If the fans were asking for some gritty, physical playoff hockey, they sure got it in the third period of Game 3 between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
The final frame was testy, including a full-blown fight and a couple scrums, all of which led to the third-year playoff rivals to combine for a whopping 82 penalty minutes in the final 20 minutes alone.
The game started to become unhinged just over five minutes into the third period, when Kings’ Andreas Englund made an illegal hit on Oilers’ Evander Kane, which caused the two to drop the gloves as their teammates found their own dance partners. Kane, with a goal, assist and fight, received a Gordie Howe hat trick for his efforts.
In total, that scrum resulted in 20 PIMs — 13 of which went to the Kings — leading to a two-minute, five-on-three on which the Oilers scored their fifth of the game.
Then, just over five minutes later as the Kings were slowly losing control of the game, another scrum broke out resulting in another 30 PIMs. Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois accounted for 14 of those minutes, receiving a double-minor penalty for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. Evan Bouchard also received a misconduct from that scrap.
In total, four players received 10-minute misconducts, including Kane and Kings’ Drew Doughty, who received theirs after an exchange mid-way through the period.
Tensions were bound to boil over as this is now the third year in a row the two Pacific Division rivals are meeting in the playoffs. The Oilers have won each round and now lead this series 2-1.
They’ll meet once more at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles for Game 4 on Sunday. Watch it all unfold starting at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
