Oh no. Once again, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves trailing in this series due to another overtime loss. Throughout the game, it was clear that Edmonton had the better system while the Los Angeles Kings were highly opportunistic. However, the one thing that was outside the control of both teams would be officiating and video reviews, and it keeps looking as though it always goes in favour of the Kings.
This game was won by special teams and at this point, no one really knows which calls will be made by referees and which will be ignored. And it seems inconsistent for the two teams on the ice.
The first goal of the game came late in the first period and opened up the scoring for the Kings. However in the second period, two nearly identical goals were scored less than two minutes apart by Connor McDavid for his first playoff goals of 2023. Unfortunately the Oilers’ only lead in the game last all but 20 seconds as the Kings knotted it up again.
Why were the Kings were even on the power play at all immediately after an Oilers goal? Ask the referees.
The game needed overtime to find a winner, and here “find” might be better replaced with as “select” because this is where controversy occurred. A questionable play where the puck was played with a high stick went uncalled and reviewed to have not been as such, and it all led to the Kings scoring the game-winning goal.
The Oilers didn’t catch any breaks and it might seem like they have every possible thing out of their control going against them, but they need to let this be water under the bridge and get back to finding their mojo if they’re going to turn this series around.
Charts from the game are below.
Game events
Goals
| Goal | Assists | Time | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Iafallo | Matt Roy, Anze Kopitar | 19:27 | 1st | EDM 0 – 1 LAK |
| Connor McDavid (PPG) | Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 07:42 | 2nd | EDM 1 – 1 LAK |
| Connor McDavid (PPG) | Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl | 09:22 | 2nd | EDM 2 – 1 LAK |
| Adrian Kempe (PPG) | Viktor Arvidsson, Drew Doughty | 09:40 | 2nd | EDM 2 – 2 LAK |
| Trevor Moore (PPG) | Gabriel Vilardi, Quinton Byfield | 03:24 | OT | EDM 2 – 3 LAK |
All situations Corsi
5v5 Corsi
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