Oilers Young Guns Royally Robbed by Kings

The Edmonton Oilers Young Guns were edged 3-2 when the Los Angeles Kings won on a last second disputed goal that did not count for the Oil. But it was the Young Guns who drew first blood at 4:42 of the first period Nail Yakupov brought the puck out of his zone on the left hand side and passed it over to Conner McDavid breaking through the Neutral zone on the right hand side. McDavid with blazing speed on the right wing got passed an L.A. defender and avoided his stick from being tied up, suddely he snapped a shot off the goalie in tight. The rebound bounced off the L.A. goalies pad back up the middle where Benoit Pouliot picked up the rebound and snapped a shot passed the goalies glove hand side to make it 1-0. Later in the first period the Kings tied the score 1-1.

In the second period the Kings leaned heavily on the Young Guns and controlled most of the play. Anze Kopitar scored half way through the period to make it 2-1.

In the third period the Oilers pushed back and held their own. At 13:56 the Oilers were on a power play. Ryan Nugent Hopkins had the puck at the right half boards and passed it back to Oscar Klefbom at the blue line. Klefbom moved to the middle then passed the puck back to Nugent-Hopkins. RNH then snapped a pass to Taylor Hall who was high in the slot. Hall then deflected the puck high on the stick hand side of the goalie to make it 2-2. But two minutes later the Kings struck back on a power play to go up 3-2.

In the dying seconds of the game the Oilers Young Guns pulled out all the stops as well as their goalie to go 6 on 5. Yakupov had the puck on the right side of the net and sent a shot through the crease but it went wide. The Oilers recovered the puck and sent it to the net once again. Conner McDavid was on the far right hand post and fought to keep his stick from being tied up. He saw the puck and quickly shot it to the open net with 4 seconds remaining. The L.A. goalie dove for the puck and covered it up with his glove just as it went over the line. The referee could not see the puck and waved the goal off and replays were inconclusive so the goal could not be confirmed. Still pictures at another angle clearly showed the puck crossing the line but it was not to be. The Young Guns were Royally robbed and went down 3-2.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *