Kings squander another 3rd-period lead in Game 4 loss to Oilers (2025)

EDMONTON, Alberta — In their three previous postseason series against the Edmonton Oilers, it’s been a red-hot power play that has burned the Kings – this year, holding third-period leads has become their issue.

For the third time in four games, the Kings couldn’t hold off the Oilers and instead of talking about a 3-1 series lead – the best-of-seven series is now deadlocked at 2-2 after forward Leon Draisaitl scored his first career playoff overtime goal on the power play with 1:42 remaining in the overtime on Sunday night at Rogers Place.

Defenseman Evan Bouchard scored twice, including the game-tying goal with 28.4 seconds left in regulation, and Corey Perry also tallied his second of the series in the comeback win for Edmonton. Draisaitl added three assists for a four-point night. Connor McDavid added two assists and goaltender Calvin Pickard made 38 saves.

The Kings played a near-perfect road game, stifling the Oilers’ potent offense through 40 minutes, and led 3-1 on goals from Trevor Moore, Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala, but Edmonton rallied and found a way to send this series back to Los Angeles deadlocked, in a series that for the most part the Kings have held the clear edge in play.

“Right before they tied it, Kevin [Fiala] came down and hit the post … we’re talking about bounces, and it’s a game of inches. We pushed a lot harder in this third [period] than Game 3,” said Foegele, whose first goal of the series gave Edmonton a 2-0 lead early in the second.

“[It’s] a couple lucky bounces to be honest. That second goal [Bouchard’s first of the game], it hits a stick, bounces off the ice … they pushed hard, but I really liked our game.”

The Kings likely deserved at least a road split after the series shifted to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4, but Edmonton has outscored the Kings 11-5 in the third period in this series, which now becomes a best-of-three.

The Kings were clearly the better team through the first two periods of Game 3, and while it certainly stings not being able to hold a third-period lead, Kings head coach Jim Hiller doesn’t believe doubt is starting to set in on his team and shot down any notion that his team is losing their confidence late in games.

“Next question, please. We’re that far away on the empty net. ‘Q’ [Quinton Byfield] chips that one out, Bouchard makes a good play, we’re not even talking about this. So, how about that?”

“We were skating. I thought we skated all game. It’s something we wanted to do to improve upon. I thought we skated a lot better tonight than we did in Game 3, and had plenty of opportunities to put it away. And did not. So, here we are. We go home 2-2 instead. They get a power play in overtime, those are tough.”

The Kings looked like they were poised to take a stranglehold in the series after a strong opening 20 minutes. Moore’s goal at the 10:35 mark of the first period gave his team a 1-0 lead in a period when they outshot the Oilers 14-6.

Foegele scored his first of the series against his former club just 1:31 into the second period, when he snuck behind two Edmonton defensemen and was able to beat Pickard with a quick shot to make it 2-0.

Perry’s power-play goal at the 4:11 mark cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1, but as they have done for most of this series, they didn’t buckle and were able to regain their two-goal lead after Fiala took a pass from Alex Laferriere and raced in behind the Oilers defense and beat Pickard with a backhand.

They were in full control, holding the Oilers to just 15 shots through the first two periods.

But down two goals, Edmonton played desperately, firing 15 third-period shots and then continuing to pile it on in OT with 18 more shots.

Bouchard, who had his second straight two-goal game, pulled the Oilers within one at 7:51 of the third with a shot that deflected in off the skate of Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Bouchard had the go-ahead goal in the third period of Edmonton’s 7-4 Game 3 win.

“That’s our identity in here. We’ve built that years ago. It’s a mentality that we have, that we’re never going to quit, no matter what,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve shown that in the series so far, maybe a little bit too much. We’ve got to find a way to play with a lead.

“It shows a lot of character, and we can be really proud of that. But you don’t want to do that every night.”

Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 44 saves in the loss for the Kings, including several big stops in OT, before Draisaitl buried a loose puck past him in a wild scramble after Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was called for tripping with 2:26 left.

Draisaitl has collected points in 18 consecutive playoff games against the Kings (17 goals, 18 assists).

“Darcy [Kuemper] was awesome, and we’ve got to find a way to get a win there. There were some big saves from him,” said Kings forward Phillip Danault, who had two assists.

“It’s the little mistakes. It’s not only against Edmonton, in the next round, it’s the same thing. If you’re up 3-1 [in the third], you have to seal the deal and make those plays when it counts. It’s hard to win, especially on the visitor side.”

The Kings battled all season long for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, knowing it would be a big factor, as they won a franchise record 33 games at home this season [including playoffs].

While Edmonton now has the momentum to end the Kings’ season for a fourth consecutive spring, the Kings are confident they can regroup in Game 5 on Tuesday night in a series where the home team has won every game.

“Of course it’s painful [losses in Games 3 and 4], but that’s playoffs, though. It’s 2-2, it’s back to even. Now we go back home and play hard, put our heart on the line and anything can happen,” Danault said.

“That [home-ice advantage] could be the game-changer for us.”

The Kings haven’t won a playoff series since beating the New York Rangers in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Originally Published: April 27, 2025 at 10:27 PM PDT