Playing with their backs against the wall and having to push the bolder uphill seems to bring out the best in the Oilers.
Such was the case trailing 3-2 in the first round against the Kings in 2022, when they came back to win the next two games while facing elimination.
In 2023, Edmonton was down 2-1 in the series to Los Angeles and fell behind 3-0 in Game 4. It stormed back to win 5-4 in overtime and took the series in six games.
Last season, the Oilers fell behind 3-2 in the second round against the Vancouver Canucks but won the final two games of the series to advance to the conference final. They then nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback in the Stanley Cup Final, battling back to force Game 7 after losing the first three games to the Florida Panthers.
Now, they’re trying to win a series after losing the first two games. They know they can do it.
“That’s our identity in here, we’ve built that years ago,” Draisaitl said. “It’s a mentality we have that we’re never going to quit, no matter what.”
Third-period comebacks have become a theme for Edmonton in this series.
In Game 3, it trailed 4-3 going into the third period but won 7-4. The Oilers also rallied from down 4-0 in Game 1, only to lose 6-5 on a goal scored by Kings forward Phillip Danault at 19:18 of the third.
On Sunday, muscle memory of hard playoff battles over the previous three seasons kicked in.
Edmonton outshot Los Angeles 16-6 in the third and 17-7 in overtime, and it seemed only a matter of time before the winning goal would be scored.
“That’s what this team is — nothing is ever easy, and we keep battling and we keep pushing,” Oilers forward Corey Perry said. “We found a way to tie the game and found a way to end it in overtime. Big guys make big plays at the right time.”
Bouchard’s first goal bounced in off the left skate of Kings defenseman Drew Doughty at 7:51, and the second was scored on a blast from above the circles at 19:31.
“They put a lot of pressure on us early and we found a way to push back and fight back,” Perry said. “We just keep putting the puck in and keep going to work. It doesn’t matter who’s on the ice, we play the same way over and over again and it’s starting to pay off.”
The door opened in overtime when Los Angeles defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov took a penalty at 17:34 for tripping McDavid. Draisaitl scored when Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson swept the puck to him off a scramble in front.
“They’re a hungry, desperate team and they never give up,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said of his group. “It didn’t look very good; we were the second-best team in the first half of the game, absolutely.
“We did not execute very well, they outplayed us, and we stepped it up and the guys that stepped it up. I think our team did overall, but absolutely our best players did — McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard — the plays that they made tonight and everyone else carried from that. It was a good team effort tonight the last second half of the game.”
