April 28, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 4 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings was a classic! For the third time in the series, the Kings got out to a multi-goal lead, this time 2-0 on goals from Trevor Moore and Warren Foegele. Foegele scored on a breakaway where it appeared that he used his stick to push Calvin Pickard’s pad backwards before sliding the puck into the net. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch opted not to challenge the goal so as to avoid the same fate the Kings suffered in Game 3 when they made a failed goalie interference challenge, got issued a penalty, and got scored on again ten seconds later.

The teams exchanged goals later in the second period, and the Kings held a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. The Oilers got a bounce to make it 3-2 at the 7:51 mark of the third period. The Kings started to sit back and protect their one-goal lead as the final minutes of regulation time ticked away, and it cost them. The Oilers struck again with 28 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Oilers outshot the Kings 16-6 in the third period, and that trend continued in overtime where the Oilers had a 17-7 shots advantage. The Kings could only hold on for so long though. Vladislav Gavrikov took a tripping penalty against Connor McDavid that sent the Oilers to the powerplay at the 17:34 mark of the overtime period, and the Oilers made them pay by capping the comeback with a powerplay overtime winner with 1:42 left. Oilers 4, Kings 3.

Callouts

The Evan Bouchard Experience should be a trademarked entity. If nothing else, Bouchard keeps fans on the edges of their seats. He turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, and the Kings headed the other way. Alex Laferriere lobbed a puck ahead to Kevin Fiala, who managed to sneak a half step behind Bouchard and Darnell Nurse in the neutral zone. Credit to Fiala for knocking the lob pass down, corralling it, and scoring the 3-1 goal on the breakaway; but the giveaway by Bouchard and his inability to tie up Fiala to prevent him from getting that breakaway chance wasn’t a good look.

Nurse made a seemingly quick decision to rim the puck around the boards when he had enough time to take a look and make a better play before the Kings’ first goal. Trevor Moore intercepted it along the wall. It bounced to Philip Danault, who fed it to Moore cutting to the net. Moore took an uncontested shot that beat Pickard through the five-hole. I thought it was a shot that Pickard could’ve stopped, but it was not a composed play by Nurse behind his own net.

The Oilers need to find a way to stop falling behind early in games. The comeback was electric, but they need to stop making it so hard on themselves to win games.

Standouts

You live with Bouchard’s giveaways and defensive lapses because of his offensive brilliance. Bouchard recorded his second consecutive two-goal game in Game 4. He was rewarded for getting pucks to the net. A slap shot bounced in off a Kings defender’s shin pad for the 3-2 goal. Bouchard made a great play at the offensive blueline to knock a puck away from Quinton Byfield with under a minute left in the game. Had Byfield cleared that puck, the ending might have been different, but instead Bouchard’s check started a sequence that led to the game-tying goal, which was the result of a patented Bouch-Bomb. The Evan Bouchard Experience is real.

Leon Draisaitl had multiple scoring chances in regulation time, but he was unable to find the back of the net. He deferred on a couple of great looks as well. It didn’t seem like it was clicking for him; but when I looked at the scoresheet at the end of the night, he had four points including the overtime winner. Draisaitl passed the puck to Corey Perry who showed impressive hand-eye coordination while scoring the 2-1 goal. Draisaitl fed Bouchard for one-timers on both of his third period goals. 

Finally, Draisaitl was in the right place at the right time on the overtime winner. The puck worked its way to the front of the net where Perry was digging away for it. A Kings defender swept it away from the crease, but it landed right on Draisaitl’s tape. There was no way he was going to miss the open net from about ten feet. It was Draisaitl’s first career playoff overtime winner. It was his seventh overtime winning goal this season and his twelfth game-winning goal. It was also the twentieth overtime goal of his career. According to Sportsnet Stats, Draisaitl is the sixth player with twenty or more career overtime goals.

Shoutouts

Pickard earned his first career playoff overtime win in Game 4. He made 38 saves on 41 shots (.927) in the win. It was the first time an Oilers goalie has posted a save percentage over .900 in the series. I wouldn’t call Pickard’s performances in Games 3 and 4 perfect, but he stepped up when he was needed. The Oilers had to have these two games at home to tie the series, and Pickard delivered.

Perry continues to find ways to impact games just three weeks shy of his 40th birthday. Not only did he score a big powerplay goal, but he was around the net all night long. The most notable of those was the net front battle that led to Draisaitl’s overtime goal.

Vasily Podkolzin had seven hits. His effort and commitment to checking were noticeable, especially in the overtime period where he kept many pucks alive for the Oilers.

Speaking of hits, Zach Hyman had an eye popping twelve hits in Game 4!

Wrap

That was an unbelievable comeback by the Oilers! This team is resilient if nothing else. Nobody can say that they aren’t entertaining!

The decision to not challenge the Foegele goal was interesting to me. Knoblauch told the assembled media that he felt that the challenge would’ve failed because the puck was lodged against Pickard’s pad when Foegele pushed the pad. Foegele had a right to play the loose puck, and that’s what he did. Knoblauch’s decision to trust his team to come back from that goal rather than challenging it and risking an immediate Kings powerplay worked out for him.

Kings head coach Jim Hiller was clearly frustrated when a Kings reporter asked him what the team needs to do better to close out games in this series. After initially dismissing the question, he cited a near miss of an empty net and said that if Byfield had chipped the puck out, then the game would likely have been over. They did nearly get the empty net goal. While we don’t know what the outcome would have been if Byfield had chipped that puck out, it certainly would’ve made life easier for the Kings. 

It’s also true that the Kings sat back in the last ten minutes of regulation. The Kings significantly shortened their bench by essentially only using nine forwards and four defencemen most of the game. They had three forwards with less than 5:20 of ice time. Jacob Moverare only played 2:26 on defence, and Brandt Clarke (a fantastic young defenceman) only played 11:58. I understand wanting to shelter certain players, but that’s a little ridiculous in my opinion. It’s quite plausible that fatigue played a big role in the Kings’ demise in Game 4. They got outshot 33-13 in the third period and overtime. The Oilers started winning all the races to loose pucks and the majority of the 50/50 battles.

Ultimately, the result was that the Oilers held serve at home, and the series is even heading back to LA for Game 5 on Tuesday. The Kings have been excellent at home this season, but the Oilers have been excellent in the latter stages of series over the past three seasons. If the previous four games are any indication, Game 5 should be a beauty.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers prevail with wild finish in Game 3