That One Will Sting A Bit
For a period of time after Leon Draisaitl had brought the curtain down on another zany installment of LA Kings/Edmonton Oilers playoff series 2025, snapping a shot past Darcy Kuemper with the Oilers on a power play late in the first overtime, it had the feel of a series that had come to an end. And the brief conversations with Phil Danault and Warren Foegele in the locker room and with head coach Jim Hiller after had a kind of funereal quality to it. Like those conversations at the end of a hard-fought series. But, of course, this 4-3 Edmonton victory isn’t the end of anything really. That’s just the emotion talking. And that’s to be expected given that the Kings turned in an almost picture-perfect effort through two periods and took a two-goal lead into the third period and looked for all the world like a team that was going to head home with a 3-1 series lead. But it didn’t turn out that way and the NHL’s best home team during the regular season and a team that opened this series at home with two wins, now has an opportunity to play two of the next three games in the comfy confines of Crypto.com Arena – if needed – with a berth in the second round for the first time in more than a decade still very much within their control. “We're that far away on the empty net. Q chips that one out, Bouchard makes a good play. We’re not even talking about this. So, how about that?” Hiller said when asked about the third time in this series the Kings had relinquished a lead. Two of those ended in losses here in Edmonton.
Putting Salve On The Wounds
Less than 12 hours after this disappointing loss the LA Kings will get up and have breakfast and charter back to Los Angeles. The next day, on Tuesday, they’ll get ready for a game that will bring one team within a win of advancing. In short, Tuesday night looms large. And while home is where the wins have been for the Kings all season there will be some soul repairing to do in the interim after the kick in the shins that Game 4 turned out to be. But that’s what makes all of this so special, no? It does to Hiller. “That’s the beauty of the game. That's the beauty of working with professional athletes. They're men. They're young men. But they're men. And they've got to grow,” the coach said. “At home, it’s easy. You've got 20,000 people cheering you on. On the road, you've got 20,000 people getting after you. You're fighting. And that's why they're playing at this level. They suck it up. They answer questions. They get a rest. They get ready to go do it all over again. That's the beauty of what we get to witness. They're men. They're professionals.” That’s the same for all of the men even if some may take the loss harder than the others. Like Quinton Byfield who had a chance to clear the puck with fewer than 30 seconds left in regulation. He took an extra stride and the puck never got out of the Kings’ zone setting the stage for an Evan Bouchard bomb that tied the game with 28.4 seconds left. “His teammates got him. He's made that play all year. I'm not worried about that play one bit for Quinton,” Hiller said. “I'm proud of the 28 minutes he gave us tonight, how hard he played. And I know he'll be ready to play the next game. You shake those things off. It doesn't go your way every single time. You shake it off, you come back again. And he will.” Foegele shrugged off the play as well. “Q's making the right play. He's trying to chip it out, and the guy luckily gets a stick on it. It just didn't go our way,” Foegele said. “It happens. It's part of the game. He was trying to do the right thing and we told him, don't worry about it.”
The Start
There were so many good things to like, heck, to love about the Kings’ game through 40 minutes on Sunday. And what made it even more remarkable was how much they seemed to learn from the 7-4 loss in Game 3. Indeed, one of the consistent themes heading into Game 4 was the need for a better start at Rogers Place. The Kings trailed 2-0 by the mid-point of the first period in Game 3 and while they rebounded to take two different leads that’s not really the point. The point is that in Games 1 and 2 the Kings struck early and forced the Oilers to chase the game. It’s a mindset. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic it’s hard to imagine the Kings could have drawn up a better first frame in Game 4 with so much riding on the outcome. The Kings were quicker to the puck than in Game 3. They transitioned seamlessly and had a number of excellent scoring chances as they out-shot the Oilers 14-6 in the first. And, of course, they got the early lead they coveted when Trevor Moore and his linemates forced a turnover deep in Oiler territory and Moore, who blocked a high clearing chance with his body, skated off the far wall and beat Calvin Pickard five-hole. Mission accomplished on so many levels in spite of what would transpire a few hours later. “They pushed hard, but, you know, I really liked our game today,” added Warren Foegele who scored the Kings’ second goal Sunday. “I thought we came out with a high intensity, and we just didn't get the bounces there. But, you know, we're looking forward to going home. We like playing at home. We're comfortable there, and now it's best-of-three.”
The Third Period And Beyond
For fourth straight game the Kings took a lead into the third period. What happened in Game 3 is well-documented as the Kings allowed a 4-3 lead to become a 5-4 deficit in a matter of seconds in the latter stages of the third period. There was some debate or rather discussion about whether the Kings had been too passive in the time leading up to the changing of the storyline in the third period Friday. There will be even more debate after the Oilers scored twice in the third period to force overtime. I thought the team did much more of the counterattacking that seemed to be absent in Game 3 but maybe not enough. The Kings had out-shot the Oilers 28-16 the third period Sunday and out-shooting the Oilers 28-16 through 40 minutes and as Anze Kopitar said after Game 3, it’s easier said than done to keep doing the exact same thing when human nature is to try and protect the lead no matter what. The Oilers gave up a weird ricochet goal that glanced off Drew Doughty’s skate and past Darcy Kuemper to cut the lead to 3-2 at the 7:51 mark setting the stage for Bouchard to tie the game. “We have to find a way to seal the deal,” Phil Danault said. It’s the small mistakes. And it’s not just against Edmonton but if the team advances, they need to be able to protect leads. “You’re up 3-1, you've got to seal the deal,” Danault added. “You've got to make those plays when it counts. It's hard. It's hard to win, especially on the visitor's side.” In overtime the Kings had seven shots on goal but spent the vast majority of the time in their own zone until Vladislav Gavrikov was called for tripping Draisaitl. Replays suggested there wasn’t much to quibble with about the call. The Oiler power play, which had been successful early in the second, ended the game less than a minute into the man advantage. Was fatigue a factor as Hiller once again went with basically three lines and five defensemen through almost four periods? “I don't know. I don't know. Could be,” Hiller said. “They've got a pretty good team. I mean, they'll come at you.”
Randomness
Some quick thoughts on other things. Phil Danault and his linemates Trevor Moore and Foegele, who each had a goal, had an outstanding night. Danault assisted on the goals by his mates and was outstanding on the defensive side of the puck and in the faceoff circle. “Best hockey I’ve seen him play,” Hiller said of Danault. Kevin Fiala was also outstanding. He not only scored to give the Kings a 3-1 lead but he made a number of strong defensive plays. And you have to feel for Kuemper who was victimized by two power play goals, a deflected goal and a 6-on-5 goal. The Kings were outshot 33-13 in the third period and overtime and Kuemper was a rock. He deserved a better fate. “Darcy was outstanding, and, yeah, we've got to find a way to win there,” Danault said. After a difficult game in Game 3 I thought Andrei Kuzmenko was outstanding even if he didn’t collect any points. In fact, he and captain Anze Kopitar were both outstanding after difficult outings in Game 3.
