Do you believe in miracles? Neither do the Los Angeles Kings. So they shut Edmonton’s stunning comeback attempt dead in its tracks Monday. After letting a 5-2 lead deteriorate into a 5-5 tie on last-minute goals from Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid, the Kings spoiled one of the greatest rallies in Oilers history with a flukey game-winner with 41.1 seconds left in regulation. And, in the end, a third period for the ages ended up in a heartbreaking 6-5 loss in Game 1 of their Pacific Division playoff series.
It was wild. The Oilers were down 2-0 after the first period. They were down 4-1 after the second. They were down 5-2 in the third. They were two men short for two full minutes with the score 5-3. And they almost pulled it off. But just as fans in Los Angeles were asking themselves if what they were watching was real, Phillip Danault’s floating knuckler grazed Stuart Skinner’s shoulder and sent the Oilers to defeat. Tough loss, but after the first 40 minutes it will at least give the Oilers some hope moving forward. And that wasn’t the case in the second intermission.
The hope going in was that the Oilers would tear open the curtain, unleash a healthy lineup, flick the switch and pick up right where they left off in last year’s playoffs. Instead, they picked up right where they left off during the regular season. Losing to Los Angeles. All of the bad things that had people worrying during the regular season showed up and burned them badly. They started slowly and dug a hole. They fell into a long second-period lapse (four shots). They made the big mistakes to give up goals against. Skinner gave up four goals on the first 17 shots. And Evan Bouchard’s habit of burying his team with careless mistakes cost them two goals in three minutes and ultimately led to the defeat.
First, it was a blind, backhand pass up the boards to an L.A. player, then he chased the puck behind the net, leaving Adrian Kempe all day and night to make it 3-0 at 14:47 of the second period. A couple of shifts later, he slid a pass from behind his net right to Philip Danault in the slot to make it 4-0 at 17:43. Those are the kind of mistakes that can kill you in the playoffs, and they did in Game 1.
Edmonton made a furious push, with Draisaitl scoring in the final seconds of the second period, Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry scoring at 2:19 and 7:43 of the third period, and then Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid scoring with Edmonton’s net empty to tie it. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Through 40 minutes, the thought of Game 1 finishing with a score of 6-5 didn’t seem possible, but that uncertainty and wildness is what makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs so great. The Los Angeles Kings seemed to have everything under control, playing the same way they played at Crypto.com Arena all season, suffocating the Edmonton Oilers defensively and capitalizing on the offensive chances they created, but their inability to stop the storm of what is the Oilers’ star power changed the complexion of the game in a matter of minutes.
The Kings at one point had a 4-0 lead with just a few minutes remaining in the second period and then a 5-2 lead early on in the third. Comfortably ahead is what the Kings were for most of this game, until they weren’t. An almost epic collapse that saw the Kings allow the Oilers to pot four goals in the third period to tie the game up at five was saved by Phillip Danault, whose fluttering floater of a shot somehow made its way over Stuart Skinner and into the back of the net with 41 seconds to go.
In dramatic fashion and in a rather ugly way, the Kings managed to pull out the win, and in the playoffs, that’s all that matters. “Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of closing that game off, but you know a win’s a win, and we’ll take that, we’ll enjoy it, and then move on tomorrow,” Quinton Byfield said. “No lead is safe in playoffs.”
Heading into this first-round matchup, knowing what has played key parts in the previous series that have featured these two teams, we know just how important special teams are when up against the Oilers. There weren’t many areas the Kings struggled in throughout the regular season, but the power play was definitely one of them. Nothing seemed to click on the man-advantage until Andrei Kuzmenko was brought in, and it wasn’t until his addition that we saw any real progress or improvement.
With just a few games left in the regular season, the Kings formed a five-forward power play unit in which Kuzmenko was featured on, that looked dangerous right away. Both of those changes to the power play unit were on full display in Game 1 as the Kings were able to capitalize on the man-advantage twice. After losing to the Oilers in five games in Round 1 last season and not scoring a single goal on the power play (went 0/12), this is already a huge sign of improvement and proof that this year’s group has more to offer.
“There’s no secret that our power play numbers this year were not where we wanted them or needed them to be, but then at the same time, we are entering the time of the season where the timely goals are huge, so getting the first one tonight and scoring about five seconds into the 5-on-3 you know those are timely goals and we are going to need that going forward,” Anze Kopitar said.
The five-forward power play unit was on the ice for both goals, and Kuzmenko was involved in both as well, scoring his first career playoff goal off a slick feed from Kevin Fiala and picking up the secondary assist in Fiala’s power play goal early on in the third. The vision that general manager Rob Blake had for Kuzmenko when he acquired him at the trade deadline has been executed to a tee.
On the flip side, the penalty kill, an area the Kings excelled in all season, found success in Game 1, making the Oilers’ lethal top power play unit look like nothing special. It’s no secret that the Oilers’ top power play unit is one of a kind, and more often than not, they will burn you. Limiting how much of an impact their power play has starts with taking minimal trips to the box, and the Kings had no issues with their discipline, only allowing the Oilers two power play opportunities. Throughout those two opportunities, the Kings had no trouble killing them off, only allowing the Oilers a total of two shots on goal.
Holding onto leads and closing out games in the third period has been the Kings’ bread and butter all season, but when it comes down to the playoffs and Connor McDavid is on the other side, no lead is safe. McDavid has constantly proven his ability to single-handedly take over games, and in a game that seemed out of reach for the Oilers at one point, their captain was there once again to drag them back into it.
For a team that makes it so hard to score against them, a 4-0 lead with less than 30 seconds left in the second period should be enough of a cushion. The Oilers essentially had nothing going for them offensively throughout the first two periods, and like I mentioned in my series preview, whenever it’s difficult for the Oilers to generate anything, they immediately resort to pairing up McDavid and Leon Draisaitl because the truth is, no matter how good and structured you are defensively, those two forwards will find a way to penetrate and produce.
That was exactly what happened with six seconds left in the second period, when McDavid got loose before teeing up Draisaitl near the slot. That was all the momentum McDavid and the Oilers needed in the third period as he went on to collect two primary assists on plays he essentially created out of nothing, as well as his first goal of the postseason, which tied the game at five.
Winning Game 1 was crucial. Teams that win Game 1 of a series go on to win the series 68.6% of the time, and home teams that win Game 1 are 75.1% winners. While the odds are certainly in the Kings’ favor after last night’s win, there are more reasons why winning Game 1 was so important. First off, you can’t have a 4-0 lead at home in the playoffs and end up losing that game. If the Kings lost last night after having multi-goal leads multiple times, I can’t imagine what that would have done to their mental game.
For a team that hasn’t been able to get past the Oilers in the first round for three straight years and has had their season ended in one less game each year, the last thing you want to do is kick off a fresh new chance by blowing that kind of lead. Instead, the Kings have a 1-0 series lead, are undefeated against the Oilers at Crypto.com Arena, and have the chance to continue their dominance at home in Game 2 on Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles.
