Evander Kane’s teammates believe he’s tailor-made for the playoffs, and so does the man himself.
“The drama of it all,” Kane said about the post-season. “It just brings the best out of me.”
Kane had a goal, an assist and a fight — known as a “Gordie Howe hat trick” — and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The 32-year-old forward had an up-and-down regular season and is returning from a sports hernia injury, but earned a promotion to the Oilers’ second line on Friday and took full advantage.
Two years ago, Kane scored 13 goals in 15 games when Edmonton reached the Conference final.
“Evander’s game is suited for this type of style,” winger Zach Hyman said. “He plays physical, goes to the hard areas, he scores. You can’t ask for more.
“He’s been doing it for three years, not just tonight.”
Hyman and Leon Draisaitl — with an assist — scored twice for Edmonton, which fell 5-4 to the Kings in overtime on Wednesday. Hyman increased his playoff-leading goal total to six.
Captain Connor McDavid produced a goal and two assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins pitched in with three helpers as the Oilers’ top players filled the stat sheet. Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for the win.
Drew Doughty replied with his second goal of the playoffs for Los Angeles and Cam Talbot stopped 35 shots.
The red-hot Edmonton power play went 3-for-8 and the Kings were 0-for-5. Edmonton improved to 7-for-14 with the man advantage this series and remained a perfect 0-for-10 on the penalty kill.
“They’re good players, they’ve done it for a long time,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said of the Oilers. “They’re executing at a high level. … But again, game’s over, their power play scored, ours didn’t. It’s 2-1. Let’s get ready for the next one.”
Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup is set for Sunday night at Crypto.com arena. The series shifts back to Edmonton for Game 5 at Rogers Place.
The Oilers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes — dominating the shots 16-8 — and hardly looked back.
Hyman opened the scoring 6:42…
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