GDB +3.0 Wrap Up: Kings regain series lead with another overtime victory in Game 3
11 months ago
The Los Angeles Kings are back in front.
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The first-round series between the Kings and Oilers shifted to Los Angeles with the two teams tied at one game each and the home team edged out a 3-2 win in overtime.
Alex Iafallo scored late in the first period to open the scoring but Connor McDavid answered back in the second period with a pair of power-play goals. Immediately following McDavid’s go-ahead goal, Leon Draisaitl was penalized for slashing L.A. defenceman Drew Doughty and the Kings tied the game on the man advantage.
The third period solved nothing so the teams went to overtime to decide the game for the second time in this series. And just like in Game 1, the Oilers took a penalty and the Kings capitalized. This time it was Trevor Moore getting a shot past Stuart Skinner after the Oilers were unable to clear the zone.
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Oilersnation’s player of the game: The referees
This was probably the worst officiated game I ever watched. There’s a myth out there that the whistle goes away in the playoffs, but that is incorrect as we’ve learned from every series this far.
Their night started fine, a Phillip Danault trip on McDavid early in the game was the correct call. There were then coincidental minors, with Viktor Arvidsson firing a stick at the puck, and Darnell Nurse tripping Arvidsson. This penalty was reduced from a five to a two-minute minor, once again the correct call.
And then the bad calls start happening.
The refs gave Mattias Ekholm a two-minute cross-checking penalty in a board battle, something that happens at least 30 times in a game. Then they gave Vincent Desharnais a “roughing” penalty for slightly elbowing Sean Durzi, who went down like he was shot.
Alexander Edler kneed Warren Foegele, which led to the first Oilers goal. Then Zach MacEwen high-sticked Nick Bjugstad, leading to the second Oilers goal.
In the ensuing celebration of the second McDavid goal, Draisaitl tapped Doughty as he skated by (after a relatively hard hit on McDavid), only to receive an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which swiftly led to the Kings game-tying goal.
The only other penalty that could be controversial was on Klim Kostin due to some wrassling on the ice. I’ve seen this not be called a billion times in the regular season, but now it gets called in a playoff series? Not just that, but the same scenario happened when Danualt wouldn’t let McDavid up early in overtime. They also missed this call.
However, nothing compares to the blatant missed call which led to the game-winning goal. No, it wasn’t a penalty (the call on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the correct call), but a clear high stick was ruled not to have happened, even though it did, and the Kings got possession of the puck before Edmonton.
So since the refs so dearly want to be the centre of attention, they get the Player of the Game award.
Things worth mentioning:
Connor McDavid was the actual player of the game, rant aside. He scored his first two goals of the series within two minutes on the power play. Both came from nearly the same angle, one glove side and the other short side. He also drew a penalty early in the game.
Evander Kane was all over the ice today, and didn’t even take a dumb penalty! While he rode Drew Doughty hard into the boards, the toothless ghoul was holding onto Kane’s stick, and in fact, got an interference penalty himself. Game two and three Kane is just what the Oilers need.
Stuart Skinner made some big saves, including one on a 2-on-0. His .903 save percentage isn’t fantastic by any stretch, but he’s making big saves that have kept the Oilers in it. Please give him the Calder.
Evan Bouchard continues to add to his point total, as he added two assists on McDavid’s power-play goals. Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added the other two helpers.
Game four takes place on Sunday, April 23rd at 7:00 PM MT in Los Angeles. Hopefully, the refs don’t feel the need to influence the game as they have the past two games. Furthermore, that’s a game the Oilers need to win, as a 3-1 hole may be too much to get out of.
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