While the playoff meetings for the Los Angeles Kings with the Edmonton Oilers have been one-sided as of late, that hasn't always been the case. In fact, the Kings had one of the greatest comebacks ever in the playoffs against the Oilers.
In the 1981-82 season, the Edmonton Oilers ran away from the rest of the Smythe Division and finished the season with 111 points, 34 points more than the Vancouver Canucks, who finished second, and 48 points more than the Kings.
There was no shortage of offense in this series between the Oilers and Kings as the Kings would win Game 1 by the final score of 10-8. The Oilers would bounce back in Game 2 to win 3-2 in overtime to tie the series at 1.
Miracle on Manchester was the turning point of the series for the LA Kings
After the first two games in Edmonton, the series headed to Los Angeles for Game 3, where the Edmonton Oilers built a commanding 5-0 lead over the first two periods with Mark Messier getting the scoring started and Wayne Gretzky having four points with two goals and two assists.
However, the Kings turned it around quickly as they scored two goals in the first six minutes of the period with Jay Wells scoring first followed by Doug Smith adding another goal on the power play. It was still only 5-2 at that point and it wasn't until the final five minutes or so that the Kings were able to really close the gap.
With around 5:30 left in the third period, Charlie Simmer added a goal and Mark Hardy wasn't far behind as he scored just two minutes after that. The Kings still needed a miracle being down a goal and got it with five seconds left in regulation when Steve Bozek scored a power play goal.
The comeback would have to be completed in overtime and it was when Daryl Evans scored off an assist by Doug Smith.
Even with the incredible comeback in Game 3, the series was far from over and the Oilers would take Game 4 before heading back to Edmonton for the final game of the series. The Kings jumped out to a two goal lead before Edmonton fought back to make it 3-2 after one period.
The second period was all Kings as they scored three straight goals to take a 6-2 lead en route to a 7-4 victory.
When considering how dominant the Oilers were that season, it would have been easy for the Kings to just give up after falling down 5-0 and it probably would have been the end of that series if Oilers won that game and went up 2-1. However, it was truly a magical game as the Kings found a way to come back and force overtime in the final seconds and go on to win that game and eventually the series.