Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

While it wasn’t the outcome they had hoped for, the Los Angeles Kings were involved in a wild game last night in Edmonton. Down 1-0 for much of the game and being tagged with a disallowed goal late in regulation, the hometown Oilers retaliated, scoring with just four seconds to go in the third period. The player who scored: one Nail Yakupov who potted just his second-career NHL goal. Entering the season, there was a lot of expectation surrounding 2012’s first-overall draft selection and so far, he’s looking good. But did his celebration go too far?

Initially, I was upset at how Yakupov reacted, making a running start and sliding across the ice on his knees akin to a soccer celebration. Most fans have said that the celebration was justified, that hockey needs more of what Yakupov did and despite my allegiances lying with his opponent last night, I have to agree.

As frustrating as it was to see the winless Kings get a victory snatched away from them in the final seconds, I do have to give Nail Yakupov the benefit of the doubt for not skating over to the Los Angeles bench and taunting them and not celebrating after, say, a meaningless first period goal which some of his fellow countrymen have done, most notably Alex Ovechkin. It has always gotten on my nerves to see players showboating after a goal but for a 19-year-old rookie who tied the game in the dying seconds after being denied a goal multiple times earlier, there are worse things worth crying foul over.

I’ll admit it: the only thing about the celebration that bothered me was that it was against the Kings. Had Yakupov done the same thing against, say, the Canucks or the Ducks, I would have loved it right off the bat. In fact, a couple years ago when Edmonton’s Linus Omark made a spin-o-rama in the shootout before scoring to win a game against Tampa Bay, the only ones who took issue with the goal were the defeated Lightning players and understandably so. Their team had just lost so one would take something like that as a case of rubbing salt into the wounds. I never saw any issue with Omark’s goal then. Heck, I didn’t even mind a decade earlier when former NFL wideout Terrell Owens pulled a sharpie from his sock to sign the football he scored a touchdown with. So, if I didn’t mind those gestures, how could I take exception to this one? Los Angeles forward Jarret Stoll for one wasn’t too happy about Yakupov’s celebration and I can’t blame him. With that said, the Russian rookie was caught up in the moment and even admitted that he meant no ill will towards the Kings. As long as the latter’s true, then it’s okay.

The Los Angeles Kings, however, will surely have February 19 circled on their calendars as that is when the next time they meet the Oilers as the two teams face off at Rexall Place once again. Whether there will be any retribution remains to be seen but given that it’s nearly an entire month away, I would be very surprised to see Nail Yakupov get his just desserts. Maybe one of the Kings will try suckering him into a fight but don’t expect any lowbrow cheap shots heading the rookie’s way.

Yakupov’s celebration certainly is the hot topic today and as far as I’m concerned, let the rookie have his due. After all, his slide across the ice certainly was original and considering what the NHL has been through the last few months with the lockout, this is just the type of entertainment the fans need. Should it happen after every goal? No, but every once in a while and if the timing’s appropriate, then it’s best to go nuts just as long as it’s not detrimental to the opposing team – and a fine example of that is what Yakupov did last night. But what was a fantastic way to send a game into overtime was conversely a lousy way to remain winless. The sooner the Los Angeles Kings move on from this, the better and a win in Phoenix tomorrow night will put the defending champs back on track. Heck, by the time they see Nail Yakupov and the Oilers again, hopefully the Kings will look more like the team we saw last spring as opposed to the one we saw this past week.

EDMONTON – What started out as an instructional video on how not to be disciplined turned out to be a finish for the ages as the Edmonton Oilers, down 1-0 for much of the game, scored with just four seconds to go in regulation and winning it on a power play goal in overtime to blow the roof off Rexall Place picking up their first home win of the season.

The Oilers appeared to have the wind taken out of their sails with 1:05 to go in regulation as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored to tie but the goal was disallowed as Edmonton’s Sam Gagner had his skate caught in the pad of Jonathan Quick interfering with the netminder. The no goal caused a vicious backlash from the Rexall faithful who threw debris on the ice in addition to chanting obscenities. Nevertheless, the goal did not stand but the Oilers did not give in. Edmonton won a late face off and 2012 first-overall pick Nail Yakupov pounced on the rebound and scored to tie. As exciting as the goal was, the celebration was better as Yakupov sped past centre ice and slid on his knees past his own blueline before dropping his head to the ice in disbelief. It is a highlight that will surely be on all of the “Best of 2013” at year’s end.

Then, in overtime, the Kings were caught with too many men for the second time (almost a third) and the Oilers took advantage as Sam Gagner, the scapegoat for the disallowed goal, got his revenge and scored in front to give Edmonton the win and leave the defending champs winless.

Before allowing the overtime goal, the Los Angeles Kings had killed off all eight of their penalties including a 5-on-3 early in the second period. Jonathan Quick, who looked shaky, in his first game and a little better in his second, was spectacular tonight stopping 37 shots frustrating the Oilers attack for just nearly the whole night. Of course, given the end result, that likely provides very little solace for the Conn Smythe winner.

The game was scoreless until just over halfway through the second as Kyle Clifford sent Jeff Carter in on a breakaway where he made no mistake deking out Devan Dubyk and going upstairs to put Los Angeles on the board. For Clifford, he has now not only scored in each of the Kings’ three games thus far but he has been in on all of their goals so far (two goals and two assists to be exact).

While they still aren’t putting in the results, Los Angeles’ urgency has become progressively better. They hit a few posts tonight and had some quality scoring chances along the way. What stands out unfortunately is their power play which has been, for lack of a better term, atrocious. The Kings were 0-for-7 with the man-advantage tonight including four 5-on-3 advantages. Overall, the Kings are now 0-for-19 on the power play and only they and the Detroit Red Wings have yet to score a power-play goal this season. Whatever needs to be done to address this needs to be taken care of right away as this type of futility is simply unacceptable, especially against a team (with all due respect to the Oilers) who gave up six first-period goals to San Jose last game.

While Carter’s goal was highlight-reel calibre, Los Angeles’ offense needs to step it up a few notches. While Kyle Clifford is impressive, the likes of Kopitar, Brown and Richards all need to wake up and start putting the puck into the net. Despite their late-game collapse, the Kings had everything working tonight. The penalty-kill in regulation was superb, Quick was magnificent and even the injury-riddled defense looked sharp, particularly Alec Martinez and Drew Doughty. However, if the Kings could have scored just one more goal, we would be talking about Los Angeles’ first win. Alas, we’re not as the Kings’ coaching staff should have their hands full solving their team’s anemic offense.

Nevertheless, the Kings are getting progressively better and they hope to continue that Saturday night as the silver-and-black travel to Glendale for a Western Final rematch with the hated Phoenix Coyotes.