R1, G3 FINAL – Kings 1, Oilers 6 – Roy, Fiala, Hiller

The LA Kings dropped Game 3 by a 6-1 final on Friday evening at Crypto.com Arena, falling to a 2-1 series deficit against the Edmonton Oilers.

Just shy of seven minutes into the game, Edmonton opened the scoring as forward Zach Hyman scored his series-leading fifth goal. Off a turnover deep in the Kings defensive zone, defenseman Mattias Ekholm found Hyman down low and although his first attempt was denied by goaltender Cam Talbot, Hyman stuck with the play to bury the rebound for an early 1-0 advantage.

Inside five minutes to play in the first period, the Oilers doubled their advantage. Forward Evander Kane worked his way down the left wing and as he appeared to be driving around the net, he dropped the puck back across his body to forward Leon Draisaitl, who slotted it past Talbot from a sharp angle for the 2-0 advantage.

The Oilers added a power-play goal late in the first period to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. McDavid collected the puck from defenseman Evan Bouchard down in the right-hand circle and took it to the net. His first two efforts were kept out, but he gathered the rebound, pulled it to an open space and buried it for his first goal of the series and a three-goal advantage.

Early in the second period, the Kings got on the board via defenseman Drew Doughty. After a better start to the middle frame, forward Quinton Byfield found a bit of space down the left wing, delayed for help and found Doughty crashing the net at the back post, where the veteran blueliner finished into the gaping net for his second goal in as many games, pulling the Kings to within 3-1.

Edmonton answered back, however, to restore its three-goal advantage heading into the second intermission. Off a productive shift in the offensive zone, forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins worked the puck back to defenseman Cody Ceci at the right point. Ceci’s shot was deflected by Kane on the way through and in for Kane’s first goal of the series, as the Oilers pulled ahead 4-1.

The third period saw the visitors score two additional goals, bringing us to the final score of 6-1.

Both goals came on the power play for Edmonton, with Hyman getting his team’s fifth of the evening as the Oilers skated on a 5-on-3 advantage. McDavid worked his way from low to high and fired a puck towards the net, with Hyman redirecting it in for his second of the night. Draisaitl capped off the scoring with his second of the game, a one-timer from the right-hand circle, for the 6-1 final.

Hear from forward Kevin Fiala, defenseman Matt Roy and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Matt Roy

Matt Roy talks about the loss🎤@LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/JAWKZXbLj9

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 27, 2024

Kevin Fiala
On how the team will try and move past a game like this
Learn, forget, both. I mean it’s one game. Obviously we wanted this one, they wanted it, so you just have to take a look at it as it’s one game. Now, we just have to come back next game and make it 2-2.

On what he felt was missing tonight at the start of the game
From the beginning, it feels like we were not there. I think they were more hungry, they had more chances, so we just have to be ready next game.

On the team’s approach to getting it right for Game 4
We got better, obviously, in the second period. We got that goal, but they got it right back too, that killed us a little bit. Right now, it’s 2-1. We have to think positive, obviously we have to look at some things we have to get better and we will, so we have to get the second game [at home].

On Edmonton giving the Kings issues throughout the neutral zone
Yeah, they’re stepping up everything. Every long pass, the D are stepping up, there’s no plays to be made I feel like. We just chip it kind of, but they retrieve it. We have to figure it out. I think we’re going to for sure look at it tomorrow and just be more connected overall.

On trying to contain Edmonton’s top offensive players, as a group
They’re not impossible to stop. We stopped them last game. Obviously they’re very good players, but we have to do a better job.

Jim Hiller
On if he has any issues with the way the third period went
The third, I’m not concerned at all. I saw some emotion, you could say. Did we channel it the right way, I don’t know. I saw some players that were pissed off with the result, with where we were at in the game and didn’t want to go away quietly. I had no issue with that part. First part of the game, we’ve got some issues there. They were above us, we didn’t get it deep, they came back the other way. It’s a pretty simple formula.

On a blueprint to bouncing back from the way Game 2 went
It’s the same thing. People were talking after the last game, but I said what I know for sure is it’s one game to one. So, no different tonight. What I know for sure is it’s two for them, one for us, and you need to win four in the series. We’ll have a similar approach. We’ll get back and we’ll have to play better than we did today, just like Game 2.

On his assessment of the team’s game tonight
It’s a team game and we just didn’t play well enough in the first period. Actually, we came around in the second period a little bit until they scored the fourth goal, that was one that really sunk us I would say at that point because we did have some momentum coming back. We go as a team. We weren’t good enough in the first period, that was a collective for all of us, coaches included. We have to be better in the next game.

On a stronger beginning to the second period and why that was missing to start the game
I don’t want to talk about lessons learned, but we just have to understand, what did we do in the second period that we didn’t do to start the game? What we did was what we did in the second game in Edmonton, we forechecked, and we didn’t do that enough tonight. I think it’s pretty clear, the recipe.

On the team’s approach to trying to slow down Edmonton’s top offensive players
They’re good players, they’ve done it for a long time. You’ve got to find a way and I thought we did a pretty good job in Game 2. So, we’ll just have to make sure we do that same job in Game 4.

Notes –
– Drew Doughty (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his second tally in as many games (1-0=1; April 24, 2024), marking his third career two-game Playoff goal streak. Doughty’s streak breaks a four-way tie with Alec Martinez (2x), Rob Blake (2x) and Steve Duchesne (2x) for the most such Playoff goal streaks by a defenseman in Kings history.
– Doughty skated in his 93rd career Playoff contest tonight, breaking a four-way with Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick and Dave Taylor (all w/ 92GP) for sole possession of the third-most Playoff games played in franchise history.
– Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) picked up his fourth assist of the Playoffs, extending his post-season assist streak to a fourth game (0-5=5), dating back to April 29, 2023, while pushing his overall Playoff point streak to five games (1-5=6), dating back to April 25, 2023. With the assist, Byfield (0-4=4) breaks a three-way tie with Seth Jarvis (1-2=3) and Alexis Lafrenière (0-3=3), giving him sole possession of the most points by a 2020 draftee in the 2024 Playoffs. With the assist, Byfield ties teammate Adrian Kempe (3-1=4) for the team lead in scoring this series.
– Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) picked up his third assist of the Playoffs, extending his post-season point streak to a third game (1-2=3). With his three-game post-season point streak, Anderson becomes the youngest defenseman in franchise history to record a three-game point streak to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs and just the third defenseman in Kings franchise history to have notched a point in each of the first three games of the postseason, joining Jake Muzzin (2016, 1-2=3) and Jay Wells (1987, 1-3=4).
– Anže Kopitar skated in his 95th career Stanley Cup Playoff game tonight, breaking a tie with Luc Robitaille (94) for sole possession of the most Playoff games played in Kings franchise history.

The Kings have a scheduled practice at 11 AM tomorrow at Toyota Sports Performance Center.