Having the advantage of home-ice and winning the first two games at home in the first round of the playoffs seven game series, the Los Angeles Kings are now facing elimination in Game 6 on Thursday, May 1st at Rogers Place in Edmonton against the Oilers. The Oilers have now won three games in a row. Two in Edmonton and Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory at Crypto.com Arena, giving them a 3-2 lead over the Kings in the series.
The Kings started the series with momentum but now that has switched to the Oilers team. The Kings had the best record at home in the NHL during the regular season but are more challenged on the road. Now they will have to dig down deep for the must-win game on Thursday. Historically, teams that win Game 5 when a series is tied 2-2 go on to advance over 80% of the time. Those are some tough odds for the Kings, especially playing Game 6 on the road.
In Game 5 at home, where they usually shine, the Kings were outplayed the entire game from the drop of the puck to start the first period to the end of the third, the Oilers taking them completely out of character.
“We couldn’t really get anything going, obviously,” explained Kings captain Anze Kopitar after the game. “We didn’t sustain many o-zone (offensive) time and you know, when you don’t have that, it’s hard to string shifts together.”
Kopitar was also asked about winning Game 6 on the road. “We knew we’re going to have to win a game on the road eventually,” Kopitar said. “There’s no better time to do that.”
Kings’ goalie and Veniza Trophy finalist Darcy Kuemper (45 shots against) played spectacular during a losing cause, and he deserved better from his teammates offensively, but Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard (22 shots against) also had an outstanding performance, so he gets major kudos too.
The Oilers unleashed a first period bombardment of 19 shots with no goals, thanks to the stellar performance of Kuemper in Game 5. Kuemper would post a .955 save percentage, many of those saves falling into the unbelievable category, especially on a glove-hand diving save on a shot by Oilers’ Evan Bouchard in the first period.
After the game, Kings coach Jim Hiller spoke about their poor performance. “They executed way better than us,” Hiller said. “They were stronger, they beat us in every aspect of the game, but the goaltender was great for us to give us a chance. They were just better in every way.”
For the Kings to have a better chance of winning Game 6 in Edmonton and come back home for a winner-take-all seventh game on Saturday May 3rd, several things have to happen.
They need to make good plays by stringing passes together, stop turning over the puck, and have a strong performance on the defensive end. The Kings were disorganized in Game 5 and the Oilers took advantage of that.
The Kings needed a win in Game 5 to keep home-ice advantage but were unsuccessful. If they don’t beat the Oilers in Game 6, their playoff run will end and this will make it four seasons in a row lost to the Oilers in the first round of the NHL playoffs.