Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 3 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/6/2022

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference First Round, Game 3 -- Series tied 1-1

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA

Where to watch: TBS, Bally Sports Southern California, Sportsnet

DraftKings: Oilers -150, Kings +130

BetMGM: Oilers -145, Kings +120

Caesars: Oilers -145, Kings +125

Everybody look out. The Edmonton Oilers are not going away just yet. And neither is Mike Smith, apparently? After that 30-save shutout in Game 2, maybe the Oilers still need to be considered for such a run.

But now the series shifts to Southern California in what could be a wild-card situation with the Los Angeles Kings waiting in the wings. Game 3 will be at Crypto.com with the Oilers in prime position to take home-ice advantage back after the Game 1 loss.

The Oilers are coming off a 6-0 win in Game 2, in which Mike Smith secured a shutout after making a major gaffe in Game 1 that cost his team the win.

"To be honest, I didn't really feel too bad in Game 1. I made one bad play and it cost us the game," Smith said. "I think I just carried the same kind of mindset into tonight and wanted to put in a good showing, especially after you feel like maybe you're the cause of a loss. I feel like a bounce-back is always important, and tonight the team played more up to their capabilities and how we're able to play, and we got rewarded because of it." 

Once the Oilers got going on the scoreboard, the Kings as expected had no answer to what was going on. Smith shut the door and the Oilers tied the best-of-7 series in a must-win situation.

"We didn't play hard enough, really," Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar said. "We got some power-play opportunities, and we couldn't convert and they did. It was a big turning point in the game and we couldn't really get going."

The Kings held firm in the first period, not allowing a goal. The second period is when things flipped on its head. Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play, and things went haywire.

"Sometimes you tip your hat to the opposition, they played a really good game," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "Secondly, that's called 'experience' tonight. A lot of guys had their eyes opened up in terms of what playoffs is all about, and others were reminded to what playoffs are all about. It happens in series. It happens more often than you think. We have to go home now, recover, get some rest and we can play better than that, we know that."

Smith had played 10 playoff games prior, having lost all of them. A good indicator that this can no way happen twice.

"I thought we played a strong first period, had two big penalty kills that settled everything down for us," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We had two good scoring chances that we didn't convert, but we stuck with it. The second period was a breakout period for us, and it was led by our leaders, who went out and scored a huge power-play goal and kind of broke the ice for us. It was a strong game, 20 players deep, in our lineup tonight."

Oilers in a runaway. They've got the Kings right where they want them. Oilers win 5-2

Kings are 14-6 after allowing three goals or more in consecutive games.

Kings are 44-64 against division opponents the past three seasons.

Oilers are 22-6 against division opponents this season.

Oilers:

Evander Kane -- Connor McDavid -- Jesse Puljujarvi

Zach Hyman -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto

Warren Foegele -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Derek Ryan

Derick Brassard -- Ryan McLeod -- Zack Kassian

Brett Kulak -- Cody Ceci

Duncan Keith -- Evan Bouchard

Philip Broberg -- Tyson Barrie

Mike Smith

Kings:

Andreas Athanasiou -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore -- Phillip Danault -- Viktor Arvidsson

Alex Iafallo -- Blake Lizotte -- Dustin Brown

Carl Grundstrom -- Quinton Byfield -- Arthur Kaliyev

Alexander Edler -- Matt Roy

Jacob Moverare -- Sean Durzi

Olli Maatta -- Jordan Spence

Jonathan Quick