Leon Draisaitl scores in OT to even Oilers’ series with Kings

EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl scored on a power play at 18:18 of overtime and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Sunday night in Game 4 to tie the first-round playoff series.

After assisting on Edmonton’s first three goals, Draisaitl beat goalie Darcy Kuemper after he collected the puck on the right side off a scramble. The Oilers got the power play when defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov tripped Connor McDavid.

Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard tied it with 29 seconds left and goalie Calvin Pickard off for an extra attacker, beating Kuemper with a straightaway slap shot from near the blue line.

Bouchard had his second straight two-goal game, also pulling the Oilers within one at 7:51 of the third with a shot that deflected in off the Kings defenseman Drew Doughty’s skate. Bouchard had the go-ahead goal Friday night in Edmonton’s 7-4 home victory.

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“There’s a strong belief in here,” McDavid said. “A strong belief that we’re never out. People are doubting us, we’re putting ourselves in bad spots, but we’re working. We’re digging our way out.”

“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.”

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles. The Kings haven’t won a playoff series since beating the New York Rangers in 2014 to win the Stanley Cup.

Corey Perry also scored for Edmonton, and Pickard stopped 38 shots.

“That’s what this team is. Nothing is ever easy,” Perry said. “But we keep battling and keep pushing. We found a way to tie the game, and then found a way to end it in overtime. Big guys make big plays at right times.”

Trevor Moore, Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala scored for the Kings, and Kuemper made 44 saves — 17 in overtime.

“Of course it’s painful, but that’s playoffs though,” Kings forward Phillip Danault said. “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.”

Fiala made it 3-1 on a breakaway at 7:32 of the second.

Moore opened the scoring with 9:25 left in the first. He foiled a hard-around along the right boards, got the puck back from Phillip Danault, skated toward the goal and beat Pickard with a wrist shot.

Foegele gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead on a determined rush at 1:31 of the second period. Perry got one back for Edmonton on a power play at 4:11, batting the puck out of the air just below the crossbar and swatting it in as it fell.

“I would like to have a better start,” said McDavid, who had two assists. I don’t want to have to keep digging ourselves out of two, three, four-goal leads. But it is good that we’ve shown them that we can. We’re a tough group to close out in games. We’ve got some good players that make plays coming down the stretch.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.