Draisaitl, Hyman lead Oilers to 6-1 rout of Kings to take 2-1 series lead

Draisaitl, Hyman lead Oilers to 6-1 rout of Kings to take 2-1 series lead

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl continue to cause Los Angeles nightmares. As if that isn’t enough, the rest of the Oilers’ lineup is beginning to add to the Kings’ frustrations.

McDavid and Draisaitl had three-point nights on Friday, but Zach Hyman continued his hot streak at the start of the postseason with two goals as the Oilers rode the momentum of three first-period scores to a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round NHL playoffs series.

“Anytime you get up on a ream that’s defensive and doesn’t give you much makes it easier on you,” said Hyman, who has a league-leading six postseason goals and seven points. “You don’t have to force it in, you can play your game and they have to change and open things up. We did a good job of that.”

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday night.

Hyman, who had a hat trick in Edmonton’s 7-4 Game 1 victory on Monday, became the third player in the past 25 years to score in Edmonton’s first three postseason games when he put in a rebound 6:42 into the first.

The left wing then extended it to 5-1 six minutes into third when the Oilers had a two-man advantage.

Draisaitl also had two goals along with an assist. He became the fastest player in NHL history to reach 20 career road playoff goals on a wrist shot from a tight angle just inside the left faceoff circle with 4:24 remaining in the first to make it 2-0. Draisaitl reached the milestone in 26 games, three quicker than Kevin Stevens and Bernie Nicholls.

Draisaitl also had a power-play goal midway through the third.

“I think our guys were disciplined on entering into the offensive zone. We had a plan and executed it. It wasn’t just one or two guys, it was five guys who were committed and connected,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.

McDavid got his first goal of the postseason late in the first period on the power play to give the Oilers a 3-0 advantage. With two assists, he became the first player since Wayne Gretzky in 1987 to have at least eight assists in the first three games. Gretzky had nine in 1987 and eight in 1981.

It was one of three power-play goals for Edmonton, which is 7 for 15 in the series.

“I thought we did a lot of good things. Special teams were great, Stuart (Skinner) was a rock back there. A lot of positives but it just counts as one win,” McDavid said.

Evander Kane added a goal and an assist. He also picked up a rare postseason Gordie Howe hat trick with a 10-minute misconduct penalty in the third period when the game got chippy.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added three assists and Skinner stopped 27 shots as the Oilers posted a Game 3 rout on the Kings’ home ice for the second time in three years.

Drew Doughty had the Kings’ lone goal early in the second period and Cam Talbot made 35 saves.

Doughty’s goal, his second of the postseason, got the Kings to 3-1 at 5:32 of the second, but Kane returned momentum back to the Oilers two minutes later with a tip-in of Cody Ceci’s shot from the point.

“I mean, we got better. Second period, we had that goal, but they scored right after,” forward Kevin Fiala said. “We have to look at some things, we have to get better, and we will. So we have to get second game and that’s it.”

Kings interim coach Jim Hiller pointed to his team’s lack of forechecking early as a reason why they fell behind early.

“Their power play scored, ours didn’t. It’s 2-1 and let’s get ready for the next one,” he said.

Kings captain Anze Kopitar played in his 95th career playoff game, passing Luc Robitaille for most in franchise history.

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Joe Reedy, The Associated Press