By Miguel Mike Medina
The battle between the Oilers and Kings never fails to deliver. We had another great game in this series. Oilers and Kings combined for four power-play goals. Connor McDavid, who didn’t score all series, scored two power-play goals in the second period. Adrian Kempe has a good series. He scored his third goal of the series on Friday night. The game went into overtime for the second time in the series. Trevor Moore shoveled through Skinner to score the game-winning goal in overtime. Kings won 3-2. The Kings take a 2-1 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers.
Minnesota Wild came out to play against the Dallas Stars at home. Mats Zuccarello got things started when he scored the game’s first goal. He had two goals for the night. Marcus Foligno scored a power play goal in the second period. Game 3 belongs to Minnesota, as they won this game 5-1. Minnesota Wild delivered 26 hits on the Stars. They were more physical and aggressive. Wild also had 22 blocked shots. Stars’ goaltender Jake Oettinger had 20 saves. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson finished with 23 out of 24 saves—a strong performance by Gustavsson.
New York Islanders tried to find their rhythm offensively, and it started clicking in Game 3 during the second period. Casey Cizikas opened the score for the Islanders. He had two points (one goal and one assist). Four minutes later, Jesper Fest scored an unassisted goal to tie the game. It’s Jesper Fest’s second goal of the series. The third period was all about the Islanders. They attacked four goals on the Carolina Hurricanes, which was too much for the Hurricanes to overcome. The Islanders won 5-1 to get back into the series. They trail the series 2-1. Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves on the night.
Boston Bruins jumped early on the Florida Panthers in Game 3. They led as many as 4-0 up to the 3rd period. The Panthers tried to rally by scoring two goals in the third period to cut the deficit to two, but they ran out of time. Suppose there was an extra period; who knows what would’ve happened? The Bruins took Game 3 by the final score of 4-2. Taylor Hall had two points (one goal and one assist). David Pasrtnak added a goal of his own in the third period. It’s his second goal of the series. Game 4 will be on Sunday at 3:30 as the Panthers try to even the series.