Kings can’t hold on as Edmonton seizes victory in Game 3

EDMONTON — Desperation is a heck of a motivator, and now the Edmonton Oilers have some life.

Despite a big comeback that saw the Kings overcome a 2-0 hole, Edmonton gutted it out and found a way to tie the game two different times and earn a 7-4 win on defenseman Evan Bouchard’s second power-play goal as the game-winner with 6:32 left in the game.

The Kings have been giving the Oilers a taste of their own medicine on the power play in this series. They scored twice in Game 3 and have scored seven power-play goals on 15 chances in the series, but Edmonton’s dormant power play came to life when it needed it most – scoring twice in the victory, and have now cut the Kings’ series lead to 2-1.

Trevor Moore, Adriam Kempe, Drew Doughty and Kevin Fiala scored for the Kings in the loss, while Bouchard and Connor Brown scored twice. Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers.

Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was not even nine minutes old.

But the Kings held their own, and Kempe’s blast made it 2-1 late in the first period, and then Fiala and Doughty scored power play goals in the second to give the Kings their first lead of the game.

It was a wild second period

After Doughty’s point shot on the power play gave the Kings their first lead of the game with 4:53 remaining in the stanza, Brown tied the game just 2:12 later.

But the Kings wouldn’t be rattled as Moore scored his first goal of the series just nine seconds later when he drove to the net and outmuscled Oilers defenseman Jake Walman, chiming a backhand through the five-hole of Calvin Pickard to give the Kings the lead.

The Kings knew the Oilers would be desperate in the third period, and after holding off a small flurry of chances early in the period, the Kings were able to calm it down.

But Edmonton kept pushing and the Kings were doing everything they could to keep their 4-3 lead, but the Oilers found a way.

With 6:40 to play, Kane crashed the net in a goalmouth scramble and kept whacking away at the puck and it just barely crossed the line.

After the officials reviewed the goal to see if it was kicked in, it was determined a good goal, but Kings head coach Jim Hiller took a gamble and challenged for goaltender interference.

After review, it was called a good goal, sending the Oilers to the power play, and they took just 10 seconds to make the Kings pay. Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl and Bouchard converted a nice give-and-go to redirect a shot past Kuemper to give the Oilers the lead for good. McDavid and Brown added empty-netters in the final two minutes.

Kuemper made 30 saves in the loss. Pickard made 23 saves in his first start of the series.