LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leon Draisaitl wasn’t fazed as his Edmonton Oilers faced a three-goal deficit at the end of the first period of Game 4 against the Los Angeles Kings.
Instead, Draisaitl and the Oilers were able to rally and post what might be their biggest win of the season.
Zach Hyman scored at 10:39 of overtime Sunday night as the Oilers rallied to beat the Kings 5-4 and even their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
“I think all playoff games are big tests, but this one was massive for our group. I thought we responded well,” said Draisaitl, who had two goals and an assist. “It is not an easy team to come back against. We came back in waves in the second period and put ourselves back into it.”
Hyman’s snap shot from the left faceoff circle was his first goal of the playoffs. It was the first time since 1997 against Dallas that the Oilers came back to win a playoff game after trailing by three or more goals.
“It was a great breakout pass,” Hyman said about his first playoff game-winning goal. “I was looking for a pass and it turned into a Grade A scoring chance. I was able to get it up and over and that was the game. It is probably the most important goal in my career.”
Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists while Evander Kane forced OT with his third-period goal. Connor McDavid had three assists.
The unsung hero though was goaltender Jack Campbell, who came in after Stuart Skinner was pulled after one period. Campbell made 27 saves against his former team and put himself in position to possibly start Game 5 on Tuesday night in Edmonton.
Campbell’s biggest save came with five minutes remaining in regulation when he stopped Viktor Arvidsson on a breakaway that could have put the Kings up by two goals.
“You want to dig deep and get the job done. Everybody in the room did that,” Campbell said. “It feels good to win tonight and move on.”
Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said he thought about pulling Skinner earlier, but waited until intermission.
“I felt that our team needed a little bit of a change in momentum. Once we did that, it kind of took off from there,” he said.
Arvidsson had a goal and an assist for the Kings, while Kevin Fiala had two assists in his first game since April 1. Gabriel Vilardi, Anze Kopitar and Matt Roy also scored for the Kings while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 35 shots. Phillip Danault also had two assists.
“We can be frustrated tonight, but tomorrow’s a new day and we’ve got to get ready for Game 5,” Kopitar said. “The first period was obviously really good, and the second period was not good, so there’s no secret to that. We’ll have to correct that going forward.”
Los Angeles dominated the first period and raced out to a 3-0 lead to chase Skinner. Edmonton then took control in the second to tie it at 3, including two power-play goals.
It was an even played third period as it went to overtime for the third time in the series.
“We gave up the lead in the second period but we lost it in overtime,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “The start for us was tremendous, it was something we haven’t had in the series. It has been a strange series, the team that gets in the lead kind of takes their foot off the gas.”
Vilardi put in a rebound at 9:25 of the first period to open the scoring. Los Angeles then scored twice in an 84-second span late in the period to extend their lead to 3-0.
Bouchard began the comeback at 4:55 of the second with a slap shot from the point on the power play. Draisaitl then evened it with a pair of goals, both wrist shots in front of the net.
Roy’s backhand in front of the net at 4:28 of the third put LA back on top 4-3 before Kane forced overtime with 3:02 remaining with a snap shot to the far side.
POWERING UP
Edmonton had two power-play goals and is 6 for 11 with the man advantage in the series.
TOUGH NIGHT FOR SKINNER
Skinner was pulled at the first intermission after he allowed three goals on 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Edmonton’s rookie goaltender gave up a pair of goals in an 84-second span late in the first period. Arvidsson went five hole with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle after getting the puck near the blue line and making a spin move to get past Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais.
Kopitar then deked Skinner and put in a power-play goal to put LA up 3-0.
AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
