Tag: Stanley Cup Playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jesper Fast deflected in a shot by Jesperi Kotkaniemi on a power play at 7:09 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a series-ending 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

Fast’s deflection while shielding Akira Schmid set off a celebration for the Hurricanes, who never led until the final play and twice trailed by a goal before winning the best-of-seven series 4-1 to reach the Eastern Conference final.

In the first tight game of the second-round matchup, Fast made amends for when he popped a puck over the goal in front of an open net in the first period. It also came on the power play after New Jersey’s Jonas Siegenthaler was sent to the box for a delay-of-game penalty for sending a puck out of play from his own zone.

“I know that he was shaking his head in the first period,” Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said, “but to get it in the end is awesome for him.”

Slavin and Brent Burns also scored for Carolina, and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.

Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier scored for New Jersey. Schmid stopped 36 shots.

This marks Carolina’s first trip to the Eastern Conference final since 2019. The Hurricanes will face the winner of the Florida-Toronto series, with the Panthers leading that one 3-1.

The first four games of the series had been filled by lopsided results, with each decided by at least four goals and a starting goaltender chased early. Carolina won the first two games at home by an 11-2 margin, then shook off a Game 3 loss by blowing things open in the second period for a 6-1 road win Tuesday in Game 4.

The Hurricanes had been in this position in Round 1, with a chance to close out the New York Islanders on home ice in Game 5. They lost that one and instead had to clinch the series with an overtime road win in Game 6.

This time, they needed a dramatic finish to avoid a repeat.

The Devils’ exit comes in a season where a young group arrived to postseason contention earlier than expected.

New Jersey finished one point behind the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division for the league’s third-best point total (112) and the franchise’s first playoff appearance in five years, then pushed past the rival New York Rangers in seven games despite falling behind 0-2 for its first playoff series win since 2012.

“We knew we had to play better and I think the whole team bought in,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “The effort was there and we had our chances.”

MISSED CHANCES

Both teams missed on apparent easy putaways that loomed large as the game pushed into OT.

The Hurricanes’ early chances included Seth Jarvis’ deflection banging off the right post roughly 6 minutes in. Then came Paul Stastny finding Fast at the top of the crease — only to see Fast lift the puck over the exposed net in a play that left him shaking his head in exasperation once back on the bench.

The Devils’ frustrating moment came in a wild second-period sequence.

Meier stole possession behind the Carolina net and started a pass-happy sequence that saw the puck go from Michael McLeod to Phil Hughes just outside the crease, and then to Meier on the opposite side for a putaway chance — only to see Meier send the puck harmlessly through and out of the crease.

NOTEWORTHY

McLeod had a huge defensive play with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the third, getting his stick in to disrupt Fast’s attempt on an empty goal after Schmid had lost the puck behind the net. … Carolina finished with a 39-29 shot advantage. … The Devils were 1 for 24 on the power play this season against the Hurricanes before Meier’s second-period goal. … Carolina’s Jordan Martinook assisted Slavin’s second-period goal, pushing him to 10 points in the series after a scoreless first round. … Former North Carolina State and current Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines sounded the pregame storm-warning siren for the Hurricanes to take the ice.

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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Jonathan Marchessault scored his first two goals of the playoffs, Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 on Monday night for a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Zach Whitecloud and Chandler Stephenson also scored for Vegas. Laurent Brossoit left in pain at 11:44 of the first period after turning away three of four shots. He appeared to injure his left leg sliding across the crease. Adin Hill came on and stopped all 25 shots he saw in relief.

Warren Foegele scored the first goal of the game for Edmonton before the Golden Knights countered with five. Stuart Skinner was pulled in the second period after giving up four goals on 23 shots. Jack Campbell replaced him and made nine saves.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is here Wednesday night, followed by Game 5 on Friday night at Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights took the series opener 6-4 before falling 5-1 at home.

Skinner was removed from Game 4 of Edmonton’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings and the Oilers overcame a three-goal deficit to win in overtime with Campbell in net, but there was no similar comeback this time.

Vegas vowed to spend more time playing even-strength, and not give Edmonton’s vaunted power play running at 56 per cent the minutes it had in Game 2. The Oilers went 0-for-2 with a man advantage in the game, while Vegas was 0 for 4.

Edmonton center Leon Draisaitl, who came in with 13 goals and four assists in eight playoff games coming in, was held off the scoresheet for the first time Oilers captain Connor McDavid also didn’t record a point for the first time since the series opener against L.A.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy wanted more puck possession than his team had in Game 2, and the Golden Knights obliged.

They led 2-1 and outshot the Oilers 15-7 after 20 minutes, and then scored three more goals in the second period.

Vegas took a 3-1 lead at 7:25 when Whitecloud skated to the faceoff circle to Skinner’s left and wired a shot over the Edmonton goalie’s glove.

Eichel beat Skinner far side with a wrist shot at 12:03, after Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard fell in the neutral zone to give Eichel a lane. That gave the Golden Knights a three-goal lead and ended Skinner’s night.

The Oilers got a goal overturned for goaltender interference, but Vegas struck again within 20 seconds of that challenge when Nicolas Roy charged in from the wing and Stephenson converted the rebound at 17:13.

Edmonton scored off the rush 2:45 into the game when Foegele redirected Derek Ryan’s pass upstairs on Brossoit.

Eichel and Marchessault combined at 4:44 to even the score 1-1. Eichel gloved a pop fly and dropped the puck beside the crease. In the ensuing flurry, Marchessault wrapped the puck around Skinner’s left pad.

Marchessault scored again with 51 seconds left to put Vegas ahead for good. Eichel carried the puck to the side of the crease and backhanded a pass to the slot for Marchessault to bury.

Oilers forward Zach Hyman was played just a few shifts after his leg collided with Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague’s at 6:36.

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When the Vegas Golden Knights went on the road to face the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the NHL playoffs, they got a chilly welcome — and that was inside.

“They had no hot water at the Fairmont Hotel last week in Winnipeg, which I really didn’t like at all,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Great hotel, by the way: great service, nice people, just no damn hot water.”

And no home cooking. Vegas beat the Jets twice on the road and won the series in five games.

The Golden Knights are not alone in what Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper declared “the year of the road team.” Visiting teams are off to the best start in league history with 32 wins through 54 games; the .611 winning percentage is by far the highest dating to 2011, not counting 2020 when games were played at neutral sites with no fans.

Coaches point to better preparation and more roster depth as well as parity leaguewide that has evened out the differences among teams playing for the Stanley Cup. Matchups that used to be paramount don’t matter as much now that there’s so much offensive talent across lineups. There is less of a drop-off from the stars on the first line to depth contributors on the fourth.

“It may have to do with the structure of the teams now and how much that’s changed over the years,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s really high-end, skilled guys. Like our third line has three guys who can make plays. They’re skilled guys. They’re not even necessarily hitters, and that’s kind of true around the league.”

Maurice, Cassidy, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour and noted that every rink is now the same size; no more special quirks like the tight corners in Boston Garden designed for the Bruins to be big and tough. It wasn’t until 1996, when the Sabres moved out of “The Aud” in Buffalo, that all NHL arenas were a uniform 200-by-85 feet.

“When you think back to playoff series, you think of the old Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium,” Cassidy said. “They were much more intimidating, smaller. You could build your roster a little around them, like baseball parks. Now it’s pretty much 200 by 85. That has something to do with it.”

Brind’Amour said home ice has “become less of an advantage.” No offense to home fans, he said, who give the Hurricanes energy, but the longtime player-turned-coach said, “I just don’t know how much it hurts the other team.”

Since 2011, only once have road teams won more than home teams, when they went 44-40 (.524) in 2018. Add up all the playoffs since 2011 and road teams have gone 434-531 (.450).

They’re 32-22 this year through Wednesday’s games.

“It is a leaguewide trend, but it doesn’t make you feel any better about it,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said after the Maple Leafs lost at home to Florida in Game 1 of their second-round series. “No matter where we’re playing, you should be able to play the same.”

That gets to the root of the road-warrior mentality, too. Not only are players often more free from distraction away from home but they tend to streamline their approach.

“Sometimes on the road, you have a different mindset of playing simple,” Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said.

A rule change passed several years ago also takes a tactical advantage away. On faceoffs before 2015, the visiting player had to put his stick down first, giving his home rival a positioning edge that can make a difference. Now that’s only a factor at center ice because everywhere else the player closest to his own goal must put his stick down first.

Home teams still get the last line change, which allows coaches to better dictate matchups. But Maurice showed in Florida’s Game 1 win at Toronto how little he cared about getting certain players out against the Leafs’ top scorers — something former player Anson Carter sees as an evolution of talent.

“Back in the day, when I played, you couldn’t put your third or fourth line out against a first line — they’d get eaten alive,” said Carter, now a Turner Sports analyst. “Now with teams really going four lines deep or at least two centermen deep that are equally effective in the faceoff circle and at least two defensive pairs, you don’t have to worry about your top pair being on the bench or your top center being on the bench while the other team just takes advantage in the offensive zone.”

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AP Sports Writers Mark Anderson in Las Vegas and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Canadian Press contributed.

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LOS ANGELES — The shortest player on the Edmonton Oilers roster had their biggest goal Saturday night.

Kailer Yamamoto scored with 3:02 remaining for his first point of the series as the Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In a series dominated by superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, it was the Oilers’ fourth line that played a pivotal role. Besides Yamamoto, Klim Kostin had two goals and an assist.

“It didn’t go in the net early in the series but he stuck with it. He stuck with it and eventually ended up scoring the series winner,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said.

Yamamoto — who lived in Los Angeles for three years and played youth hockey for the Jr. Kings — got possession of the puck deep in the offensive zone, skated around and then sent a wrist shot through traffic and past the right shoulder and stick of Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

“Being in this position it’s pretty crazy. Playing against them last year you get your hopes up,” Yamamoto said about scoring a pivotal goal against the Kings. “To be able to beat them is an amazing feeling.”

McDavid and Draisaitl also scored while Stuart Skinner stopped 40 shots as the Oilers knocked the Kings out of the postseason for the second straight season.

Next up for Edmonton is the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round. The Oilers won three of the four regular-season meetings, but Vegas won the Pacific Division by two points on the way to the top seed in the Western Conference.

The series will start in Las Vegas but the NHL has not announced when Game 1 will be played.

Yamamoto got the game-winner after the Kings tied it 7:46 into the third period on a fluke goal. Phillip Danault took advantage of Skinner breaking his stick and scored short-handed.

“It’s good that we’ve been in that situation before where you feel like you’re doing a lot of good things and the game is tied. You didn’t really do anything wrong, but a couple tough breaks,” McDavid said. “Coming down the stretch Skinner gave us a chance to win and obviously, the little guy (Yamamoto) steps up over here.”

Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists for Los Angeles, and Adrian Kempe and Sean Durzi also scored. The Kings have been eliminated in their last four first-round series.

Viktor Arvidsson, who was moved up to the top line for this game, had two assists. Korpisalo made 21 saves.

“We gave up too many chances. I mean, Korpi had to make a lot of big saves, in the first especially,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “The playoffs isn’t always about who dominates the game. It’s about who has the hotter goalie a lot of times and whoever gets the bounces. And, unfortunately, we didn’t get them tonight.”

Los Angeles hasn’t won a playoff series since it defeated the New York Rangers in six games in 2014 to capture its second Stanley Cup title in three seasons.

“When you get two power-play goals and a short-handed goal against a team like that you should probably come away with a win. And we didn’t,” coach Todd McLellan said.

RALLYING BACK

The Kings trailed 3-1 in the second period before tying it on a pair of power-play goals 100 seconds apart.

Kempe went top shelf from the right faceoff circle at 6:36 for his team-leading fifth goal of the playoffs. Fiala evened it at 8:16 when his shot from the back of the left faceoff circle found its way through traffic.

ANOTHER QUICK START

McDavid redirected Bouchard’s shot 85 seconds into the game to stake Edmonton to an early lead. It was the fourth time in the last 17 playoff games that the Oilers scored in first two minutes.

RECORD BOOK

Evan Bouchard tied an NHL record for most power-play points by a defenseman in a playoff series when he picked up an assist on Draisaitl’s goal. It was Bouchard’s sixth assist and eighth point with the man advantage, joining the New York Islanders’ Denis Potvin (who did it twice), Washington’s John Carlson and Detroit’s Paul Coffey.

THE BIG THREE

The Oilers became the third team in the last 25 years to have three 10-point scorers in a single series, joining the Winnipeg Jets (2018 second round) and Ottawa Senators (2006 Eastern Conference quarterfinals).

Draisaitl had 11 points (seven goals, four assists) while McDavid (three goals, seven assists) and Bouchard (two goals, eight assists) had 10 apiece.

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NEW YORK — Pushed to the brink of elimination, the New York Rangers found their offensive touch.

Chris Kreider had another power-play goal and two assists as the Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Saturday night to force a deciding Game 7 in their first-round series.

Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko each had a goal and an assist for New York, which totaled just two goals while losing the previous three games. Barclay Goodrow and Braden Schneider also scored, and Adam Fox added two assists. Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 shots.

“We came here to win one game, I think you heard everyone talk about that,” Zibanejad said. “Wins are all that matter and we got the win we needed and wanted tonight. Now we just keep going.”

Looking to jump-start the lagging offense, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant shuffled his lines, moving Tarasenko up to the top line with Kreider and Zibanejad. It paid off as the trio combined for three goals and four assists.

“The team just played well as a whole,” Kreider said. “We played together, did a lot of things we talked about and executed well.”

Curtis Lazar and Dawson Mercer scored for New Jersey. Akira Schmid, who had stopped 80 of 82 shots over the previous three games, was pulled after giving up five goals on 29 shots.

“We did a lot of good stuff tonight,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Generated a lot of good opportunities. I thought penalties hurt us.”

Game 7 is Monday night at New Jersey.

“We worked all year long to have home-ice advantage for Game 7,” Ruff said. “What a game to be in. … I know this team will give me everything they’ve got.”

Trailing 3-1, the Devils had 14 consecutive shots — including seven that were blocked — in the third period. But the Rangers closed it out after that stretch.

New York opened a 4-1 lead on Goodrow’s first goal since March 12. Jimmy Vesey fired a shot off Schmid’s pad and glove and Goodrow knocked the puck out of the air and in at 7:23 of the third period.

Schneider then made it 5-1 when he got a pass from Niko Mikkola and fired a shot past Schmid with 7:32 left for his first career playoff goal.

“They battled hard, competed hard,” Gallant said. “When your backs are against the wall, you have to play your best game. I thought we did.”

With the Devils on a power play, they pulled goalie Vitek Vanecek with about 5 1/2 minutes left for a 6-on-4 advantage and Mercer beat Shesterkin.

The Devils pulled Vanecek again for an extra skater but Shesterkin stopped a tip by Nathan Bastian with 2:22 left, and then had a stellar save on Nico Hischier’s point-blank attempt on the follow, drawing chants of “I-gor! I-gor!” from the Madison Square Garden crowd.

The Devils had several good short-handed chances early in the second but Shesterkin stopped Mercer’s shot from the right side and Erik Haula’s backhand attempt on the rebound to keep the score tied 1-1.

Zibanejad then put the Rangers in front when he scored from the slot off a pass by Kreider from behind the goal line with 9:50 left in the second. It gave the Rangers their first lead since the second period of Game 3.

Tarasenko got a pass from Kreider and fired a shot into the top right corner from between the circles with 1:35 remaining in the middle period. It was his third goal of the series.

The Rangers managed just three shots on goal on their first power play about five minutes into the game to fall to 0 for 14 dating back to the third period of Game 2 after scoring four times on their first seven opportunities.

Lazar scored for the Devils with 8:11 left in the first. He knocked in the rebound of Kevin Bahl’s shot for his first goal of the series.

The Rangers tied it on their second power play when Zibanejad’s shot from the left point deflected off Kreider and in with 25 seconds left in the opening period. It was Kreider’s sixth goal of the series and fifth on the power play, making him the first Rangers player to have five in a series since Adam Graves in the 1996 conference finals.

“They got puck luck on that goal,” Ruff said. “We did a good job killing penalties, so you deal with that and move on.”

SELECT COMPANY

Kreider got his 16th goal when facing elimination, tying Mark Messier for the most in NHL history. … Kreider is one power-play goal away from tying the NHL record for a series set by Chris Kontos in 1999.

NEW LINES

The Rangers’ other shuffled lines had Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko moved up to the second line with Artemi Panarin. Vincent Trocheck and Patrick Kane were dropped to the third line with Alexis Lafreniere. Goodrow, Jimmy Vesey, and Tyler Motte remained unchanged on the fourth line.

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Follow Vin Cherwoo at http://www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP

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SUNRISE, Fla. — The team that posted the best regular-season record in NHL history, facing a team that needed to fight and claw all the way to the end just to get into the playoffs.

On paper, it was a mismatch.

On the ice, it’s going to Game 7.

The wild-card Florida Panthers — by prevailing in an absolutely bonkers third period — fended off elimination for the second time and sent the mighty Boston Bruins into a winner-take-all game. Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, Eetu Luostarinen put Florida ahead to stay with 5:38 left and the Panthers won 7-5 on Friday night.

“Everyone’s rolling. Everyone’s playing. Everyone’s doing the right things,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “It’s fun to be a part of this, for sure.”

The real fun comes Sunday: Game 7 in Boston.

“I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

Barkov, Brandon Montour, Zac Dalpe and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Reinhart closed it out with an empty-netter with 28 seconds left — the seventh and final goal of the third period, four of those scores by Florida.

Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak each scored twice for Boston, which got four assists from Brad Marchand and 26 saves from Linus Ullmark. Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Bruins.

Boston finished 42 points ahead of Florida in the standings this season, the biggest gap between playoff opponents in nearly 30 years. The Bruins had the best regular-season record in NHL history, and they had one-goal leads on two separate occasions in the third period — and couldn’t hold either one of them.

Not even three power-play goals and one short-handed tally was enough to give Boston a win, either.

“We worked all year to get home-ice advantage,” DeBrusk said. “And it comes down to a Game 7 where we’re up for elimination now.”

The game started along the exact sequence that Game 5 in Boston did on Wednesday night: Florida took a 1-0 lead, Boston tied it, Florida took a 2-1 lead, Boston tied it, Florida took a 3-2 lead, Boston tied it.

Evidently, that’s when the teams decided a repeat performance was boring.

They combined for four goals in a span of 6:56 — this time, with the Panthers answering the Bruins.

“They’re a determined group,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of Florida.

Boston went up 4-3 on a power-play score from Pastrnak, Dalpe tied it for Florida, DeBrusk scored short-handed for a 5-4 lead, and Tkachuk got his second of the night 27 seconds later to tie it again.

And less than 4 minutes later, Luostarinen made it 6-5 — the Panthers back on top with 5:38 left, a sellout crowd in Sunrise waiving white towels in unison. Boston pulled Ullmark twice with hopes of netting the equalizer, getting good looks at it in the final minute.

But Bobrovsky and Florida’s defense held firm, and Reinhart finished it off. To Sunday they go, Florida on the brink of a surprise and Boston trying to avoid a collapse.

“We know that there’s going to be a war out there,” Ullmark said. “That’s how it is in the first round. It’s the toughest one to get by.”

AROUND THE RINK

It was captain Patrice Bergeron’s 1,463rd game with the Bruins, including the playoffs. That’s one behind New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur for 13th-most with one franchise. … Florida forward Ryan Lomberg (upper body) missed his second consecutive game. … Bruins C David Krejci (37) and D Connor Clifton (28) had birthdays on Friday. Boston was 1-1 in Krejci’s previous birthday games, beating Tampa Bay in 2018 and losing to Ottawa in 2013. The Bruins shut out Buffalo on Clifton’s birthday last year.

BIG CALL

The biggest play of the night might have been made by someone on the Panthers’ staff armed with an iPad.

The Bruins appeared to take a 3-2 lead with 11:32 left in the second period on a goal by Brandon Carlo — except the play should have been whistled dead 10 seconds earlier. But Florida took a quick look and challenged the goal by claiming DeBrusk had been guilty of a hand pass to Bergeron in the corner to Bobrovsky’s left earlier in the play.

Officials eventually agreed, taking the goal off the board. Barkov scored for a 3-2 Florida lead about two minutes later. Maurice said John Congemi — one of the team’s video coaches — was the one that noticed the infraction in time.

RARE NUMBERS

It was the fifth time in Bruins’ history that they had at least three power-play goals and one short-handed score in a playoff game. Of the earlier four, two came in 1976, one in 1970 and the other in 1958.

UP NEXT

Game 7 is Sunday in Boston.

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Nick Bjugstad scored twice as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 6-3 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.

The Oilers are a win away from advancing to the second round. Game 6 is Saturday in Los Angeles. Game 7, if necessary, would be Monday in Edmonton.

Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Brett Kulak also scored for Edmonton. Connor McDavid and defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse had two assists apiece.

Hyman’s goal came when he was hit in the face on a shot by Evan Bouchard and the puck deflected past the Kings’ Pheonix Copley for the Oilers’ fifth goal of the game. Hyman stayed in the game.

Stuart Skinner was back in the net for Edmonton’s after he was swapped out for Jack Campbell one period into the Oilers’ Game 4 overtime win Sunday. The 24-year-old Skinner made 25 saves.

“It feels nice being able to go back in, kind of try to redeem myself,” Skinner said. “But I still think I have a lot to give the team here.”

Kings goalie Joonas Korpisalo was pulled for Copley in the second period after Edmonton’s fourth goal. Korpisalo stopped 15 of 19 shots before giving way to Copley, who had six saves.

Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo scored for the Kings.

“We have to try and stay out of the box as much as we can,” Kempe said. “It’s a big factor, and they got two tonight on the power play. We’ve got to clean up some stuff. Our play in our own zone was not really good from the start.”

When the clubs clashed in the first round last year, the Kings claimed Game 5 to take the series lead to Los Angeles, where the Oilers won consecutive games. Edmonton now has the chance in this series to close it out on the road.

The Oilers killed off their one penalty and scored on two of three power-play chances Tuesday. Edmonton is 8 for 14 with a man-advantage in the series.

Bjugstad scored his second of the game at 4:26 of the third period. His floating backhand toward the net went off the skate of Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson and across the goal line.

Byfield scored the Kings’ third goal at 6:33, scoring high over Skinner from close range.

Game 4 overtime hero Hyman scored Edmonton’s fifth goal with his face. at 15:47 of the second period, when just 10 seconds remained in Kevin Fiala’s tripping penalty.

Bjugstad tipped in Cody Ceci’s shot from the blue line at 11:49 for a 4-2 lead.

“The fourth one really hurt us,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “From there, there was no catching up. That’s not close to good enough. That doesn’t get you a win in game two of the regular season.”

As they did in the first two games of this series at Rogers Place, the Oilers took an early 2-0 lead and were ahead 3-2 after the opening period.

Kempe chipped the puck over Skinner at 17:35 to pull the the Kings within a goal.

Ryan McLeod whipped the puck cross-ice in front of Korpisalo as Kulak got by Byfield and beat Korpisalo at 14:12.

A minute earlier, Iafallo scored L.A.‘s second of the game, chopping a rebound off a Kempe spin-around attempt past Skinner.

Draisaitl made it 2-0 for the Oilers at 10:40 on McDavid’s feed from behind the goal line.

Draisaitl was going down as he was shoved by Byfield, but got a shot away to beat Korpisalo for his NHL-leading sixth playoff goal.

With Carl Grundstrom in the box for hooking McDavid, Kane scored off the far post at 8:08, with just four seconds left in the penalty.

The Kings were without forward Blake Lizotte (lower-body) for a third straight game. Edmonton was without forward Mattias Janmark a fourth game after he blocked a shot with his foot in Game 1.

NOTES

The Oilers’ Bouchard extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists). It is the longest point streak in the playoffs for an Edmonton blue-liner since Charlie Huddy’s two goals and three assists in four games in 1988. … The Kings’ power play is 5 for 18 in the series.

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LOS ANGELES — Trevor Moore scored a power-play goal at 3:24 of overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for high sticking at 1:44, Moore, who grew up in nearby Thousand Oaks, California, took Gabriel Villardi’s pass from behind the net and put it between the legs of Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner to give the Kings their second OT victory of the series.

The Kings have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 on Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 38 shots. The Kings had a pair of power-play goals and are 4 for 15 in the series.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid had the second multi-goal playoff game of his career. Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists, and Skinner made 28 saves.

Iafallo scored his second goal of the series with 33 seconds left in the first period when he knocked in a rebound after Skinner saved Matt Roy’s shot from the point.

It was Los Angeles’ third goal in the final minute of a regulation period during the series.

McDavid then broke out of his scoring slump with a pair of power-play goals in a 100-second span on wrist shots from the left faceoff circle.

The Oilers captain tied it at 1 with a shot that went over Korpisalo’s glove at 7:42.

McDavid then scored another one from the left faceoff circle with the man advantage, with a wrist shot to the short side at 9:22.

Edmonton’s advantage lasted only 18 seconds. The Kings went on the power play when Draisaitl was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after McDavid’s second goal. Los Angeles quickly converted when Kempe put in a one-timer off the boards after Viktor Arvidsson’s entry pass into the Edmonton zone.

The Oilers, who led the league with a 32.4% conversion rate on the power play during the regular season, are 4 for 8 with the man advantage in the series.

SCARY MOMENT

Arvidsson went airborne for a couple seconds and hit the ice hard after being tripped up by Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse at 5:52 of the first period.

The Kings’ right wing was down for a couple minutes before being helped off the ice. He was in the locker room for a couple minutes before returning to the game.

Nurse was originally called for a five-minute major before it was reviewed and downgraded to a minor. It was a four-on-four situation because Arvidsson was called for playing with a broken stick before his incident with Nurse.

ROAD WARRIOR

Leon Draisaitl became the fourth player in NHL history to have 30 road points in 20 or fewer playoff games when he had the second assist on McDavid’s second goal. Draisaitl has 10 goals and 20 assists in the postseason, including six points through three games of this series (three goals, three assists).

Wayne Gretzky (13 games), Mario Lemieux (16) and Peter Stastny (19) reached 30 points on the road in fewer games.

NOTES: Los Angeles forward Blake Lizotte did not play due to a lower-body injury. Zack MacEwen took his place on the fourth line.

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NEWARK, N.J. — The New York Rangers and Chris Kreider certainly picked the right time to get their power play in high gear.

Kreider scored two more power-play goals in a three-goal second period and the Rangers stunned the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Thursday night to a take a 2-0 lead on the road in their first-round playoff series.

The series has revolved around the power play. The Rangers are 4 of 10 on their chances with the extra skater, with Kreider tipping in all four goals. The Devils are 1 for 8, so they are not scoring — and are giving up goals when defending.

“He’s one of the best, not only in the league, just that I have ever seen,” said Patrick Kane, who had a goal and the two primary assists on Kreider’s goals. “He’s able to get his stick on everything. In practice, we do a lot of drills where shots are coming from the point and he just tips everything.”

And they go in the net.

Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said while it might look as though the Devils are leaving Kreider alone in front of the net, New York has Kane, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin and Kreider on the ice for their power plays.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily leaving him alone. I mean, it’s a 5-on-4,” Trocheck said. “ You got Panarin, Kane, Mika, Fox, Kreider out there. You’re going to take away four of them, but you don’t want to leave any of them open.”

Vladimir Tarasenko and Kaapo Kakko also scored and Fox added two more assists to give him six in two games. Igor Shesterkin had a relatively easy night, making 21 saves.

“Their power play has been dangerous,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “That has been the biggest difference”

Erik Haula scored for New Jersey, which has been outscored 10-2 after going 3-0-1 in the regular season against New York. Vitek Vanecek finished with 26 saves in a game that got one-sided and chippy late.

Referee Wes McCauley and Frederick L’Ecuyer sent five players from each team to the locker room with 6:40 left.

The best-of-seven series shifts across the Hudson River to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

“No one’s over the moon. There’s a long way to go,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said.

Haula put New Jersey on the board first with a rebound in the crease in the waning seconds of a power play.

Tarasenko got the Rangers going 5:53 into the second period, taking a pass from Fox and beating Vanecek with a shot from the top of the circles.

A little more than four minutes later, Kreider tipped a slap shot from Kane past the Devils goalie. He stretched the lead to 3-1, using great hand-eye coordination to pop a soft pass by Kane over Vanecek’s shoulder into the net.

Kane scored on a breakaway at 6:34 of the third period after sustained Devils pressure. Kakko scored in close shortly after a New Jersey penalty ended.

After setting franchise record for wins (52) and points (112) in one of the biggest turnaround seasons in league history, the Devils are suddenly faced with seeing their season in jeopardy.

“This is what we worked for all year,” forward Timo Meier said. “We’re staying positive, we’re going to move on and obviously look and correct some things. But now it’s go time and go win the next game.”

Devils young superstar Jack Hughes acknowledged it’s frustrating not being able to play as well as they did in the regular season.

“They’re a good team, so we’re just not playing to our standard,” he said, “and it’s biting us in the (butt) right now.”

NOTES: With the Rangers cruising late, fourth-line center Michael McLeod and New York defenseman Braden Schneider had a big fight with both landing haymakers. … New York’s two wins by four goals each marks the first time they have done that in the opening two games of a series since 1994, the year they won the Stanley Cup. … The Rangers didn’t make any lineup changes. … The Devils benched D Jonas Siegenthaler and F Jesper Boqvist and dressed veteran D Brendan Smith and F Yegor Sharangovich. Coach Lindy Ruff also changed some of his lines, with the most notable being moving Meier to the top line with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer.

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Klim Kostin broke a tie at 2:20 of the third period and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to tie the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists to help Edmonton rebound from a 4-3 overtime loss in the opener. Derek Ryan and Evander Kane — into an empty net — also scored for the Oilers.

“Both games, I thought we controlled the bulk of the play,” said Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft “In both games, we had a couple of minutes we’d like to have back.”

NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid had an assist and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves in his first NHL playoff victory.

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33 shots for Los Angeles. Gabriel Vilardi and Philip Danault scored for the Kings. Vilardi returned after missing the last nine games of the regular season and first game of the series because of a lower-body injury.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

The Kings have been outplayed for significant stretches of both games, and have been awful in first periods. On Wednesday, they managed just three shots on goal in the opening frame.

“The first 20 (minutes), not good. The next 40 was pretty good,” said Danault. “Actually, we played pretty good hockey and it seemed like the play was more slowed down. It was a good overall 40 minutes, but we’ve got to play 60.”

On the go-ahead goal, Draisaitl’s neutral-zone check on Arthur Kaliyev along the boards forced a turnover for Kostin to skate the puck into the zone and wire a shot to the far side on Korpisalo.

Edmonton took a 2-0 lead in first period and Los Angeles struck twice in the second.

“We came out flat in the first period, but we made a game of it,” said Vilardi. “Obviously, Korpi was a big factor in that. But we’ve got to put together a solid 60 minutes. We haven’t played great for the majority of the game.”

The focus for the Kings is to be good right from Game 3’s opening faceoff. They can’t afford to fall behind 2-0 again. They can’t just hope for their netminder to hold them in the game.

“We need a better start, but the character was there,” said Danault. “We came back again. We proved we can do that. Now, we have to go the other way.

“We can do better than that. We can take the lead, maybe. We don’t always have to catch somebody.”

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl scored three goals to reach 50 for the season, Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-0 on Saturday night to clinch their fourth straight playoff berth.

Zach Hyman also had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse also scored, and Mattias Ekholm had two assists to help Edmonton win its fourth straight and earn at least a point for the 10th straight game (9-0-1).

“It was a good night. There were lots of great plays by the guys around me, looking for me. I am proud and very fortunate to have done it,” said Draisaitl, who scored his third goal short-handed to become just the 12th player in NHL history to have three seasons with 50 goals and 50 assists.

“I was probably being a little too selfish in the third, I was shooting it from everywhere. I think that is all right. Usually, I tend to overpass it so for once in my life it is OK. There were some great plays. I didn’t think it was going to happen on the kill, but I will take it.”

Jack Campbell stopped 36 shots for his 10th career shutout — first since last April 26 against Detroit.

“I thought that Soup (Campbell) made some really big saves, especially early in the first,” McDavid said. “I thought we were a little bit sloppy at the beginning of the game, but he was solid and gave us a chance to get our feet under us.

“I am really, really happy for him. Obviously it has been an up-and-down year for him and he has battled so hard, so to be rewarded, the boys love that.”

The Oilers, who beat Los Angeles 2-0 on Thursday night, got their second straight shutout after not having one for the first 75 games of the season.

John Gibson was pulled in the third period after giving up five goals on 36 shots for Anaheim, which has lost seven straight and nine of 10 (1-8-1). Lukas Dostal came on and finished with eight saves.

“Edmonton has a top-notch explosive team,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “I thought we had a really good first period, maybe one of our best periods of the year. But I think the discrepancy is finish on the two teams, they’re loaded with guys that can finish and we’re challenged with it.

“I think the differential of shots was four, they had 36 we had 32, we just couldn’t get anything past their goaltender tonight.”

Ryan Strome had Campbell cleanly beat 3 1/2 minutes in, but hit the post. With eight minutes left Frank Vatrano had a couple of opportunities in tight, but was stoned by the Oilers’ goalie.

Hyman deflected Mattias Ekholm’s long shot off Gibson and in with 2:04 left in the first to get the Oilers on the scoreboard. It was his 34th of the season.

Draisaitl got a pass from Evander Kane, skated in and lifted a backhander into the top right corner to double Edmonton’s lead at 2:03 of the second.

Nurse fired a shot from the slot through Gibson’s five-hole and in for his 11th at 5:05 to make it 3-0.

After McDavid’s point shot hit Hyman, standing on the left doorstep, the puck landed on the right side and Draisaitl quickly knocked it in for a power-play goal with 8:16 left in the middle period.

McDavid got his league-leading 62nd to make it 5-0 at 4:25 of the third, and Draisaitl completed his second hat trick of the season and seventh of his career with about five minutes remaining.

Draisaitl reached the 50-goal mark for the third time in his career.

“This one is very exciting to me because it was at home and the other two were on the road,” Draisaitl said. “It was great to do it in front of our home fans.”

SPECIAL TEAMMATES

Draisaitl also combined with McDavid to be the first teammates to hit 50 goals in the same season since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did it for Pittsburgh in 1995-1996.

UP NEXT

Ducks: At Calgary on Sunday night to finish a three-game trip.

Oilers: At Los Angeles on Tuesday night to open a four-game trip.

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