The streets of Edmonton were awash in blue and orange, the colors of the city’s hockey team, on Friday.
From the Southgate Centre, on the city’s southern edge, to the downtown financial district, it seemed as if everyone, from students and shopkeepers to cabbies and the cable guy, were wearing Oiler sweaters. And with reason: Their team, a Stanley Cup finalist a season ago, was fighting for its playoff life against a Kings team it had dispatched with ease each of the last three playoffs.
Advertisement
The Kings won the first two games in the best-of-seven series so Edmonton desperately needed a victory at home to get back in the series. It got that in uncommon fashion, scoring four unanswered goals in the final seven minutes of a 7-4 win.
But the Oilers didn’t do it alone. The atmosphere, said winger Evander Kane, who scored the goal that started the final rally, played a big part.
“It was nice to get in front of our own fans,” he said. “You come back to Edmonton, there’s some buzz in the city. There’s some buzz in the morning. We kind of got re-energized a little bit.”
The Kings still lead the first-round series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Edmonton. Both teams will then return to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday. But a fifth game was looking unlikely until a bizarre sequence that began with 6:42 to play erased a 4-3 Kings lead and changed the complexion of the series.
Advertisement
Read more: Kings rally to take lead, only to collapse in third period of Game 3 loss to Oilers
It started with Kane scoring on a scramble in front of the Kings’ net to tie the score, although the goal took some time to sort out since it appeared Kane, playing for just the second time this season, kicked the puck under Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.
After a lengthy video review determined Kane used his stick to score, the Kings called a timeout and rather than playing it safe, they challenged the goal, claiming Kane had interfered with Kuemper. When they lost that challenge, Edmonton was awarded a two-minute power play and needed only 10 seconds of it with Evan Bouchard scoring what proved to be the game-winner on a tipin from the crease.
The Oilers, blanked on the power play in the first two games, had two goals, both by Bouchard, with the man advantage Friday. The Kings also had two power-play goals and are now seven for 12 in the series with the man advantage while the teams have combined for 30 goals overall in the three games.
Advertisement
So much for the conservative nature of playoff hockey. And this series might have turned on Jim Hiller’s challenge, which was the furthest thing from playing it safe.
“We take a timeout. We understand the situation. We don’t want to give them a power play but clearly we felt that, we felt that, that challenge was in our favor. The league disagreed,” the Kings’ coach said. “The next step would have been for us to kill a penalty and that didn’t happen either. It’s a tough stretch for us, there’s no question. That’s hockey. That’s playoff hockey, especially.”
Connor McDavid and Connor Brown each scored into an empty net in the final 1:40 to account for the final score. It was the second time in three games that Edmonton scored four times in the final period to erase a deficit, although the Kings came back to win the first time.
“I’m pretty happy that we’re playing the game well enough that we’re leading them in the third period,” Hiller said. “So I’ll take that. That’s the way I look at that.”
Advertisement
Another way to look at that is the Kings have collapsed twice, failing to close out games they led handily. Friday they erased a two-goal deficit and twice broke ties to take the lead twice, only to give it all back.
Oilers fans line up in front of Rogers Place before Game 3 of the playoff series against the Kings on Friday night. (Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
“Yeah, it sucks,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “But we’re still in a good place. You get to come back in two nights and get another stab at it, which is the best part.”
Be careful what you wish for because the next stab at it will also be on the Oilers’ ice, in one of the loudest buildings in the NHL.
Hockey in Edmonton is special, more a religion than a game. And any night the Oilers play in the postseason is church night.
Advertisement
Rogers Place was again a raucous cacophony of noise Friday while outside thousands of people who couldn’t get a seat in the temple — some carrying signs that read “We Believe” — began lining up more than three hours before gametime for a spot in the “Moss Pit,” an open-air fan zone named after Joey Moss, a longtime club employee.
Their prayers were answered with a comeback that appeared to benefit from a little divine intervention. It’s more likely the Oilers simply fed off the size and fervor of the crowd, which inspired the home team while intimidating the visitors.
“The crowd was emotional,” Hiller said. “The crowd was great. The energy, we expected. I would have wished that we did a better job of just weathering that.”
Anderson agreed.
Advertisement
“We knew they were going to come out hard. It’s their home rink,” he said.
Oilers fans taunt Kings defenseman Drew Doughty in the first period of Game 3 on Friday night at Rogers Place. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Oilers finished strong as well, climbing back into a series that appeared all but over until the final seven minutes Friday.
Afterward Edmonton’s ICE District, a town square centered around the hockey arena, continued buzzing until well after midnight. A pickup truck with a faux oil derrick flanked by two large Oilers flags, drove laps around the area while fans in the de rigueur orange and blue team sweaters milled about, too excited to leave but too exhausted to do much more than blow on horns and block the sidewalks.
Advertisement
“What a game,” one young man repeated aloud to no one in particular.
The Oilers will play again on Sunday, the traditional Christian Sabbath, and the faithful will once again file into Rogers Place to offer hosannas at decibel levels loud enough to make your ears bleed. If their prayers are answered, the series will return to L.A. even at two games apiece.
If not, Friday’s game might prove to be a false miracle, unworthy of either praise or condemnation.
“It feels good right now to get that win,” said Leon Draisaitl, who had two assists, including the pass that set up Bouchard’s game-winner. “But it’s not going to do much if we don’t follow it up, right? We’ve got to follow it and take this back to L.A. 2-2.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here