Anze Kopitar’s OT goal lifts Kings past Oilers in Game 2, ties series – Daily News

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EDMONTON, Alberta — In recent playoff history, Game 2’s haven’t been kind to the Kings – but they found a way to flip the script against the Edmonton Oilers this time.

After going 0-2 the past two years in Game 2’s against the Oilers, the Kings came out on the right side of a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

Captain Anze Kopitar scored the game-winning goal just 2:07 into overtime to help the Kings even the best-of-seven, first-round series at 1-1 before it shifts to Los Angeles for the next two games. Game 3 is Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Playing in his 94th postseason game to tie Luc Robitaille’s franchise record, Kopitar picked up the puck near the Edmonton blue line, moved in and shot from the slot as Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse dove to try to block the shot. Kopitar’s wrist shot soared into the top corner of the net above Stuart Skinner’s glove.

“Honestly, it was kind of a whacky play where Mikey (Anderson) throws it up the boards, and I think it was Q (Quentin Byfield) who tipped it, or was trying to tip it just to prevent the icing,” Kopitar said. “Next thing you know, I had it right on my stick, so I figured I’d make the most of it.”

Kopitar also had two assists to help his team – eliminated by the Oilers in the first round the previous two seasons – rebound from a 7-4 loss in the opener on Monday night.

“To see Kopi get that one at the end, great to see the goal go in, but I can tell you for me personally, and I’m sure the guys, just for a guy that’s done as much as he has, to get another overtime game-winning goal was special,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “One game for them, one game for us and now we go to L.A.”

Adrian Kempe scored twice in the first period for the Kings. Drew Doughty also connected, making it 3-1. Kevin Fiala scored in the third, and Cam Talbot made 27 saves.

Dylan Holloway scored twice for Edmonton, tying it at 4-all early in the third period. Brett Kulak and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers, and Skinner stopped 21 shots.

It was a huge bounce-back win for the Kings, who didn’t play close to their normal level of play in Game 1.

This one wasn’t pretty, as the Kings squandered leads of 3-1 and 4-3, but not many wins in the playoffs are, and after the Oilers had plenty of momentum after a dominant Game 1 win, the Kings have stolen home-ice advantage.

“It was good. It was a lot better game in terms of managing and making the right plays than we did in Game 1,” Kempe said. “We came out strong. Obviously, we scored a couple goals, which always helps.

“We’ve talked about it before in the playoffs. There’s usually ups and downs – within the series, within the games, so we just got to go about it every shift and try to make the most of it.”

The Kings jumped out to an early lead on Kempe’s second goal of the series. Kopitar picked off an outlet pass from Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard and fed a pass into the slot to Kempe, who made no mistake to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, just 3:19 into the game.

Kempe scored his second of the game with 5:03 remaining in the first period when he batted the puck out of mid-air on a hard pass from Kopitar.

“Everything happened so quick. Kopi threw a pass there, and I don’t know if it bounced off their D-man’s stick, and everything kind of just stopped through the air, and everything was slo-mo, so I just tried to whack it out of the air,” Kempe said.

“I think their goalie thought it was going to go far side, and it ended up going short-side, so it ended up working out well. It was a little bit of luck, but you deserve it sometimes.”

After Kulak’s goal cut the lead to 2-1, Doughty restored the Kings two-goal lead after they capitalized on a neutral zone turnover and Viktor Arvidsson sprung Doughty on a breakaway to score his first of the series.

The Oilers got goals from Hyman and Holloway in the second period to knot the score at 3-3, but the big turning point in the game came late in the second period when Talbot stoned Oilers sniper Leon Draisaitl three different times on an Edmonton power play.

His last save in the waning seconds of the period was arguably his biggest of the season.

“We talked after last game that our PK needed to be better and I said that it started with me and I was trying to do everything I could to keep the puck out of the net and not give them any momentum going into the third period,” Talbot said.

“They make so many good plays, they play with each other all the time, so I was just trying to stay patient and stay in front of the puck for two minutes there.”

In the third, Fiala’s shot from distance beat a screened Skinner just 1:46 into the third to give the Kings a 4-3 lead, but Holloway quickly tied the score again with his second goal of the night just 1:37 later.

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