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Balanced Oilers pounce on Kings’ miscues for 3-2 series lead

April 26, 2023

EDMONTON, Alberta — What not to do when you are trying to regain lost momentum …

• Take an early penalty.

• Continue to take penalties against the league’s best power play.

That hardly covered the Kings’ error-riddled performance in Game 5 on Tuesday night – a 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place – but that is a decent start at getting the general idea across.

The early messaging?

“Move on,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “That’s obviously not good enough, wasn’t close to good enough. Probably doesn’t get you a win in Game 2 of the regular season. So move on.”

Said Kings captain Anze Kopitar: “I just think we’ve got to play more assertive right from the start. It’s the start that we didn’t want tonight and didn’t need.

“More desperate and a lot more assertive.”

The Oilers now lead the best-of-seven, first-round playoff series 3-2. A year ago, the Kings were the team that held a 3-2 series lead before the Oilers went on to win in seven games in the opening round.

This time, there is a sizable gap in the schedule as Game 6 is on Saturday at Cyrpto.com Arena, which conceivably could help the Kings regroup, reset … or whatever word you want to use.

One Kings player who will need the rest and plenty of ice is Drew Doughty, who blocked a Connor McDavid shot in the second period and looked to be in discomfort. Doughty stayed in the game but didn’t quite look like his usual self.

Another looming issue: Which Kings goaltender should get the start for the elimination game?

That will be one of the many questions facing the Kings leading up to Game 6. Starting goaltender Joonas Korpisalo was pulled at 11:49 of the second period for Pheonix Copley after allowing four goals on 19 shots. Copley faced eight shots and allowed two goals in what was his first NHL playoff game.

“They do a good job every night,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “(Korpisalo) has been playing great for us all series. We can’t ask too much from them. Obviously, it’s hard to come in, in this building, for (Copley), who hadn’t played in a little while. We’ve got to be better in front of them, for sure.”

The other Kings player making his NHL playoff debut was defenseman Sean Walker, who drew in for veteran Alexander Edler. Walker got the word on Monday that he would be in the lineup for Game 5. Walker missed almost all of the 2021-22 season with torn knee ligaments which required surgery.

“It’s great,” Walker said of making his playoff debut. “Obviously would have been nice to be with the guys last year. With the injury and all, I couldn’t. But I was happy to get in there. Hopefully, next game can contribute a little more to helping the team get a win.”

The winning recipe for Edmonton went well beyond the McDavid/Leon Draisaitl Show. Thirteen different Oilers landed on the scoresheet, including McDavid, who had two assists, and Draisaitl, who scored his sixth goal of the series. Nick Bjugstad scored twice, his first goals of the series.

The Oilers scored three times in the first period, twice in the second and once in the third. They went 2 for 3 on the power play, and the Kings, who didn’t get their first power play until the third period, went 0 for 1 with the man advantage.

The Kings got goals from Alex Iafallo and Kempe, both in the first period, and Quinton Byfield, in the third. It was Byfield’s first career playoff goal. Kempe had the primary assist on Iafallo’s goal, which pulled the Kings to 2-1 at 13:12.

Byfield started the game on the first line and dropped to the third line by the end of the first period and then the fourth line, by virtue of a dreadful defensive effort in the first period. He was minus-two after the first 20 minutes, on the ice for the Oilers’ second and third goals.

That the Kings were only trailing 3-2 after the first period had a lot to do with the collective effort leading to Iafallo’s goal and the stellar individual showing by Kempe, who cut their deficit to one goal. It also had plenty to do with a mistake-filled showing by Edmonton in the opening period.

“It was overwhelming early in the game but when we made it 3-2 – we had an opportunity to get back in,” McLellan said. “The fourth one really hurt us obviously. From there, there was no catching up.”

It didn’t take a long, winding summation to break down what went wrong.

“There was some defensive zone stuff,” McLellan said. “The first two low goals, we were beat in certain situations. Two on the power play again. And that’s the night.”

That the Oilers rallied from a similar deficit a year ago is not applicable.

“We have to write our own stories,” McLellan said. “We can’t rely on what they did to us last year. … I’m sure their coach was saying the same thing last year. We have to bring our best to Game 6 to even have an opportunity at the series.

“And I’m confident our group can do that.”

Orange County Register

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Balanced Oilers pounce on Kings’ miscues for 3-2 series lead

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