LOS ANGELES — This playoff season began with such high hopes for the Kings, with that sparkling home record and home-ice advantage – finally – over their longtime nemesis, the Edmonton Oilers, as well as a Vezina Trophy-quality goaltender in Darcy Kuemper and a roster that at least seemed sneaky good.
And then they discovered a good luck charm, in the ladies from the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, who were invited to play the National Anthem on their harmonicas before Game 1 and were such a hit that they were invited back for Games 2 and 5.
But now? What appeared to be an opportunity to finally stick it to the team that had dashed their playoff hopes three straight years could end, again unhappily, on Thursday night in Edmonton.
Make no mistake: The Oilers have been the better team over much of this series, especially in the third period and overtime, and their third straight victory – a 3-1 triumph here Tuesday night – moved the Kings one step closer to the edge of the cliff.
Maybe that Oilers rally from a 4-0 deficit in L.A.’s 6-5 victory in Game 1 was a sign that we all missed, or at least disregarded. And a 6-2 Kings victory in Game 2, fueled by three goals from a resurgent power play, might have deluded us into thinking they had finally whipped the Edmonton jinx.
Nah.
A bad, bad challenge of a call by Kings coach Jim Hiller in Game 3 led to a go-ahead power-play goal, augmented by a couple of empty-net tallies at the end, in a 7-4 loss on Edmonton’s home ice. In Game 4, a Kings lineup that was extended beyond its capabilities – mainly because of Hiller’s lack of trust in his fourth line and third defense pairing – ran out of gas in overtime and lost, 4-3.
Tuesday night? Put it this way: When your home fans are chanting “Shoot … the … puck …” in the third period, that’s an indication that you’re probably in trouble.
The Kings were embarrassed, as they should have been, and don’t let the score fool you. The shots-on-goal stat isn’t always indicative of a team’s dominance, but it probably sufficed in this case: 19-4 for Edmonton in the first period, 46-22 in the game. And not only weren’t the Kings getting shots, they weren’t using their speed and weren’t spending nearly enough time in the offensive zone.
“They executed way better than us tonight,” Hiller said. “They were stronger. They beat us in every area of the game except for the special teams, oddly enough. The goaltender was great for us to give us a chance.
“We can’t look to one part of our game and think that was acceptable or that was good enough.”
Kuemper kept the Kings in the game as long as he could. And even with Edmonton’s dominance in so many areas, the Kings did have a lead – for all of 2:42. Andrei Kuzmenko gave L.A. its eighth power-play goal of the series, beating Calvin Pickard from the left point to make it 1-0 at 3:34 of the second period.
Then Adrian Kempe went off for tripping less than a minute later. The Kings killed that penalty, but Evander Kane tied it at 6:16.
Mattias Janmark converted a rebound of former King Viktor Arvidsson’s shot at 7:12 of the third, and that 2-1 lead might as well have been 12-1. The Kings were just not efficient offensively, and maybe all of those passes searching for that elusive opening led to the chants of “shoot … the … puck.” (Or maybe it was the shot of a young lady in the stands during a stoppage, holding up her phone with a message: “SHOOT.”)
“The shot clock was pretty evident,” captain Anze Kopitar said. “And, you know, we didn’t sustain any O-zone time, and when you don’t have that it’s hard to string shifts together and gain some momentum.
“… You got to give obviously some credit to them. They were checking pretty well. But it’s on us to find a way to to break that and you know get some offense quick.”
Usually one of the Kings’ strengths is connectedness. Tuesday night they were disconnected – or maybe discombobulated – both offensively and defensively.
“I don’t think we gave ourselves a great chance,” Hiller said. “I mean, you guys watched the game. How many times did we turn the puck over? So we’re disorganized. They came racing at us. You know, that team, we probably gave them more odd-man rushes in the first period tonight than they might have had in the whole series.
“Maybe some other teams can win that way. We’re not gonna win that way. And that’s why we play the style that we do. We have to keep it tight and then grind you for one or two (goals).
“… We’re a solid checking team. That’s where our game starts. And you can see if we just want to try and play a pure offensive game? It doesn’t work.”
Then again, they’ve gotten themselves into trouble by going into too much of a defensive shell. When you’re going against two of the game’s most dynamic offensive players, that’s a risk, though Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl only got on the scoresheet Tuesday night with assists on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ empty-net goal to seal the decision in the final minute.
So it comes down to this: The team that had such a sterling regular-season home record is going to have to win one on the road, Thursday night, merely to give itself a chance for a Game 7 in L.A.
And maybe it’s just going to have to come down to attitude.
“They took it away from us,” Hiller said. “We’ve got to go win a hockey game and take it back. That’s just the way it goes. There’s no tricks here. … So you’re a pretty good hockey team? Go there and take it back because they just took it away from you.”
Easier said than done.
jalexander@scng.com
Originally Published:
