After losing in heartbreaking fashion in Game 1, a bounce-back effort was expected of the Edmonton Oilers. Their captain single-handedly brought them back into a game in which they had no business winning, just for all that effort to be stripped away with 41 seconds left. That has got to give you some motivation to come out with a better effort, no? I guess not for the Oilers, as that determination to bounce back lasted about 20 minutes, before the Los Angeles Kings got back to doing what they do best: Dominate on home ice.
The Kings did what they set out to do once they knew they secured home-ice advantage. They defended home ice and now with a 2-0 series lead, have the chance to send the Oilers to the brink of elimination with a win on Friday at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Kempe Loves Playing Edmonton
No other King has been as dominant or consistent as Adrian Kempe in the playoffs over the past four seasons. He has played 24 playoff games in his career, with 20 of them being against the Oilers. In those 20 games, he’s collected 14 goals and 26 points. The 28-year-old versatile winger is built for the playoffs and takes his game to another level when the pressure’s on. He’s a proven goalscorer who comes up big in the clutchiest of times, and in the playoffs that’s a damn good trait to have.
“He’s one of the more underrated players in the league,” Warren Foegele said. “He’s a big body, good skater, has a great release, and he plays hard, you know he’s physical and he’s got that bite to him that’s annoying to play against, but he’s also just a threat with the puck.”
Kempe’s career high in playoff points in a season is eight, and he did that through six games played in 2023. Through just two games this playoffs, he already has three goals and leads the league with seven points. He is noticeable almost every night, but he particularly stood out in Game 2 last night, with two goals and four points. In Game 1, it was Connor McDavid taking over the third period for the Oilers, and in Game 2, it was Kempe taking over, making sure the Kings didn’t have another collapse in the third period.
“(It’s a) more exciting time obviously,” Kempe said. “Playoffs come around, you get that little extra excitement in the body, you feel it around the team, around the building, and everything […] you get some nerves back sometimes and usually I like to play in those type of games so I’m very excited to come in and play every playoff game.”
Special Teams Script Flipped?
In each of the past three Kings/Oilers series, special teams were exponentially dominated by the Oilers. Their loaded power play was unstoppable, and the Kings couldn’t get their power play to click all that often, especially last season, when they didn’t score a single goal on the man advantage.
Everyone knew how big of a role the special teams would play in this series, and through two games, it’s been the Kings who have been far superior on the special teams. Their power play is operating at a ridiculous rate, going 5/10, and they have yet to allow the Oilers to score on their power play, killing off all five opportunities.
“It’s huge. Obviously, you can look at years past, they have had the better execution, but that’s what it comes down to sometimes,” Clarke said. “We had a lot of emphasis on that (special teams) coming into this series.”
The power play being this successful is impressive and surprising based on what we saw from it for a majority of the season, but what’s even more impressive is holding an Oilers power play that features McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Evan Bouchard off the scoresheet. McDavid and Draisaitl together at 5-on-5 pose a big threat, so to give them even more time and space with a man down is pretty much asking for a goal against. That hasn’t been the case, and while there have been a few close calls, the Kings have done a tremendous job withstanding what is one of the best power play units ever assembled.
In Game 2, it was the Kings’ power play getting things started again, although this time it wasn’t the five-forward unit that had been cooking as of late. The Kings’ second power-play unit opened the scoring, and it was courtesy of Brandt Clarke, who finished off a cross-crease feed from Foegele. It’s been timely goals on the power play for the Kings that have made the biggest difference in these first two games.
“Confidence, I think, is the main thing,” said Kempe when asked what the biggest difference has been on the power play. “We get Kuzy at the deadline […] you can tell he’s a guy that has been playing down low there before, he’s really good and skilled, makes a lot of plays […] he’s been a big factor to why the power play has been a lot better.”
Withstood McDavid & Draisaitl Combo
Before Game 2, McDavid and Draisaitl were taking line rushes together during morning skate. The Oilers themselves know that those two together are their only real shot at generating high-quality looks against the Kings, so they started them on the same line right off the bat. The Oilers had three total high-danger chances at 5-on-5, and all three of them came when McDavid and Draisaitl were on the ice. The trio of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Corey Perry was the only Oiler line that outchanced their opponents as well. How much more evidence is needed to classify the Oilers as a two-man team?
You can look through all the statistical data from the regular season or just watch the games to come to the conclusion that the Oilers’ success is pretty much always dependent on how much McDavid and Draisaitl can produce. Even more so at 5-on-5 with their power play in shambles. The Oilers’ only answer to adversity in a game is throwing out their two superstars on a line together, and in Game 1, it took less than a period for them to make that panic move. It worked, though; those two together served up some real trouble for the Kings, who had a tough time containing them. McDavid finished with four points and Draisaitl with two. McDavid went nuclear in the third period and almost ended up winning the game by himself.
“They are the best players in the world, they are so dynamic,” Foegele said. “You gotta respect them, but you can’t respect them too much, but it’s an opportunity for us to go against them, and you know they are obviously going to make plays because they are so good but (we) try to limit them as much as we can, but they are such good players that you know it’s going to happen too.”
While that line had tons of puck possession and zone time, a lot of their efforts were kept to the outside. The Phillip Danault line with Foegele and Trevor Moore had the pleasure of matching up against the Oilers’ big boy line for most of the night, and they did a pretty solid job at minimizing their impact. McDavid and Draisaitl combined for only one point and four shots, a complete 180 in terms of their production levels from Game 1. As far as containing those two players goes, it’s hard to think it can get much better than that. Those two will find a way to produce no matter what, but if the Kings can continue to withstand that duo like they did last night, it’s going to be a short postseason for the Oilers.
Stuck With it This Time
The Oilers proved in Game 1 that they have the ability to come back in games no matter how big the deficit, even if it is propelled by one player. The Kings had a three-goal lead in Game 1 before the Oilers eventually tied it up at five, and again had a three-goal lead in Game 2. The Kings led 3-0 halfway through the second before the Oilers made things interesting. It began to feel like deja vu when the Oilers made it 3-2 very early on in the third, and you could think about whether the Kings were going to blow another multi-goal lead. Were they going to collapse again and allow the Oilers the chance to tie a game they weren’t even in for most of it?
The Kings learned from their mistakes and Game 1 and didn’t allow the Oilers to dictate the third period. Instead of caving in after allowing the Oilers to bring themselves within one, they responded with three goals in a row to put the game to bed. Key players took over for the Kings, they continued to capitalize on the opportunities that presented themselves, and in a short span, showed lots of improvement in a similar situation that didn’t go so well the first time.
“We kind of let them dictate the third period last time, and we luckily got to learn from that mistake; it didn’t cost us too big, and we remembered that for tonight,” Clarke said. “We were happy to shut them down and just build confidence and (get) ready for Game 3.”
Confidence will be needed for the Kings as they head to Northern Alberta to play Game 3 in front of one of the loudest playoff atmospheres in the NHL. The Kings’ road game hasn’t been too kind to them, but with a 2-0 series lead and loads of confidence gained throughout the first two games, it’s playoff hockey, and there’s no reason why they can’t go into Rogers Place and play the same type of game that has allowed them to be so successful.
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