Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

2024

Originally posted on Inside The Rink | By Stephen Vani | Last updated 4/28/24

Game 3 was the type of game we need to see from Evander Kane on a more consistent basis. He made a nifty setup for a goal; he was a net-front presence for a goal of his own, he held his own physically and got into a scrap. When you’re as streaky a player as Kane is offensively, you’ll hear about it. When he turns it on, even without as many points, he’s exactly the type of secondary player you need in a Playoff run. With the hernia injury he’s played through, it was impressive to see him take pretty good hits and not look phased.

With all the talk in Oilers media about his history going from team to team, Kane had his moment to troll a reporter during the post-game presser. He was asked what drives his performance in a Playoff game, and his response was, “Just the drama of it all.”

It was really cool for the Hockey Night In Canada broadcast to edit broadcasting legend Bob Cole’s calls of goals from Connor McDavid and Drew Doughty into the goals that they scored in Game 3. He was my favorite play-by-play man when I first started following hockey. May this Canadian icon rest in peace.

Tonight, Edmonton has to take advantage of an opportunity to lead the series 3-1 away from home. The keys to the game are…

Emotions: Friday night also included the longest third period I’ve possibly ever sat through. Penalty after penalty after penalty. Emotions started getting out of hand, and we expect emotions to get higher in the postseason. Evan Bouchard getting a game misconduct penalty wasn’t on my NHL Bingo card. It was hard to really care about the referees blowing whistles in a 6-1 game, but expect some more tempers to flare in what will feel like L.A.’s most important game. The familiarity that comes with a third straight Playoff match-up started getting fiery.

Powerless Hollywood: More impressive than Edmonton’s three powerplay goals in Game 3 was also going 5/5 on the penalty kill. If they can keep shutting down the Kings offense, especially Adrian Kempe, who is always productive against the Oilers, then our team’s offense, as we know, will and should take care of itself.

Start A Muscle Fight: Not that Edmonton didn’t play mean at all on Friday, but they were outhit 36-23. Hits aren’t everything, but given the first point above, it’s not a bad idea to try and match the physical intensity we’re bound to see from Los Angeles.

This article first appeared on Inside The Rink and was syndicated with permission.

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