Recent whales washed up in Orange County show evidence of poisoning from toxic algae

• April 24, 2025

Of the four whales that have washed up on Orange and Los Angeles county beaches this year, two had high levels of domoic acid poisoning confirmed in their systems, leading marine mammal experts to say it caused their deaths.

Since February, marine rescue centers have been overwhelmed responding to sea lions, dolphins and birds found sick and dying on local beaches from Ventura County to Orange County, poisoned by unusually early blooms of toxic algae.

“This is the first time in Orange County that we’ve seen whales strand during bloom events and confirm it’s related,” said Dr. Alissa Deming, chief veterinarian at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. “It just speaks volumes, such a high variety of animals being impacted over such a large area.”

Confirmation of the poisoning — caused when the animals ingest small bait fish and shellfish that have consumed the toxic algae — was announced on Wednesday, April 23, after researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tested samples taken from the dead whales.

Poisoning was confirmed in a humpback whale found dead in Huntington Beach in January and in a minke whale that was observed swimming in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor and later washed up on the shore of the Los Angeles River earlier this month.

“We’ve never seen levels this high,” said Keith Matassa, a marine biologist who runs the Ocean Animal Response and Research Alliance, a nonprofit that is contracted with the city of Los Angeles to respond to dead marine life on the beaches. “When you open them up, it looks fine.”

But the evidence of toxicity is found in the stomach, feces, urine, fluid from the eyes and in brain and heart samples, he said.

Deming and Matassa, who have been teaming up to do the necropsies, said that while whales have not been found with the toxin before in Southern California, they are not surprised by the results of the minke and humpback because both species feed on anchovies and sardines, same as sea lions and dolphins do.

Results for samples taken from two gray whales — one that washed up in Huntington Beach this month and one found on Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles County — are still being tested. They are expected back next week, Deming said.

Deming said toxin poisoning wouldn’t typically be on her radar for gray whales as a probable cause of death, because they usually don’t feed during their migration from Mexico to Alaska. But, she said her suspicion increased because the whale recently found in Huntington Beach was in good body condition.

The typical causes of death among gray whales are ship strikes or entanglements, she said. But there was no evidence of that in the recent whale’s death.

“If they are hungry and start eating on their migration because there’s not enough food in Alaska, maybe they are at risk of exposure,” Deming said.

Deming credits the Huntington Beach City Lifeguards and the city manager for working with her and Matassa to make the sample collecting easy.

“That has been groundbreaking for us because historically that hasn’t always been the case,” she said. “So the fact that they’re working collaboratively and facilitating samples, not just from this recent gray whale, but also the humpback in Huntington, which was back in January, they have been excellent partners and that has allowed us to open Pandora’s box to get a better understanding of why the whales are stranding.

“It’s so important.”

The algae bloom is not showing a slowdown and rescue centers in Southern California remain overwhelmed.

Matassa said he was called to 15 dead animals found Tuesday on the shoreline between Venice and Manhattan Beach.

“This whole mortality event is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We’re up to 200 animals and 110 in the month of April. We only see 110 to 130 animals a year. So, we’ve done two years’ worth of work in a month and a half.

“Whales have never been part of these things. This year, it just keeps on going,” he said. “I’ve seen so many dolphins and what makes it even more startling is the fact that a lot of the animals we’re seeing are either carrying pups or calves, or the dolphins are lactating, which leaves the question of what is this going to do to future years.”

Typically, he said, blooms occur in June and July after animals have had their pups.

Deming said she is responding daily to dolphins that are either dead or dying on the shoreline.

“It’s unrelenting, the sheer number of animals that are dying,” she said. “The stamina we need to keep up with it. It’s exhausting, physically, emotionally and financially; it’s really taking a hit on us.”

She said that while the priority is taking care of patients, sometimes recovered animals are sent back to the wild earlier than she would like.

“When you have critical patients on the beach that need a bed in the hospital, we have to send the healthy ones back,” she said. “That’s been the hard part. Our effort in working so hard in getting the animals better and then having to turn around and send them to a home that is not quite healthy for them to return to is just heartbreaking.”

​ Orange County Register 

Why this bright beauty is my favorite flowering succulent

• April 24, 2025

Five things to do in the garden this week:

Perennials: Robertson dewflower (Drosanthemum micans) is my favorite low-growing, flowering succulent. And whatever is in second place is not even close. Picture a generous clump of daisy-like flowers whose petals are a glowing yellow from their base until they suddenly turn a fiery red along their length. The contrast is arresting. Along the coast, Robertson dewflower blooms nearly year-round while inland it flowers mostly during the spring in full sun to light shade. It is hardy down to 25 degrees and, like all succulents, it is easily propagated from shoot cuttings. It is known as dewflower since its foliage appears to be covered with dew on account of moisture-retaining bladder cells. It is related to iceplants, having similar cells on their leaves that may glisten like ice crystals.

Tree crops: You can grow pecans in our area, and the best variety is Western Schley, available from Otto and Sons Nursery in Fillmore. It is self-fruitful, meaning it will produce nuts when planted alone. However, its male flowers open before its female flowers, so it will produce up to its potential only when planted with a pecan whose flowers open in reverse order (females before males). This tree will grow up to a hundred feet tall or more, but you can, of course, keep it smaller by pruning. Many commercial pecan growers keep their trees at a height of 40 feet. Pecan trees have a habit of alternate bearing, meaning they produce heavily one year and lightly or not at all the next. Many varieties of avocados exhibit alternate bearing to one degree or another, although the Gwen avocado is known for producing substantial crops on a yearly basis.

Vegetables: Kohlrabi, although not widely grown, is worth trying. According to Christy Wilhelmi, you can plant its seeds every few weeks during the spring and then harvest it all summer long, since it only requires two months to go from seed germination to maturity. With kohlrabi, bigger is not better. The edible bulbous growth at the base of its leaves should not be allowed to exceed two inches in diameter. If it gets larger than that, it will become tough with a bitter taste. Upon harvesting, peel the skin, steam for eight minutes, and “saute in olive oil or butter for a very potato-like experience.” Cabbage worms (larvae of white cabbage butterflies) are attracted to kohlrabi but planting a trap crop such as nasturtium can solve this problem. A trap crop attracts a pest that would otherwise damage another, edible crop. In this case, the cabbage worms that infest the nasturtium would attract predacious insects that devour them and any cabbage worms that find their way onto the kohlrabi.

Herbs: Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) is one of the most delightful herbs you will ever grow. It is highly attractive with its ferny, dentate leaves. It develops into a symmetrical mound about two feet high and self-sows with alacrity. Flower globes are pinkish and interesting to behold, although they are open, plucked off to push out more of the distinctively captivating foliage. Salad burnet (BUR-nit) is used in garnishes, to flavor drinks, and in salad dressings due to its delicate cucumber flavor. It will survive a frost and show off an evergreen growth habit where winters are warm like ours.

Have you ever thought about putting to beneficial use those cardboard boxes in which Internet fare that arrives at your front door is packaged? Keep in mind that cardboard is made of recycled paper so it will break down like paper, if a bit more slowly because of its thickness. Most cardboard is easily turned into compost, even in one to two months, when mixed into a compost pile that is already heated up. However, it will break down within three to four months if you just cover a single layer of it with freshly cut grass, shrub or hedge prunings, or kitchen leftovers such as fruit peels, vegetable scraps, eggshells, and coffee grounds. Speed up its decomposition by cutting it into strips. Note: Do not try composting with cardboard that has a wax coating since such coatings may not be biodegradable.

Please send your questions and comments to [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

March home sales slowed in a lethargic opening to the spring buying season

• April 24, 2025

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in March, a sluggish start to the spring homebuying season as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective home shoppers.

Existing home sales fell 5.9% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Sales fell 2.4% compared with March last year. The latest home sales fell short of the 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

The average cost of a U.S. mortgage, which climbed to its highest level in two months last week, is a significant barrier for would-be homebuyers, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society,” Yun said.

Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 21st consecutive month, although at a slower rate. The national median sales price rose 2.7% in March from a year earlier to $403,700, an all-time high for March.

There were 1.33 million unsold homes at the end of last month, an 8.1% increase from February, NAR said.

That translates to a 4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 3.2-month pace at the end of March last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Margarita baseball deals JSerra a stinging loss in 9 innings

• April 24, 2025

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — After eight innings of low-scoring baseball, Santa Margarita scored four runs in the ninth inning to beat JSerra 5-1 in a Trinity League game Wednesday at JSerra High.

The win clinched the three-game season series for Santa Margarita (13-10, 5-6) over JSerra for the second consecutive season. Santa Margarita won the first game of the series 3-2 Tuesday on a walk-off two-run single by Carter Enoch.

JSerra (9-12, 4-7) stranded runners in scoring position in multiple innings but the back-breaking out came in the eighth inning. With runners on first and second with two outs, Takashi Rutherford singled to left field but Ben Finnegan threw out JSerra’s runner at the plate to stifle the potential walk-off hit.

Santa Margarita was lifted by the stellar defensive play and broke the game open in the ninth inning. Chase Marlow drew a bases-loaded walk to score the go-ahead run with two outs.

In the ensuing at-bat, Notre Dame commit Warren Gravely IV cleared the bases with a triple that was just past the outstretched arms of JSerra’s center fielder to give the Eagles a 5-1 lead.

“That was tough to come back and win in their yard,” Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec said. “Our guys continued to stay in the fight and continued to stay positive.”

Finnegan’s throw home to preserve the game saved Malec from having to relive a painful memory. Santa Margarita lost to JSerra in the 2023 CIF-SS Division 1 championship game on a walk-off hit in a similar spot, but Finnegan’s throw made Malec exhale.

“That play was so slow developing it was kind of like when you take your 8-year-old bowling and ball rolls five miles per hour and all the sudden he gets a strike,” Malec said. “I had flashbacks to the CIF game a couple of years ago and I thought ‘oh no.’ To get it as quickly as he did and have the ball on-target was just incredible.”

Both starting pitchers were excellent and pitched their way out of jams. Santa Margarita’s Brennan Bauer scattered seven hits over eight innings with one run allowed and five strikeouts.

Bauer has been a varsity contributor for three seasons and is approaching 20 career wins.

“He’s got a four-pitch mix and ultimately he has been pitching in big games since his sophomore year,” Malec said. “He’s got a cool, calm demeanor and is a competitor on the mound. The experience he has let him to be able to compete in these environments.”

JSerra left-hander Otto Graham allowed nine hits but just one run over 6 ⅔innings with three strikeouts.

Finnegan led the fourth inning off with a triple for Santa Margarita and scored on a single by Gavin Spiridonoff to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

JSerra responded in its half of the fourth inning with a solo home run from Oregon State commit Blake Bowen to tie the game.

Eight Santa Margarita players recorded hits and four had multi-hit games. Finnegan went 2 for 5 with a double and a triple. Brody Schumaker had two hits including a leadoff bunt single to start the rally in the ninth inning.

The series win was much needed for Santa Margarita, which entered the week on a five-game losing streak. Santa Margarita was swept by Orange Lutheran last week and was shut out in all three games.

“You fight for every win in the Trinity League,” Malec said. “For the kids to bounce back and show some resilience after a tough week, it’s just a credit to who these kids are.”

The teams entered Wednesday tied for third place in the league standings behind St. John Bosco and Orange Lutheran. The final game of the series is at Santa Margarita on Friday.

​ Orange County Register 

Albano’s Diamond Club: Orange County softball standouts last week

• April 24, 2025

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Dan Albano’s Diamond Club outstanding softball players last week, April 14-19:

Liliana Escobar, JSerra, Jr., P

Escobar fired a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts to lead the Lions to a critical 3-2 win against Santa Margarita in the Trinity League.

Mia Gonzalez, Buena Park, Sr., P

The Bethune-Cookman-bound Gonzalez continued her stellar season by throwing a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts in a 6-0 victory against Katella in the Golden West League.

Katelynn Mathews, Fullerton, Jr., P

Mathews tossed a three-hitter with a season-high 17 strikeouts in a 1-0 victory against Kennedy in an eight-inning  Empire League game.

Cate Medvitz, Orange Lutheran, Jr., C

The left-handed hitting Medvitz went 2 for 4 with a single, home run and four RBIs to help the Lancers defeat La Mirada 13-3 in the finals of the La Mirada Classic. She also made an superb catch on a foul behind home plate for the first out in the bottom of the first inning.

Irma Urincho, Canyon, Sr., 1B

The BYU-bound Urincho had a home run, double and two RBIs in a 5-3 triumph at Esperanza in the Crestview League.

Last week’s Diamond Club (4-16)

​ Orange County Register 

Dana Hills baseball beats Aliso Niguel with walk-off ending to wild contest

• April 24, 2025

DANA POINT – The Dana Hills baseball team committed eight errors Wednesday.

And won.

Dana Hills sophomore Ryan See’s line drive down the left-field line in the bottom of the seventh inning sent home Tommy Moro with the winning run for a 9-8 walk-off victory over Aliso Niguel in a South Coast League game at Dana HIlls High.

“That was a weird one,” See said.

The Dolphins’ chances for securing a playoff berth improved Wednesday. They are 5-5-1 in the five-team South Coast League. Dana Hills’ chief competition for the league’s third and final guaranteed playoff berth most likely is Tesoro, which is 4-4 in league. Aliso Niguel is 5-3 in league.

Trabuco Hills beat Tesoro 3-1 on Wednesday to improve to 5-3 in league to form a first-place tie with Aliso.

Dana Hills (10-12-1 overall) plays its final league game Friday at Aliso Niguel (18-16). Dana Hills will still have three league games remaining, all against Tesoro. Those teams start a three-game series Monday at Tesoro.

“We kind of have our backs against the wall right now,” said Dana Hills coach Tom Faris, “and we’re fighting our way through it.”

Aliso Niguel is No. 13 in the Orange County Top 25 and Dana Hills is not ranked.

The game consumed 3 hours and 2 minutes. The first inning needed 29 minutes to complete. There was only one 1-2-3 inning.

Aliso Niguel trailed at three different times Wednesday, including an 8-7 deficit going into the seventh inning.

Jason Orwat led off the seventh for the Wolverines with a walk and advanced to third base on a single by Hudson Covington. Cooper Flemming reached on an error, with Orwat crossing the plate on the play for an 8-8 tie.

Moro led off the Dana Hills half of the seventh with a single, moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Brad Lewis and scored from second when See pulled a high fastball to left field to end the game.

It was a pitch that See anticipated.

“The last couple of at-bats they threw it up,” he said. “So I was thinking another was going to be up.”

Aliso Niguel scored three runs in the top of the first inning. The left-handed hitting Flemming, who took a .385 batting average into the game, got the first of his three hits to start the game. Flemming, Jarett Sabol and Austin Hays scored in the first with the help of the first two Dana Hills errors.

Dana Hills scored five runs in the bottom of the first in which the Dolphins sent 10 batters to the plate. Two runs came on bases-loaded walks and Ryan Georgia and Luke Blankenship had runs-scoring hits. The inning ended with Dana Hills on top 5-3.

Aliso Niguel tied it two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Flemming contributed an RBI single. The other run was scored on one of Dana Hills’ three errors in the inning.

Dana Hills regained the lead 7-5 with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Brody Bateson, who took a .313 batting average into the game, opened the inning with a single and scored on Evan Daly’s single. An Aliso Niguel error provided the other Dolphins run.

The Wolverines tied it again with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Two Dana Hills errors were involved.

Dana Hills took an 8-7 lead in its half of the fifth. Tommy Burked hit a double and scored on a fielder’s choice.

Aliso Niguel tied the game again in the top of seventh, and See’s hit would get the Dolphins the win in the bottom of that inning.

Faris, in his 21st season coaching Dana Hills baseball, said the Dolphins have been the team that comes out the loser of a dramatic ending.

“We’ve lost three or four league games on that kind of stuff that ends a game,” Faris said. “It’s nice that our guys figured out a way to get through it like this. I’m proud of them.”

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ slumping hitters manage only 2 hits against Pirates

• April 24, 2025

ANAHEIM — The same questions have come at Ron Washington after most of the Angels’ games lately, and he continues to give the same answer.

The Angels are not hitting, including a two-hit performance in a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night, and Washington says simply that they will eventually snap out of this.

“All we can do is keep working,” Washington said. “We’re in an offensive funk right now, and it’s up and down the whole lineup. It’s not just in certain parts of the lineup. It’s up and down. It’s our big boys. It’s our little guys. It’s everybody. So we’ve just got to keep working. One day we’ll walk out there in the near future, and we’ll find ourselves offensively.”

Mike Trout, who went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts to drop his season average to .169, said the “energy’s down” since the Angels got off to a hot start. The Angels improved to 8-4 with a 10-run, six-homer outburst on April 10 in Tampa.

Since then, the Angels (11-12) have lost eight of 11 games, dropping under .500 for the first time since they were 0-1. They’ve averaged 2.4 runs in those games, surpassing four runs just once and getting shut out twice.

They’ve hit .186 and struck out in 33% of their plate appearances. The major league average strikeout rate is 22.4%.

“Obviously, things aren’t going our way,” Trout said, “but we’ve got to stay positive, and you know keep pulling for each other.”

Washington said they’ve addressed the hitters as a group, trying to kickstart the offense, but ultimately each player has to do what’s necessary to get out of this rut. He said he’s not worried about their confidence right now.

“They’re confident,” Washington said. “They’re not down on themselves. They know they’re better than what they’re showing, and I know they’re better than what they’re showing. So all we’ll do is keep grinding. We’re only in the first month. If we can get it out right now, I’m good with that. And then we can do what we have to do the rest of the way. We’re just in an offensive funk. It is up and down the lineup, not in one area.”

On Wednesday night it was former Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney who kept them in a funk.

Heaney struck out nine in six innings, including the first six hitters of the game. The Angels didn’t have a baserunner until Travis d’Arnaud doubled with one out in the fifth. Nolan Schanuel then reached on an error, giving the Angels a brief glimmer of a rally.

But Luis Rengifo then hit a fly ball to center and Kyren Paris struck out.

The Angels didn’t have another baserunner until Jorge Soler’s double in the ninth inning.

The offensive outage has put more pressure on Angels pitchers, and on this night right-hander Jack Kochanowicz did all he could to keep the Angels close.

Kochanowicz gave up two runs in six innings, which was an improvement after he’d given up 10 runs in 9⅓ innings in his previous two starts.

“I thought he was real good,” Washington said. “His stuff was crisp tonight. He had a lot of ground balls. He had a lot of traffic throughout the game, but he was able to pitch around it, and that’s who he is. He doesn’t strike out guys. But he did get the ball on the ground a lot tonight. His four-seam was real crisp. And then he came later on in the game and the sinker started working.”

It was a typical Kochanowicz game, in that he only struck out three and walked one. He induced eight groundouts, including three double plays.

There were also plenty of balls that eluded Angels fielders, accounting for eight hits.

The defense had no shot at one of them, a 463-foot homer from Oneil Cruz. Kochanowicz hung a slider and Cruz blasted it at 116.6 mph, bouncing it off the green hitter’s background beyond the trees past the center field fence.

Although Washington acknowledged the hard contact against Kochanowicz, he said he didn’t mind it because of the results.

“He had a lot of hard contact, but he only gave up two runs in six innings,” Washington said. “If every time he takes the ball he gives up two runs in six innings, I will take it.”

After Kochanowicz was finished, left-hander Reid Detmers entered for his best outing of the season.

Detmers pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four, without a walk.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings ride revitalized power play to Game 2 win, 2-0 series lead on Oilers

• April 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — A pair of three-goal onslaughts powered the Kings past the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2, on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena, where the hosts took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series.

The Kings have lost just twice all season, and never in regulation, when scoring three goals or more, and they’ve won 33 of 43 games on home ice, including both in the playoffs.

“We’ve been a really strong home team this year. We got the home-ice advantage. Going into the series, that was our mentality, that we’d build off what we’d done all year at home,” said Adrian Kempe, who asserted himself with two goals and two assists. “Tonight we came out and played a really solid 60 minutes, and I think we were the better team throughout both games.”

The Kings have turned the special-teams angle 180 degrees, now amassing five power-play goals and allowing none through two games after allowing nine power-play goals and two more right after penalties while scoring none in last year’s five-game loss.

The series shifts to Edmonton for Game 3 on Friday night and Game 4 on Sunday night.

“It feels good. That was what we were looking to do. We played two really solid games at home,” Kempe said. “The job’s not done, we’ve got to go up there and win at least one game, otherwise it’s going to be tough to win the series.”

Captain Anže Kopitar matched Kempe’s point total with a goal and three assists, and their other linemate, Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist to make both his first two playoff appearances multipoint efforts. Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke each lit the lamp, while Warren Foegele chipped in two assists. Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves.

Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson tallied for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner wobbled again, stopping 23 of 28 shots before the Oilers summoned Calvin Pickard from the bench.

Kempe now has 14 goals and 26 points in 20 career playoff games, all of which came against Edmonton, which bounced the Kings from each of the past three postseasons. He leads all NHL postseason scorers with three goals and seven points.

After the Kings took a 3-0 lead for the second straight game, they also faced a similar impasse as in Game 1. There, they retroceded a four-goal advantage and needed a last-minute, tie-breaking goal by Phillip Danault to win. Wednesday, they saw their three-goal margin diminish to one, but Kempe scored a goal, notched another and set up Kopitar in between to leave the Oilers in his dust.

“We’d been here before, two days ago it was kind of the same thing,” said Clarke, who got the ball rolling with a power-play goal, his first career playoff point. “We knew they weren’t going to go away, we knew they had some of the best players in the world and we knew they were going to fight tooth-and-nail to the end, so we were going to do the same thing.”

A late goal in the second period begat an early one in the third for Edmonton once again on Wednesday, this one by the former King Arvidsson. “The Little Viking” contributed a huge marker as he battled hard in front to expertly tip Brett Kulak’s shot skyward at the 4:05 mark.

From there, the Kings outright owned Edmonton, ensuring there’d be no late-game heroics like the ones from Connor McDavid and chums on Monday. McDavid, who had three primary assists and the tying goal before the Kings prevailed 6-5 in Game 1, was held scoreless Wednesday and looked on as Kempe established himself as the man of the match.

Arvidsson’s giveaway – he fanned on a pass deep in his own zone and had his pocket picked by Kopitar – led directly to Kempe’s goal 2:41 after Arvidsson scored. Kopitar found Kempe zooming past the right faceoff dot for a far-side snipe, after which Kempe calmly skated to the corner, sans celebration.

They tacked on another goal, their third on the power play, with 10:53 left in the contest. Kempe hit Fiala, whose seam pass got by Kuzmenko at the netfront, but sailed on to Kopitar for a backdoor redirect that sealed Edmonton’s fate.

For good measure, Kempe scored again, this time off the rush, 2:02 later by way of a shot that entered and exited the net instantaneously. It was a cold welcome to the game for Pickard after he had just come on to relieve Skinner.

The Kings stretched their lead to three goals with tallies 4:14 and 10:37 into the second period before handing one back at 13:54 to lug a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

Draisaitl broke up Kuemper’s shutout, as he did in Game 1, after he found quiet ice during a puck battle that ultimately got the puck to John Klingberg. Klingberg, who was unavailable for Game 1, spotted Draisaitl cutting to the net and lofted a shot that he tipped past Kuemper. It was Draisaitl’s 19th goal in 20 postseason games against the Kings, cutting the score to 3-1 in favor of the black and silver.

Draisaitl was blunt but nondescript in assessing the Oilers’ special-teams underperformance and defensive woes after they allowed 12 goals in two games, including five while shorthanded.

“They’re just winning that battle right now. They’re beating us in that department. We’ve got to fix some things and be better,” Draisaitl said.

He added: “Way too many [goals]. We’re just a little slow right now, and again, it’s something we have to fix.”

To make it 3-0, the Kings had struck for a second time with the extra man, with both goals going to the player who drew the penalty.

In this case, it was Kuzmenko, producing his second man-advantage marker in as many games. Kempe’s one-timer banked off the end boards and right to Kuzmenko, who popped in the putback.  He had drawn a hooking call against Trent Frederic to earn the opportunity.

Before that, Byfield scored the second goal of the game for the second consecutive contest. While Draisaitl got into a shoving match with Vladislav Gavrikov at the right-wing boards high in the zone, Byfield darted in to outnumber Evan Bouchard at the net before he feathered the puck past Skinner.

Through 20 minutes, the Kings were out-shot 11-6 but still led 1-0, again winning the once-elusive special-teams battle.

They killed two first-period penalties – the first of which in large part due to a deft pad save by Kuemper on Zach Hyman’s point-blank bid and Gavrikov’s swift clearing of the rebound – and scored on their only power-play chance, 8:44 after puck-drop.

Clarke drew the penalty, a cross-check on Evander Kane, who played for the first time all season Wednesday, and scored the goal with time winding down on Kane’s infraction. Clarke joined the rush and drove the net, where Foegele found him for a redirection thanks in part to a poorly executed sliding block attempt by Nurse, one of two he had in the period.

“We’ve executed better. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’re up two games to zero and we’re really happy with where we’re at,” Clarke said. “We know they’re really strong, they’re going to make adjustments, they’re going to come out firing and they’re going to be excited to play in front of their home fans. We’ve done a good job of holding it down at home and we’re really confident with where we’re at, but we’ve still got to execute.”

​ Orange County Register