Achi news desk-
Evander Kane’s teammates believe he is tailor-made for the playoffs, and so does the man himself.
“It’s all drama,” Kane said of the postseason. “It brings the best out of me.”
Kane had a goal, an assist and a fight – dubbed the “Gordie Howe hat trick” – and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series .
The 32-year-old forward had an up-and-down regular season and is coming back from a sports hernia injury, but he earned a promotion to the Oilers’ second line on Friday and took full advantage.
Two years ago, Kane scored 13 goals in 15 games as Edmonton reached the Conference final.
“Evander’s game lends itself to this type of style,” winger Zach Hyman said. “He plays physically, goes to the hard areas, he scores. You can’t ask for more.
“He’s been doing it for three years, not just tonight.”
Hyman and Leon Draisaitl – with an assist – scored twice for Edmonton, which fell 5-4 to the Kings in overtime on Wednesday. Hyman increased his goal total in the lead to six.
Captain Connor McDavid produced a goal and two assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins chipped in with three assists as the Oilers’ top players filled the stat sheet. Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for the win.
Drew Doughty answered with his second goal of the playoffs for Los Angeles and Cam Talbot stopped 35 shots.
Red-hot power play
Edmonton’s red-hot power play went 3-for-8 and the Kings were 0-for-5. Edmonton improved to 7-for-14 with the man on the clock this series and remained a perfect 0-for-10 on the penalty kill.
“They’re good players, they’ve been for a long time,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said of the Oilers. “They execute at a high level. … But again, game over, their scoring power play, ours didn’t. It’s 2-1. Let’s get ready for the next one.”
Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup is set for Sunday night at the Crypto.com arena. The series moves back to Edmonton for Game 5 at Rogers Place.
The Oilers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes – dominating the shots 16-8 – and hardly looked back.
Hyman opened the scoring 6:42 into the first period, capitalizing on a juicy turnover from Doughty that was picked off by Mattias Ekholm.
“It’s a great play by (Ekholm) there. Great read and obviously Hyman stuck with him, he’s the best in the league at that,” Draisaitl said. .”
Edmonton doubled the lead at 15:36 when Draisaitl beat Talbot from a sharp angle after Kane’s feed. Kane drove behind the net before swinging a back pass that ripped off the net and landed on Draisaitl’s tape.
McDavid then made it 3-0 on the power play at 18:34 for his 30th career playoff goal.
Doughty got the Kings on the board 5:32 into the second period by sneaking past Kane from the blue line and burying a cross ice pass from Quinton Byfield into an open cage to give Crypto.com arena life.
But the LA campaign was short-lived. Kane responded 2:07 later with a deflection on Cody Ceci’s slap shot for his first of the playoffs.
“That’s one that sunk us at that point because we had some momentum,” Hiller said.
A scrum ensued
Tempers flourished in the third when Andreas Englund caught Kane with a high shot 6:19 into the period. A scrum ensued before Kane and Englund dropped the gloves to fight.
“It feeds off the intensity,” Draisaitl said. “He enjoys the physicality and he enjoys the simplicity in a way of playing goals and it is clear that he is very, very good.”
The Oilers jumped out to a 5-on-3 advantage for two full minutes and Hyman tapped in a McDavid pass for his second of the night to make it 5-1 at 6:37.
The frustrated Kings began to lose control and pile up more penalties later in the period as officials began handing out 10-minute misconducts.
However, Hiller had no problems with his players showing their emotions.
“I saw some players who were upset with the result, with where we were in the game, and they didn’t go away quietly,” he said.
Fans threw objects on the ice when Edmonton took another 5-on-3 lead with 7:45 left. The Oilers power play produced yet another goal as Draisaitl converted his second of the night.
A draw
Draisaitl became the fastest player in NHL history to score his 20th career road goal in the playoffs, hitting the mark in 26 games. The German forward also reached 50 assists in the postseason in his 52nd game. Only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and McDavid did it faster.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 26, 2024.
