Oilers vs Kings: 3 stars of the incredible first game

The Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers are facing off in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row.

Both of these Pacific Division powers are starting to become very familiar with one another. It is going to be really fun watching this series as a rivalry is clearly budding here.

In game one, the Los Angeles Kings made an incredible comeback to erase a two-goal deficit and win the game in overtime.

It took exactly one day for this series to be memorable and we could have as many as six more. Entertaining is an understatement when describing this series.

This Oilers vs Kings game had everything that a hockey fan wants to see.

In order to have a game like that, there have to be some players that step above the rest. These are the three stars of the game:

3. Leon Draisaitl

Yes, a player on the losing team is deserving of being named the third star of the game. He had the Oilers going strong early in the game with his two goals.

He was incredible during the regular season once again but he seems to have an extra gear to get into during the playoffs. He is already off to that kind of start.

What he does for the rest of the series is going to heavily impact the rest of the series. The Oilers are going to be ashamed that they wasted a big performance like this from Leon Draisaitl on a night when McDavid had no points.

2. Anze Kopitar

Anze Kopitar has been one of the best players in the NHL for a very long time. He is an incredible two-way center that always comes up clutch when things matter the most. It isn’t hard to figure out why the Los Angeles captain has two Stanley Cup championships.

In this game, with under 20 seconds left in regulation, Koptar scored to tie the game with the goalie pulled. He put the team on his back and forced overtime against a team much better than them.

He also had three assists meaning that he had a point on all four of the goals scored by the Kings. That is an outstanding way for him to start the playoffs.

1. Adrian Kempe

The Los Angeles Kings hadn’t had a 40-goal scorer since 1993-94 until this year when Adrian Kempe did it. Well, he backed up his amazing regular season with two more goals in this first playoff game.

Nothing that Kempe has earned has been a fluke as he is just a very good player. Without his two goals, the Kings would have never been in the game for Kopitar to tie it late.

Kempe is more than just a really good depth piece at this point as he has to be seen as a part of the core now. He is showing why in the postseason and it’s been one game.

If we are going to give anybody an honorable mention, it would be the former undrafted four-year college player named Alex Iafallo who scored in overtime for the Kings.

Obviously, that is a big moment for him as his team takes a 1-0 lead in the series. Los Angeles went up 1-0 over the Oilers last year before losing the series in seven games. It will be amazing to see what comes of the series this time.