LOS ANGELES — Trevor Moore grew up in nearby Thousand Oaks and came to Los Angeles Kings playoff games one day hoping to achieve his own postseason moment.
On Friday night it happened for the 28-year old forward, even though he needed to wait a little bit to make sure it counted.
Moore became the first California-born player to score a postseason overtime goal for a California-based team, with his power-play goal 3:24 into the extra period giving the Kings a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference first-round series.
“It was awesome. Super fun playing in that building. That energy was like nothing else. It was really special,” Moore said after his first goal of the series and fourth postseason score of his career.
Game 4 is on Sunday night in Los Angeles.
The goal was upheld following a lengthy review to determine if Gabriel Vilardi played the puck in the corner with a high stick. The NHL’s situation room said there was no conclusive video evidence to determine that the puck made contact with Vilardi’s stick.
“It was a long wait, but wasn’t horrible. Either way know we were going to keep pushing and it was all good,” Moore said of the review.
Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft wasn’t happy that the goal stood and how the game was called.
“It’s a play where the greatest player in the world (Connor McDavid) is 2 feet away as it happens and his arm comes straight up in the air because he knows that it hit the stick. Otherwise, he wouldn’t put his arm up in the air and keep playing,” Woodcroft said. “It appears to me and in video that the puck is going straight up in a trajectory and deadens.”
After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for high-sticking at 1:44, Moore took Vilardi’s pass from behind the net and put it between the legs of goaltender Stuart Skinner to give the Kings their second OT victory of the series.
Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 38 shots. The Kings had a pair of power-play goals and are 4 for 15 in the series.
“For us to play Edmonton as close as possible in special situations gives us the best chance of success,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
McDavid had a pair of power-play goals for the second multi-goal playoff game of his career. Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists, and Skinner made 28 saves.
The Oilers, who led the league with a 32.4% conversion rate on the power play during the regular season, are 4 for 8 with the man advantage in the series.
“It’s a tight-checking series and they seems to be getting the little breaks here and there,” McDavid said. “I like the way we had our looks and chances, but it came down to a power play in overtime.”
Source: News