EDMONTON — Desperation is a heck of a motivator, and now the Edmonton Oilers have some life.

The Kings erased a two-goal deficit and held a lead to begin the third period, but Edmonton scored four third-period goals – including two by Evander Kane and Evan Bouchard 10 seconds apart – to earn a 7-4 win and cut the Kings’ series lead to 2-1 on Friday night at Rogers Place.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday night in Edmonton.

“We’ll take a rest just like we did after we won the games,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “Take a look at it, regroup just like they did. It might sound a little boring, but I think this is how these things go. It’s emotional, the crowd is emotional, we’re emotional, so we’ve just got to cool our heads out and get ready to play another hockey game.”

Game 3 had everything, and the Oilers’ first win of the Western Conference first-round series didn’t lack for drama.

Oilers forward Evander Kane scored his first goal of the series on a goalmouth scramble that saw him jam away at the puck and finally put it past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper with 6:42 left in the third period to tie the score at 4-all.

Officials reviewed it for a kicking motion and ruled it a good goal. The Kings gambled and challenged for goaltender interference, and lost, giving Edmonton a power play. Just 10 seconds later, Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard scored his second power-play goal of the game with a nifty redirect while on the rush for a 5-4 lead that stood as the game-winner.

“We got a good look at and had plenty of time and we felt it was goalie interference and we challenged it,” Hiller said. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and tonight we lost and it cost us big time.

“We understand the situation. We don’t want to give them a power play, but clearly we felt the challenge was in our favor, and the league disagreed and we (have to) move on.”

Connor McDavid scored into an empty net with 1:40 remaining and Connor Brown added his second of the night on another empty-netter to secure the victory.

The Kings have been feasting on the power play in this series, and they scored two more man-advantage goals in Game 3. They have scored seven power-play goals on 15 chances in the series, but Edmonton’s dormant power play came to life when the Oilers needed it most – converting twice in the victory.

“It (was) a tough stretch for us (in the third), no question, but that’s playoff hockey,” Hiller said.

“They executed very well. We had a chance to break one up, and we didn’t break it up. I’m sure they’d like some of the ones back we scored on them too. We will have to be better in those situations, but it’s been good hockey. It’s two teams going at it pretty good.”

After falling behind 2-0 on goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Bouchard less than nine minutes into the contest, things could have really gone off the rails for the Kings, but they settled in and Adrian Kempe’s fourth goal of the series late in the period cut Edmonton’s lead in half.

The Kings’ red-hot power play scored on both its chances in the second period to take a 3-2 lead.

Kevin Fiala worked his way open and ripped a shot past Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard, who was making his first start of the series, to tie the score at 2-2.

Drew Doughty’s point shot on the power play just over 15 minutes into the second period gave the Kings their first lead of the night.

Brown scored just 2:14 later to knot the score at 3-3, but Trevor Moore restored the Kings lead just nine seconds later when he drove to the net and outmuscled Oilers defenseman Jake Walman and chipped the puck with one hand and got it through Pickard’s legs.

“We knew they were going to come out hard. It’s their home rink, and they obviously didn’t like the way the first two games went,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “It was maybe a slower start giving up a couple, but we found a way to regroup.”

The Kings knew the Oilers would be desperate to avoid a 3-0 series hole, and they were able to stave off some early chances in the third period, but Edmonton kept pressing.

When Kane and Bouchard teamed up to give Edmonton the lead, the Kings pushed back hard to try and tie it but they couldn’t get one past Pickard, who finished with 24 saves.

“It sucks, but if you look at it, we’re still in a good place, and we get to come back in two nights and get another stab at it,” Anderson said.

Kempe, Moore and Doughty all collected one goal and one assist for the Kings. Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault both notched a pair of assists. Kuemper had 29 saves.

McDavid finished with a goal and two assists, while Brown scored twice. Kane added an assist to his goal, while Hyman and Leon Draisaitl both recorded two assists.

The Kings have lost two third-period leads through the first three games of the series, and while they were able to respond quickly in the final minute of Game 1 to get the win, the Oilers, and in particular Pickard were able to shut the door down the stretch in Game 3.

Is there any reason for concern for the Kings?

“No. The first one was more concerning than this one I think,” Doughty said. “We’re a good defensive team, we’ve got great goaltending, and everyone checks, everyone does their job. I’m not concerned about it.”

“We’re going to forget about this game. We didn’t play poorly, there’s no doubt in my mind about that. We had a good game, they played well too … but we have to move on and get to the next game.”

The Oilers, who have eliminated the Kings in the first round the past three seasons, have new life.

“We’ve got a lot of character. We’re going to go down swinging, if we go down,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve created that approach here and that attitude within this organization and we’re not going to back down until we’re out.”

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