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The Los Angeles Kings battled back from a two-goal deficit for a dramatic 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers last night, jumping out to an early lead in their first round series.
The Oilers had a few good early chances (including one that was reviewed for a goal), and only about seven minutes into the game, Leon Draisaitl got to the front of the net and beat Joonas Korpisalo to open the scoring. The Kings got into some penalty trouble from there, and on a 5-on-3 a little later, Evan Bouchard ripped a wrist shot past Korpisalo to make it a 2-0 game. While the Kings did have a power play opportunity later, the first period largely belonged to the Oilers and it wasn’t a promising start.
The Kings did end up drawing some penalties and had power play opportunities early in the second frame, but couldn’t convert. Then while the game opened up in the period with chances exchanged, neither team could capitalize.
Adrian Kempe did bring the game back to within one in the first minute of the third period though, beating Stuart Skinner with a backhander from the slot. However, midway through the frame, the Kings left a rebound in front of their net and Draisaitl buried his second goal of the game, reinstating the two-goal lead.
The Kings hung around though and Adrian Kempe managed to score again only a few minutes later, once again putting the game back within reach. Los Angeles did continue pressing from there, and went on to outshoot Edmonton 14-7 in the frame.
Then with the Kings on a late power play (and the goalie pulled for a 6-on-4), Viktor Arvidsson put a great pass over to Phillip Danault – and while Danault was stopped, Anze Kopitar poked in the rebound, tying things up with 16 seconds left.
So after the late comeback, Game 1 continued to overtime. However, it looked like the Oilers ended it only two minutes into the extra frame, but it was deemed the puck went in with a high stick, so overtime continued.
Then midway through the frame, the Kings ended up with another power play and Alex Iafallo took a pass in the slot from Viktor Arvidsson and managed to beat Skinner, leaving the Kings with a comeback win to stun the Oilers.
It was quite the way to kick off what we already expected to be an exciting series. The Kings didn’t necessarily have a great first 40 minutes and weren’t matching Edmonton’s intensity, but they were able to hang around and battle back in the final frame.
Adrian Kempe was obviously clutch in the win with two goals, but Anze Kopitar also had a point on each one of Los Angeles’ tallies. Especially without Kevin Fiala, it’s key for the Kings’ best players to be their best players, and they were in Game 1. Joonas Korpisalo was great in net as well, with 37 saves.
An underrated storyline heading into the series was Stuart Skinner's recent success against the Kings, allowing a single goal over two meetings between the teams over the last few weeks. Then after shutting down Los Angeles through the first 40 minutes yesterday, it was reaching a point where the Kings had only beaten him once over the last eight periods they'd faced him. So with the offensive outburst in the third period, it was great to see the Kings finally starting to solve Skinner.
It’s only been one game, but this is certainly going to be one of, if not the most entertaining first round matchup. Things got chippy early, Drew Doughty is being booed whenever he touches the puck, and we’ve already seen an exciting comeback with twists and turns.
It’s a good start to the postseason for the Kings, taking a road win to go ahead early - Game 2 is set for tomorrow night.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM APRIL
Kings end road trip with back-to-back wins, clinch playoff spot
Kings come up short in another key showdown against Oilers
Looking at different playoff scenarios for the Kings after recent slide
Kings at risk of slipping to wild card spot amidst three-game losing streak
Breaking down the playoff picture in West before Kings’ 82nd game
Kings lock up third place in Pacific, will face Oilers in first round
Previewing the Kings’ first round series against the Oilers 
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