The Edmonton Oilers may have been on the road for the past two games of their series against the Los Angeles Kings, but the distance of nearly 2,000 miles was not enough to keep one Edmonton fan from getting in the opponents’ heads.
Before the puck dropped on Game 4 on Sunday, the Kings, while making their way down the Crypto.com Arena hallway, were met with a hand in their face. Multiple players tried to reciprocate the fan’s high-five request but were met with a disrespectful flinch.
While the old “down low, too slow” always gets a laugh, Kings forward Gabriel Vilardi was not impressed, and could be seen exchanging insults with the fan before the broadcast cut away.
The bright orange sleeve should have been a dead giveaway.
I would high-five this #Oilers fan… after he super psyched out the Kings with fake high-fives pic.twitter.com/1aLkqndKJA
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) April 24, 2023
Did the psych-out work? Perhaps not, as Vilardi ended up scoring the first goal of the game, getting one past Stuart Skinner in the first period. Things went from bad to worse for Edmonton, who found themselves down 3-0 after 20 minutes.
After Jack Campbell replaced a struggling Skinner, Edmonton fought the large deficit in the second with a goal from Evan Bouchard and two from Leon Draisaitl to tie the game.
Both teams exchanged goals in the third to force overtime. Rather than going down 3-1 in the series, the Oilers were persistent enough to go home with a win as forward Zach Hyman silenced the LA crowd with a quick wrist shot goal assisted by Evan Bouchard.
The fifth game of the series is set for Tuesday in Edmonton at 7:30 pm MT.
Follow Channels and Categories