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The Los Angeles Kings find themselves down 2-1 in their first round series against the Edmonton Oilers, following an 8-2 loss in Game 3 last night.
The Kings went down early, with Connor McDavid finding Leon Draisaitl on a rush for a tap-in to open the scoring under four minutes into the game. Then only about two minutes after that, McDavid found Hyman in front on a power play for another tap-in, and the Kings were already down 2-0. Los Angeles actually went on to outshoot Edmonton 19-7 in the frame but couldn’t beat Mike Smith.
The Oilers only built onto their lead in the second period, with Evander Kane burying a loose puck in front, before Hyman picked up another goal only about a minute later, extending the lead to 4-0. Cal Petersen then came in to replace Jonathan Quick but it didn’t make much of a difference, as Kane chipped a puck past Petersen only a couple minutes later, giving Edmonton a five-goal lead. Anze Kopitar did score only 16 seconds after that to get the Kings on the board and Phillip Danault capitalized later in the frame on a power play, as Los Angeles trailed 5-2 heading into the second intermission.
That’s as close as the Kings could come though and after a fairly even period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice within 1:21 late in the frame, before Kane picked up his hat trick goal with 20 seconds left, resulting in an 8-2 Oilers win.
It’s a pretty deflating result and despite the Kings managing 46 shots in the game, they’ve now been outscored 14-2 over the last two games. It’s not like it was a special teams mismatch which caused the loss either, given that seven of the Oilers’ eight goals came at even strength.
The Kings can still recover, but they need to find a way to slow down Edmonton’s dynamic offense. The Oilers were able to generate far too many chances off the rush and given their speed and talent, the Kings can’t afford to find themselves out of position so often.
Even though Game 4 isn’t technically a must-win for the Kings, it certainly feels like it.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM MAY
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Kings hang on for Game 1 win over Oilers
Kings suffer blowout loss to Oilers in Game 2 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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