Oilers fall in overtime as Iafallo's power-play goal helps Kings steal Game 1
CBC
Alex Iafallo scored the overtime winner for the visiting Los Angeles Kings in a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers to open their first-round playoff series Monday.
Iafallo scored a power-play goal at 9:19 of OT by converting a Victor Arvidsson feed from behind the net.
Adrian Kempe scored twice and Anze Kopitar had a goal and three assists for Los Angeles, which held Oilers captain and NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid off the scoresheet.
Leon Draisaitl countered with a pair of goals and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers (50-23-9), who ranked second in the Pacific Division this season ahead of third-seeded Kings (47-25-10).
Oilers starter Stuart Skinner stopped 31 shots in his NHL playoff debut.
Edmonton defenceman Vincent Desharnais was penalized in overtime for tripping Blake Lizotte, although Lizotte appeared to step on a broken stick on the ice and fall.
The Oilers almost ended it at 1:54 of OT, but officials ruled Ryan McLeod's shot from the blue line deflected off Derek Ryan's high stick.
The Oilers will try even the series in Wednesday's Game 2 at Rogers Place.
Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-seven affair are Friday and Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
Edmonton also dropped the opener of a first-round series against the Kings last year, but the Oilers took it four games to three to advance.
The Oilers led Monday's opener 2-0 after the first and second periods before a four-goal third.
Kempe halved the deficit 52 seconds into the third period when the clubs played four aside.
Draisaitl restored Edmonton's two-goal lead at 8:46 only for Kempe to pull his team within a goal again at 11:23.
With Bouchard serving a high-sticking penalty, and Korpisalo pulled for an extra attacker, Kopitar produced the equalizer with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
The men’s World Cup draw in Washington D.C. was going well for Canada until Pot 4.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place Friday at 12 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Center in Washington, for the purpose of dividing the 48-team field into 12 groups of four. Once the tournament starts, 32 teams will advance from those preliminary groups to the single-elimination knockout rounds.
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., buzzed with activity and speculation on Thursday in advance of Friday’s all-important draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
By the time the management group for the Canadian men’s national hockey team emerges from marathon meetings on Tuesday, as much as 80 per cent of the roster going to Italy next February should be written in pen.
Canada’s ski mountaineering athletes have their Olympic dreams on the line this weekend at a World Cup event in Solitude, Utah.
Goalie Carter Hart, one of five 2018 Canada world junior hockey players acquitted of sexual assault in July, will make his first NHL appearance in nearly two years when he starts in goal Tuesday night for the Vegas Golden Knights, who host Chicago.
The Canadian women’s hockey team will bring back plenty of familiar faces for its final pre-Olympic games in Edmonton next week.
Ottawa Charge head coach Carla MacLeod has been diagnosed with breast cancer, the team announced Sunday.