On Monday night, the Edmonton Oilers played against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, for Game 1 of the first round in the Western Conference. This is the third year in a row that these two teams have met in the first round, and the Kings are seeking revenge since the Oilers have won the last two series. These teams are familiar with each other since they played each other four times in the Pacific Division during the regular season, and Edmonton expects the Kings’ 1-3-1 defensive structure. Dylan Holloway, recently called up from AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, started on the third line for Edmonton. LA’s Carl Grundstrom was activated from LTIR to start on the fourth line in Game 1.
The first period of the game started with the Oilers aggressively attacking the LA offensive zone, but they missed two open chances within the first four minutes. Around the seventh minute mark, Connor McDavid pulled off an incredible spin-o-rama move around an LA defender and passed the puck to Zach Hyman, who shot it past Cam Talbot, giving Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Only three minutes later, Adam Henrique scored a wrist-shot goal past Talbot’s short-side blocker in his first playoff game since 2018, extending the Oilers’ lead to 2-0. It was Adam Henrique’s first playoff goal in 4,333 days, which is the longest gap between playoff goals by a player in NHL history. Tensions rose quickly, and there were several scuffles after almost every whistle towards the end of the period. Talbot kept the Kings in the game despite the Oilers’ surge, and Henrique’s tripping minor near the end of the period would carry over into the second period.
During the second period of the game, the Oilers started with a penalty kill when Henrique was given a tripping minor. Stuart Skinner made an incredible save on Viktor Arvidsson’s breakaway after a turnover. After this save, Connor McDavid fed Zach Hyman again in front of the net, where he scored his second goal of the game, extending the lead to 3-0. The Kings’ situation worsened when Phillip Danault committed an undisciplined penalty, putting them on the penalty kill. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took advantage of this situation and scored a powerplay goal assisted by McDrai to make it 4-0. The Kings managed to reduce the gap to three goals when Trevor Moore screened Skinner and Mikey Anderson’s shot found the back of the net. However, a no-goal call by Toronto due to Trevor Lewis batting the puck into the net with his glove was made, which was a momentum killer for the Kings. Later, Adrian Kempe scored a lucky goal that deflected off Bouchard’s skate on a broken play to trim the deficit to 4-2. In the final minute of the period, Trevor Moore took out the big defenseman Vincent Desharnais, resulting in a powerplay for Edmonton that would carry over into the third period.
At the beginning of the third period, Leon Draisaitl scored a slap shot from his office on the powerplay, and the Oilers regained a three-goal lead. Later on, Zach Hyman scored a powerplay goal in the crease assisted by Connor McDavid, earning his first career playoff hat trick and increasing the lead to 6-2. Later, the Kings scored two goals to trim the deficit to 6-4, but Warren Foegele finished off the game with an empty-net goal, giving Edmonton a 7-4 win. Throughout the game, the Kings were unable to set up their 1-3-1 structure and gave Edmonton too many powerplays, on which the Oilers capitalized by scoring three goals out of four. Connor McDavid made history by scoring five assists in a playoff game, becoming the first player to do so since 1988. Bouchard was in a close second with four assists on the night as well. The second game of the first round between Edmonton and LA will take place on Wednesday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, and will start at 8:00 PM MTN on TBS/SportsNet.
Three Stars of the Game:
1) Connor Mcdavid- 5 assists
2) Zach Hyman- 3 goals, 1 assist
3) Evan Bouchard- 4 assists
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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