Oilers meet Kings at Rexall Place

Los Angeles Kings vs Edmonton Oilers 3-4SO (2-0, 0-1, 1-2)

Edmonton iced the same lineup as in games 1 and 2, and poured on a flash flood of chances early on, however they failed to capitalize and it all proved a wash. Instead, the Kings started taking some risks and it payed off when Kopitar was found alone in the slot by Frolov to hurt the Oilers short handed. The ultimate insult was delivered to the home team when they allowed Raitis Ivanans to score one of his rare markers.

The autolesion continued in the second, first by a Moreau double minor, then by consecutive minors by Gilbert and Stone. Warriors like Laich, Moore and Falardeau assumed command and kept the Kings from scoring through a gruelling 10 minute period in which the Oilers were pinned down in their zone throughout. Laich even capped his herioc effort by scoring a late goal, cutting the Kings lead in half.

Juras Mikus scored a fine goal after having absorbed a couple of hits on the half-board, showing great agility and balance. The Oilers promptly started an aggressive attempt to get back in the game, resulting initially in a couple of double minors, served by Babchuk and Laich. Babchuk, however, turned adversity into advantage as he stepped out of the box and scored the 2-3 goal. Just three minutes from time, Lee Falardeau scored his first ever Oilers goal, having combined niecly with Moreau and O'Marra. That sent the game to overtime, thrilling Oilers fans with the comeback.

Overtime brought a mere 5 shots on goal in all, though two of those were magnificently handled by Khabibulin, rescuing the Oilers chance to go into a shootout. Both Hemsky and Penner triumphed over Ersberg one-on-one, while Kaberle and former Oiler Ryan Smyth missed their chances, thus giving Edmonton the SO win.

Post game: Veteran Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 42 shots, and Moreau, Laich and Smid had particularly good performances too. Oilers may be worried, however, with the lack of production from their top line. So far, Penner, O'Sullivan and Hemsky have a mere 3 points between them.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
LAK - Kopitar (Frolov) SH
LAK - Ivanans (Williams, Kopitar)

2nd Period:
EDM - Laich (Cogliano, Skille)

3rd Period:
LAK - Mikus (Handzus, Purcell)
EDM - Babchuk (O'Sullivan) PP
EDM - Falardeau (Moreau, O'Marra)

OT/SO:
Hemsky, Penner scored.


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - O'Sullivan - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - Skille
Axelsson - Stone - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Lashoff - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Smid

Khabibulin
(Hiller)