The silver lining for the Edmonton Oilers after losing the first two games of this series against the Los Angeles Kings was that they had many areas to improve upon. They didn’t play great and lose. They struggled in many facets, and they knew if they cleaned up some areas they could compete.

They weren’t perfect in Game 3 on Friday, but they were much better in some key aspects of their game, and that allowed them to win and get back in the series.

Santa Claus didn’t make an appearance. The Oilers didn’t just gift LA great scoring chances by giving them the puck with time and space. At 4×4, Connor McDavid did get crossed up and lose Adrien Kempe, and that allowed Kempe time to skate in and make another perfectly placed shot top shelf. Kempe has been the best offensive player in the series, and he leads all playoff scorers with four goals and nine points. He’s been a lethal finisher when given time and space. Mistakes will happen, and McDavid knew right after the goal that Kempe was his guy. But overall, the Oilers made big strides in not just gifting the Kings great chances.

The power play scored twice, and they struck quickly on both opportunities. Leon Draisaitl won the faceoff cleanly on their first opportunity, and Evan Bouchard walked in and blasted home the Oilers’ first PP goal of the series. Bouchard scored again only 10 seconds into the power play late in the third with the game tied 4-4. It was a new wrinkle we’ve never seen before. Draisaitl won the draw at centre ice back to Bouchard. He curled back inside the Oilers’ zone, then weaved through the neutral zone as the Kings just gave him the blueline. He was in the middle of the ice, and once he entered the zone, he made a soft drop pass to Draisaitl. Bouchard continued to the net, and no Kings defender picked him up. Draisaitl placed a perfect pass on Bouchard’s tape, and Bouchard redirected home the game winner. Bouchard mentioned post-game that it was a set play they drew up.

The power play has been too good for too long not to score, and they showed it on their only two opportunities of the game. Prior to the game, McDavid said this about the PP and how they had to attack.

The Oilers didn’t connect on some passes with guys open in the first two games. Draisaitl made a perfect pass to Bouchard, and he buried it. It’s as though the captain knew what was coming.

The other area the Oilers improved upon was staying out of the penalty box. They’d taken a league-high 10 minors in the first two games. When the PK is struggling as badly as it is right now, you can’t give the Kings too many chances. The Kings only had two PP chances. Progress.

Good news: The Oilers were shorthanded only two times. Bad news: The Kings scored on both of their opportunities with the man advantage.

I actually thought the penalty kill looked better than in the first two games, when the Kings moved the puck around at will. They not only scored five times, but they also had 20 shots and 35 shot attempts. Last night, the Oilers’ PK was much more in sync and aggressive. The penalty killers pressured the Kings and didn’t allow them to get set up. On the first PK, LA only had one shot and a single shot attempt in the first 1:45. Late in the PP, the Kings had a neutral zone re-group, and Fiala came in and took a shot from 37-feet. Janmark tried to get his stick in the lane, but the puck deflected off his stick and ramped up into the top corner. The Kings’ PP hadn’t been very dangerous, but they still scored.

On the second opportunity, the Oilers had more shots than LA. Adam Henrique and Connor Brown each had a shot, while Janmark’s shot was blocked. The Kings’ first unit had no shot attempts, and the second unit came on for the final 35 seconds. They got set up and Drew Doughty just took a wrist shot from the point. The Kings did have a good, layered screen, and I don’t think Calvin Pickard saw it. The PK didn’t give LA much on either kill, but the Kings scored twice. They are now 58.3% (7-for-12) in the series.

The Oilers’ PK showed signs of progress, but the results ended up worse as the Kings went 100% on the PP. There are no moral victories in the playoffs. Wins and goals, regardless of how they happen, are all that matter. And the PK has to find a way to kill off some penalties. They will be happy with the process of how they limited the Kings’ shots and puck possession, but not the result.

Calvin Pickard didn’t have to face an onslaught of high-danger chances, which makes life easier for any goalie. The Trevor Moore goal can’t go in. A one-handed attempt nine seconds after the Oilers tied it could have been a backbreaker, if Evander Kane didn’t tie the game late in the third. Pickard was solid. His best save came late in the game with the Oilers leading 6-4, and he had a few other key stops. The team still allowed four goals. Not ideal, but progress in reducing the goals against, limiting the high-danger chances and getting a key save.

— I expected Evander Kane to play bottom-six minutes when he returned to the lineup after being out for over 10 months. He has averaged third-line minutes in his two games. He played 13:07 last night, but he was much more effective than in game one. He made a great pass to Connor Brown to tie the game 3-3, and then Kane tied the game at four late in the third. He crashed the net, battled for the puck and after kicking the puck towards Darcy Kuemper’s pads, he was able to get a stick on it and push it across the goal line. Kane finished the night with 1-1-2, four shots on goal and five hits. He made an impact in his minutes and played the eighth-most minutes among the forwards. He, like any player, will want more minutes, and we’ll see if Knoblauch will find him more ice time in Game 4.

— The Oilers were the more physical team for the third consecutive game, but last night they had the puck more as well. Vasily Podkolzin (7), Kane and Zach Hyman (5) and Trent Frederic (3) led the way physically. They had some big hits, none bigger than Hyman’s late in the game on Drew Doughty to separate him from the puck and then dish it to McDavid for the empty net breakaway goal. Kane and Frederic give the Oilers some much-needed size and physicality. Both can chip in offensively as well. Frederic has improved every game this series. He’s getting more comfortable skating with his ankle heavily taped. He doesn’t have the ankle flexion he is used to, because of the tape, and he said he toe-picked a few times in Game 1, getting used to it, but he told me after the morning skate how he was starting to feel a bit better. And actually, he feels better as the game goes on and his body temperature increases. His line with Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry had a few quality shifts, where they spent the entire time in the offensive zone. Those shifts will wear down a team over time, and more importantly, create or continue momentum for the Oilers.

— After how he looked in the regular season, I didn’t think John Klingberg would offer much. I was wrong. He has been excellent since he returned to the lineup in Game 2. His lateral movement, which has always been his best asset to create space for himself, is back. He’s looked poised and confident moving the puck, and said he’s feeling good.

He did last night. He and Jake Walman had a great game together, logging over 12 minutes. They were on for only two shots against, six for and the shot attempts were 27-11. Paul Coffey and Kris Knoblauch want Klingberg on the ice with either McDavid or Draisaitl. It makes sense as he’s great at moving the puck. Those were the two forwards he played the most with last night.

— The Oilers are better when McDavid and Draisaitl centre their own lines. Last year against the Kings, they only played 8:54 together at 5×5 and the Oilers won in five games. They played 19:03 together at 5×5 in the first two games. The Oilers lost both and when those two were on the ice together, the Oilers outscored LA 3-2. McDavid playinjg away from Draisaitl got outscored 2-0.

Knoblauch wisely put them on their own lines last night. The game had 52:45 of 5×5 time, only a total of 3:40 of PP time, 2:00 of 4×4 and 1:35 of 6-on-5. The more 5×5 time the game has, the more advantage the Oilers have, especially with LA’s power play crushing it.

Draisaitl played 21:00 at 5×5 while McDavid logged 20:09. They still played just over seven minutes together, but that still left 27 minutes with them on the ice separately. The Oilers had one or both of them on the ice 5×5 for over 34 minutes of 5×5 play. With Draisaitl on the ice, without McDavid, the Oilers outshot LA 10-5, while McDavid was 7-7 and outscored LA 1-0. In their time together, they outshot LA 7-0 and outscored them 1-0. So in those 34 minutes, the Oilers outshot the Kings 24-12 and outscored them 2-0. I will argue until my hair grows back that the Oilers are a better team when those two run their own lines. You can still load them up together at times in the game, but when they are on the ice, the Oilers will usually have the best player on the ice, and if you can have that for 34 of 52 minutes, you have a big advantage.

— The Oilers crushed the Kings’ top line last night. Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko played 12:22 together. They were outshot 14-5 and outscored 2-0. They were on for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal and Connor Brown’s. Kopitar was on for Kane’s goal as well.

— Scoring first matters a lot between these two teams in the playoffs. The Oilers are 12-1 when they score first, and LA is 7-1. The only losses came in 2023. The Oilers had a great start, but then dipped in the second period, before rebounding. But getting a lead is clearly the main key to winning between these two clubs.

— Example 1,024 why the playoffs are so wildly unpredictable. Darcy Kuemper allowed five-plus goals only twice in 50 regular-season starts. The Oilers have scored five goals on him twice in three playoff games. They’ve clearly made it a priority to get traffic in front. They dislodged the net multiple times, Corey Perry set a screen on Bouchard’s first goal, and Kane crashed the net for his game-tying goal. They are crashing the net more than usual, and it is working. It is hard enough stopping the puck when the goalie can see it, but then you add in screens and traffic, and it becomes much harder. It is refreshing to see the Oilers getting bodies to the net because it wasn’t a regular occurrence in the regular season.

— I’m curious which replay the Kings watched to make them challenge Kane’s goal for goalie interference. The replays I saw showed nothing that was obvious. Head coach Jim Hiller explained why he challenged it.

Depending on how the series plays out, we might look back at that challenge as the turning point. The Oilers scored 10 seconds into the PP to take a 5-4 lead and that has them back in the series.