the first period we looked like we were ready to go and we had a big push in the third,” he said.

Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore replied for the Kings, who still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.

“We’ll take a rest just like we did after we won the games,” said Kings head coach Jim Hiller. “Take a look at it, regroup just like they did. It might sound a little boring, but I think this is how these things go. It’s emotional, the crowd is emotional, we’re emotional, so we’ve just got to cool our heads out and get ready to play another hockey game.”

Goaltender Calvin Pickard, who replaced Stuart Skinner in the Edmonton net for Game 3, made 25 saves to record the win. Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots in the loss for the Kings.

Edmonton started the scoring less than three minutes into the opening period as Zach Hyman spun around behind the net and sent it in front to Nugent-Hopkins and he made the most of being elevated to the top line by scoring his first goal of the series.

The Oilers made it 2-0 just 8:43 into the first frame, scoring three seconds into a power play as Bouchard unloaded a rocket that beat Kuemper to the top corner for his initial goal and Edmonton’s first on the man advantage after being unsuccessful in the first two contests.

The Kings rallied to make it 2-1 playing four-on-four with 2:42 left in the first as Kempe kept up his torrid post-season pace with his fourth goal, making a perfect shot high to the glove side to beat Pickard.

Los Angeles tied it on the power play 5:43 into the second period as Fiala picked the top corner for his second of the series. Kempe picked up an assist to give him nine points in the first three games.

The Kings scored another power-play marker with 4:53 remaining in the middle period as Doughty scored his first on a shot from the point, L.A.’s seventh goal on 12 power-play opportunities.

Edmonton tied the game with 2:41 to play in the second as Kane sent a backhand in front and Brown redirected it home, but the Kings responded just nine seconds later on a bad goal as Moore fought off a defender and poked a soft shot through Pickard’s legs to make it 4-3 and deflate the Oilers.

The Oilers tied it 4-4 with 6:42 remaining in the third after a big scramble in front, as Kane was able to poke it in. It originally looked like Kane may have kicked it in, but a video review determined he then got his stick on it and it was a good goal. The Kings then unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference.

That would prove costly as the Oilers scored just 10 seconds into the resulting power play as Leon Draisaitl made a perfect pass to Bouchard on a give-and-go for the tip-in and the 5-4 lead.

“We were fighting all third period to get one,” Bouchard said. “We knew it was going to be a dirty one and it was. When they challenged you really don’t know always with goaltender interference, but when we saw it was a good one we knew we had to pounce on them.”

Edmonton put the game away with a pair of empty-net goals from McDavid and Brown.

Notes

It is the fourth straight year that the two teams have met in the first round of the playoffs, with Edmonton winning in seven games in 2022, six games in 2023 and five games in 2024. … Edmonton has only come back from a 2-0 series deficit once in team history, coming back to beat the San Jose Sharks in six games in the second round in 2006.

Up next

Game 4 takes place on Sunday in Edmonton.

-- Shane Jones

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025.