Mike Smith made 30 saves and Evander Kane had two goals and three points as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 6-0.
The streak now equals one win for each side.
After a futile first period, the Oilers exploded into the second period with three goals.
From the very first moments, Leon Draisaitl scored in a power play. Well installed in his favorite spot, the circle of face-offs to the left of the goalkeeper, he beat Jonathan Quick by a lightning shot. This is his second goal in the first round of this series.
Minutes later, defender Darnell Nurse doubled the home side’s lead with a shorthanded goal from an accurate pass by Connor McDavid.
At the end of the stage, the fourth line was rewarded for their great work since the start of the match. Ryan McLeod deflected a point shot from Evan Bouchard to make it 3-0.
The Oilers put the game out of reach of their opponents early in the third period by scoring two goals in 21 seconds.
Evander Kane first pushed behind Jonathan Quick a puck out of control by defenseman Sean Durzi, then Jesse Puljujarvi completed Connor McDavid’s play to register his first in the playoffs.
Kane took advantage of a power play to score his second goal and third point of the period with a bang without warning.
The fifth shutout for Smith
For goaltender Mike Smith, this is his fifth career playoff shutout.
After the game, he admitted it was important for him to bounce back from losing Game 1 to the Kings.
I felt good on the ice, but on Monday I also felt good. I made a mistake that drove us to the game and I want to come back out loud tonight.
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All Oilers players except Brett Kulak completed at least one hit during the game.
Despite being an underused player in the game, forward Zack Kassian finished the game with six hits. Josh Archibald, which was his first playoff game, completed five while Connor McDavid, Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane completed four each.
It’s important at this time of year to be tough as a team, even if you’re as big as Kailer Yamamoto or as big as Darnell Nurse.mentioned by Evander Kane.
He added that when you see your leaders playing a certain way, you have no choice but to do the same.
The series will now move to Los Angeles where games three and four will air on Friday and Sunday.
Source: Radio-Canada
