The 3rd Period of the Kings & Oilers' Game 3 turns up the heat on the series
The 2024 NHL playoffs have seen more skill and finesse than physicality and fights. Well, last night in the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers game, the temperature was turned up.
After the Kings were down 4-1 going into the third, they came out as the more physical team. It seemed like they took the approach that even though they were losing, they would attempt to take a piece out of their opponent.
These types of third periods can have a lasting effect on the series because the Kings were trying to finish checks as much as possible to make the Oilers players uncomfortable.
Well, this is especially true with Andreas Englund, who laid a huge hit on Evander Kane with 14:41 left in the third. This sparked a full-line scrum, and when Kane got back to his feet, he and Englund dropped the gloves.
This sequence had 20 minutes worth of PIMs, including Englund being assessed a 2-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head.
The temperature kept on rising after that hit from Englund when Pierre-Luc Dubois and Evan Bouchard were both given 4 minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct just over the halfway mark in the third.
Kane was again involved when he and Drew Doughty were assessed 10-minute misconducts at 12:42, after a scrum that happened after a whistle. At that point in the game, the refs were given out misconducts to attempt to calm the waters.
The Oilers took Game 3 by a score of 6-1, and with that, they also took a 2-1 series lead over the Kings. Game 4 is set to go on Sunday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET.