By Canadian Press

Moore scores OT winner for Kings in 3-2 win over Oilers, lead series 2-1

Apr 21, 2023 | 11:35 PM

LOS ANGELES — Trevor Moore scored the overtime winner for the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday to lead their first-round playoff series two games to one.

Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was serving a slashing minor when Gabriel Vilardi fed Moore at the side of the net for the latter to shovel the puck under Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner at 3:24 of extra time.

The goal was reviewed, which had both teams hovering by their benches until it was confirmed and Crypto.com erupted again.

Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings, who have gone 13-2-2 at home since the NHL all-star break.

Los Angeles goaltender Joonas Korpisalo posted a third straight playoff outing of over 30 saves with a series-high 38 on Friday.

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Oilers’ captain and NHL leading scorer Connor McDavid’s two power-play goals were his first of the post-season. Skinner stopped 28 shots in the loss.

The Kings took the opener 4-3 in OT — the game-winner was also a power-play goal — followed by the Oilers’ 4-2 win at Rogers Place in Game 2.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven affair is Sunday in L.A. before the series flips back to Edmonton for Tuesday’s Game 5.

Forward Mattias Janmark remained out of Edmonton’s lineup after taking a shot off the foot in Game 1, so the Oilers continued a configuration of seven defencemen and 11 forwards.

Blake Lizotte, who dressed for the first two games of the series, was scratched from the Kings lineup because of a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Jaret Dolan-Anderson. 

Los Angeles remained minus Kevin Fiala, who was the Kings’ No. 2 in points behind Anze Kopitar during the regular season. Fiala has yet to play in the series.

A goal-free third period forced overtime for the second time in three games to start the series.

Edmonton’s two power-play goals on four chances had the Oilers 4-for-8 so far this series. The Kings scored twice on five opportunities Friday and were 4-for-15.

McDavid gave the visitors a 2-1 lead early in the second period, but the Kings countered with a power-play goal at 9:40 to draw even.

An Oilers’ offensive-zone turnover turned into a two-on-zero for the Kings’ Viktor Arvidsson and Philip Danault later in the period, but Skinner denied the pair on their give-and-go.

Arvidsson whipped the puck up ice and off the corner boards for Kempe to corral and blast a slapshot under Skinner’s glove to knot the score 2-2.

McDavid scored twice from the same spot on the ice just above the hash marks to Korpisalo’s right. He went bar-down with a laser far side at 7:42 and whipped another shot high short-side at 8:20.

The Kings scored the first goal for the first time in the series with Game 1 overtime hero Iaffalo striking with 32 seconds left in the opening period.

When Iafallo tipped Matt Roy’s long floater from just inside the blue-line, the puck hit Skinner’s chest and flopped onto the ice for Iafallo to sweep in his own rebound. 

The host Kings didn’t convert a 4-on-3 early in the first period with Edmonton’s two top defencemen in the penalty box. Mattias Eckholm cross-checked Kopitar after Darnell Nurse tripped Arvidsson.

Nurse and Arvidsson clipped their left skates together on the fly, which sent the latter flipping in the air. 

Arvidsson was assessed a minor for throwing his stick. The Swedish winger left the ice favouring his left leg, but was back on the ice later in the period.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press