Sometimes, the referees’ lack of action impacts the game far too much.
That was the case on Saturday afternoon, as the Edmonton Oilers fell 4-3 in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers received only two power plays, despite the Kings playing prison-rules hockey. Kasperi Kapanen opened the scoring midway through the first period, as Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper allowed a juicy rebound, with the Finnish forward banging it home for his fourth goal in the Oiler uniform.
With about seven and a half minutes remaining in the first period, Quinton Byfield got the puck beside the net after a puck battle, sniping the puck above Stuart Skinner’s left shoulder for his seventh goal of the season.
Former Oiler Warren Foegele picked up an assist on Byfield’s goal, and late in the period, he scored his 10th goal of the season in the first matchup against the Oilers. The puck bounced to him in the slot, with Foegele swinging his stick at it. After a few bounces, the Kings took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Just over three minutes into the second period, the Oilers had their first power play of the game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was left all alone in the slot, beating Kuemper’s glove side to tie the game up at two.
Foegele wasn’t the only player to have a revenge goal, as Viktor Arvidsson got on the score sheet with eight minutes left in the middle frame after Leon Draisaitl intercepted a pass. He moved it to the slot, where Vasily Podkolzin touched it along to the former King, beating Kuemper glove side again to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead.
Unfortunately, the Oilers couldn’t hold this lead either, as Foegele’s line scored their third goal of the game, as Tanner Jeannot was the beneficiary of an easy tap-in thanks to a nice pass from Jordan Spence. You guessed it, Foegele picked up his third point of the game.
The Kings won it in overtime after sustained pressure, as Byfield beat Skinner glove side. It wasn’t a particularly good overtime period for the Oilers after the first minute or so, as a missed call sealed their fate.
Takeaways…
Both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl extended their point streaks to 10 games, with McDavid hitting the 50-point mark on the season. The only time he hasn’t done so in his career was back in his rookie season in 2015-16, where he scored 16 goals and 48 points, only missing out on 50 points due to the injury.
Kasperi Kapanen has been a sneakily good addition for the Oilers. Since claiming him off waivers from the St. Louis Blues, he has four goals and five points in 15 games. He had been playing alongside Draisaitl with Viktor Arvidsson out but has found a nice home alongside Adam Henrique and Connor Brown in the past few games.
It wasn’t a great game for Stuart Skinner, as he allowed four goals on 29 shots for an .862 save percentage. In the overtime period, the straps of his helmet fell off, but the refs not blowing it down. The Kings scored shortly after, and he pleaded his case after the buzzer.
The Oilers and Kings weren’t in postseason form, but the officials sure were. At the start of their second power play in the third period, Hyman was high-sticked off the face-off, before being tripped later in the period. However, the most devastating non-call was a blatant slash by Foegele on Bouchard in overtime. It really changed the complexion of the overtime period.
Speaking of the power play, it was a big reason why they won the first round against the Kings last season, nearly running at 50% in the five games they played. In this game, they went 1/2. Their penalty kill went 12/12 in that series and they were perfect again in the game, killing off the only penalty they took.
The Oilers stay in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, as they play the second of a back-to-back on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks at 2 PM MT. The Ducks played on Saturday. Calvin Pickard will likely start the game.
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