In Los Angeles, the Kings opened the game with a torrid first period, but lost two lads in the game, and eventually Zach Hyman scored midway through overtime on Sunday night to give the Edmonton Oilers a 5-4 win in Game 4.
The win evened the series at 2-2, with Game 5 set for Edmonton on Tuesday night.
“Playoff hockey, obviously, you got a short period of time to make an impact or else you’re not going to be playing for long, right?” Hyman said. “You don’t score every game in hockey, and you just got to keep shooting, keep taking it to the net, keep trying to get the puck back.”
Stuart Skinner got the start for the Oilers, and made eight saves, yielding three first period goals to the Kings. Skinner got the hook in the first intermission.
Jack Campbell made 27 saves for the win.
“Not at easy situation,” the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl said of Campbell. “Hasn’t been an easy year for him, but the way he showed up tonight was really, really great, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”
LA had their way with the ice in the first period.
Gabriel Vilardi opened the scoring to give the Kings a 1-0 lead midway through the frame.
Viktor Arvidsson than wristed home a puck for a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute of the first.
Anze Kopitar pushed the advantage to 3-0 with a nifty move down low and a backhand shot.
“We can be frustrated tonight, but tomorrow’s a new day and we’ve got to get ready for Game 5,” Kopitar said. “The first period was obviously really good and the second period was not good, so there’s no secret to that. We’ll have to correct that going forward.”
The second period was all Oilers.
Evan Bouchard scored at 4:55 of the middle frame to get the Oilers on the board and trim the deficit to 3-1.
“There’s a lot of momentum swings,” Hyman said. “I think that’s what playoff hockey is, the nature of playoff hockey and the game today. They’re up 3-0, and then we tie it up. … Some things you can’t control, and you have to give yourself the best opportunity, put yourself in the best position that you don’t have to worry about those bounces as much.”
Draisaitl then hit for a double in the stanza, once at the midway point through the second, and the double with 11 seconds left in the period off the power play to tie the game, 3-3.
LA reclaimed the lead at 4:28 of the third on a strike from Matt Roy for a 4-3 advantage to the Kings.
Evander Kane forced the extra session when he scored with three minutes left on the regulation clock.
Joonas Korpisalo made 37 saves in the loss.
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