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These two teams have gone at it in the first round for four years straight, but not once has either team taken a 2-0 series lead. The Los Angeles Kings changed that on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena, defending home ice and delivering a 6-2 beatdown of the Edmonton Oilers.
Adrian Kempe had four points, Kuzmenko collected his fourth and fifth points of the playoffs, the Kings’ power play went 3/5, and they chased Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner out of the net with five goals on 28 shots.
Game Recap
A strong push right off the bat from the Oilers was expected after their comeback in Game 1 ended up being for nothing. And at 5-on-5 with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl paired up once again, they spent quite a bit of time in the offensive zone. The Oilers had their most pressure in the first, but none of that was reflected on the scoreboard. Instead, it was the Kings’ power play getting on the board first. Seconds before their first power play of the game ended, defenseman Brandt Clarke finished a cross-crease pass from Warren Foegele to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
The goal-scoring for the Kings continued early in the second. Just over four minutes in, Quinton Byfield found himself all alone in front of Skinner before roofing one short side for his second goal of the playoffs.
Halfway through the second period, it was the Kuzmenk-show on full display as he drew a penalty and then potted the power-play goal to give the Kings a 3-0 lead.
As we learned from Game 1, no lead is safe, and with just under five minutes left to play in the second period, it felt like a little bit of deja vu. Draisaitl opened the scoring for the Oilers again, this time deflecting in a shot from John Klingberg, who made his series debut.
The Oilers weren’t done, making things interesting early in the third. Former King Viktor Arvidsson brought the Oilers to within one with another deflection-type goal that found its way past Darcy Kuemper.
In what looked to be the Oilers en route to erasing another multi-goal deficit was quickly put to bed by Kempe and his team’s power play. Less than three minutes after Arvidsson’s goal, he fumbled the puck in his own end. Anze Kopitar collected the puck, dished one to Kempe in the slot, who restored the Kings’ lead to two.
A few minutes after Kempe’s goal, the Kings were awarded their third power play of the game. Kevin Fiala found Kopitar with a cross-ice feed, and he fired it backdoor, making it 5-2 LA and ending Skinner’s night.
The goaltending change did nothing as two minutes later, Kempe scored his second of the night on the first shot Calvin Pickard faced. The Kings scored six goals in back-to-back games.
The Kings took advantage of home ice now with a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts over to Edmonton, Alberta, for Game 3 on Friday night. The Kings will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead while the Oilers will look to get on the board in what could very well be a do-or-die game.
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Standout performances from Week 1 of NFL preseason: Rookie, backup QBs shine
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Kevin Durant Takes Subtle Shot At Stephen Curry; Reveals Why Warriors Fans Hate Him: 'They Will Never Recover'
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Pete Carroll offers explanation to Ashton Jeanty’s rough debut
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