Kostin makes most of limited ice time for Oilers in Game 2

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers avoided falling into a deep hole with a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

Teams losing the first two games in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series have been eliminated 86.4 percent of the time (54-342), and 81.0 percent (20-85) when losing the first two games at home.
So Klim Kostin's goal at 2:20 of the third period to put the Oilers ahead 3-2 could have been a season saver. Game 3 is at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Friday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSC).
Kostin played 7:42, fewest among Edmonton's 11 forwards in Game 2, but made the most of his opportunities.
"You're not going to win 16 games (in the playoffs) by your top two lines scoring every goal and doing everything," Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. "You need guys like 'Klimmer,' you need guys like Derek Ryan, that are going to chip in every once in a while. I think all year we've been really, really lucky of finding those guys or having those guys on our team, so it was a great job by everyone around."
RELATED: [Complete Oilers vs. Kings series coverage]
Ryan scored the opening goal at 2:34 of the first, and Draisaitl made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 12:06.
Just as they did in Game 1, the Kings fought back from a two-goal deficit and tied the game 2-2, with two goals in the second period. Phillip Danault scored at 14:38 and Gabriel Vilardi, in his first game back after missing the previous 10 because of an upper-body injury, scored at 19:16. Kings center Rasmus Kupari came close to giving the Kings the lead, hitting the goal post on a breakaway with 10 seconds remaining in the period.
"There was a little frustration of course, but there is no time to dwell on situations or momentum swings like that," Draisaitl said. "They're going to happen, we know that. We went through it last year and I thought we handled it really well. We played a really solid third period and deserved the win."
Kostin was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the first round (No. 31) of the 2017 NHL Draft, but after splitting the previous three seasons between the Blues, the American Hockey League and the Kontinental Hockey League, he was traded to the Oilers on Oct. 9 for defenseman Dmitri Samorukov. Kostin had 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in 57 regular-season games for the Oilers this season and made his NHL postseason debut in the 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings in Game 1 on Monday.
"He's been a good player through both games," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Big, physical, he works his butt off on the forecheck and on the [backcheck]. And that goal, he has a very good shot and he's not afraid to shoot through people. Tonight he did and found a spot and helped our team settle in."
Playing 11 forwards in Game 2 allowed Woodcroft to rotate Draisaitl and Connor McDavid through the fourth line. Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and was on the ice for Kostin's goal.

"First of all, I was looking for 'Leo' actually," Kostin said of his goal. "I was trying to give the puck in his hands. I trust him more than myself, but I just saw three guys around me and I had nothing I could do, so I just shot the puck and it went it."
The Oilers were able to fend off the Kings for the rest of the third after taking the lead, and Evander Kane scored into an empty net with Kings goalie Joonas Korpisalo on the bench for an extra attacker for the 4-2 final.
"In both games I thought we controlled the bulk of the play and there were a couple of minutes we'd like to have back in both games," Woodcroft said. "In the end we found a way to win the game tonight."
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner made 22 saves for his first Stanley Cup Playoff win. Skinner became the Oilers first rookie goalie to win a playoff game since Grant Fuhr in 1982. Andy Moog was the only other Edmonton rookie goalie to win a postseason game, in 1981.
"That's pretty cool," Skinner said. "Obviously I'm very grateful just to be in the position that I'm in and I'm excited to keep going here and hopefully we can do some damage."