Well. What an intense week that was, huh? The Edmonton Oilers won four straight games from Games 3 to 6 to take a fourth consecutive first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. The team looked dead after Trevor Moore scored to take a 4–3 lead. Thanks to Jim Hiller’s mega brain decision to challenge a clearly good goal from Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard struck on the power play to seal the game away. Bouchard would do the same two nights later scoring twice in the third to tie it up which led to a Leon Draisaitl OT winner in Game 5.
Much was said about how amazing the L.A. Kings were at home and rightfully so. They finished first in the NHL with a record of 31–6–4 and the Kings scored six goals on them in the first two games of the series.
So… what happened? Edmonton killed them on the road which led to them clinching the series victory on home ice. How did they do it? Well let’s recap those two games.
Game 5 dominance for the Oilers
The Oilers had probably the best dominant playoff game in recent history. That is not hyperbole.
The Oilers absolutely killed the Kings 5v5. The only reason this was a 3–1 game was solely because of Darcy Kuemper. The Kings’ only goal was a redirect Andrei Kuzmenko tip on the power play.
Now why did the Kings get killed at home where they’re supposedly the best team in the league? Jim Hiller and his bench management is a major key in my opinion and it became evident in Game 4. Hiller’s strategy was using nine forwards and four defencemen, basically benching his fourth line and third pair for the entire game.
In Game 1 the fourth line of Jeff Mallott-Samuel Helenius-Alex Turcotte all received under four minutes of ice time and Jordan Spence played six minutes. Veterans like Drew Doughty, Joel Edmundson, Mikey Anderson and Anze Kopitar al received up to 26 minutes of ice time. Again in Game 2, Helenius and Mallott played three minutes while the vets were in the mid 20’s.
When the choke started to happen in Game 4, Hiller again shortened his bench. Helenius played THREE shifts and 110 seconds of ice time. He practically had more ice time coming out before the anthems played. Hiller scratched Spence in favour for Jacob Moverare who played two minutes. The constant usage of his top players led to fatigue. Meanwhile, Edmonton kept rolling out lines and dominating possession.
In Game 5, the chances were 14–2 in favour of the Oilers after the first period, which saw them with a 19–4 shot advantage. Insane. The high danger chances were 7–0 for Edmonton. They were smoking the Kings but Kuemper held strong. After the Kings struck, Edmonton got a power play of their own and capitalized on it seconds after it ended thanks to an Evander Kane shot. In response to this, Hiller once more played his fourth line less than five minutes and Spence who was reinstated in only eight minutes. Doughty, who struggled all series, played 26 minutes. Yikes.
The funniest thing is that the Leon Draisaitl-Connor McDavid-Corey Perry line was probably the Oilers’ worst forward line this entire game. They *only* had an xG% of 51% according to both MoneyPuck and NST. The dynamic duo’s only points came off a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins empty-netter. The Oilers got contributions from everyone. The game winning goal was a hard working shift by Viktor Arvidsson-Mattias Janmark-Vasily Podkolzin. Statiscally, the best line was Trent Frederic-Adam Henrique-Connor Brown. While they did not score, they would have a major impact for next game.
The Oilers would have to win a game in L.A. if they wanted to win this series, and doing so in dominating fashion to force the Kings on the brink of elimination was a great sight to see.
Another great display by Edmonton in Game 6
Just like last game, the Oilers dominated the Kings, without much help from Draisaitl or McDavid. Draisaitl didn’t get a point which failed to see him extend his point streak in the playoffs versus the Kings to 20 games, and McDavid only had an assist off an RNH power play goal. They weren’t major factors in Edmonton’s offence at all, which again is great to see as it shows the signs of depth coming to life.
After a shaky start which saw Quinton Byfield open the scoring, the aforementioned Frederic-Henrique-Brown line got the game tied. Brandt Clarke would later regain the lead on a weak shot but the Oilers responded back right away with goals from the Nuge and Hyman. The second period was a clinic defensively for Edmonton. The Kings got zero high danger chances in that period compared to the seven they had in the first. Edmonton was shutting it down and got rewarded not just with a Nurse goal… but also a goal from the Frederic line again. Frederic battles his way to the net for his first as an Oiler.
One key area here for the Kings was Hiller finally realizing his ice time usage for the bench was awful and spread the minutes out evenly. Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence, both guys who would barely scratch five minutes, entered the double digits and lo and behold they both score. The Mallott-Helenius-Turcotte line also got more minutes than usual and were a forechecking force against the Oilers.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Edmonton secured the win and the series via a Brown empty-netter. Four straight years of beating the Kings. I didn’t even mention Calvin Pickard who while at times was prone to the softies, also came up clutch with a couple big saves at the end of the game to get the win.
Time will tell how Edmonton fares with their rematch versus Vegas, but if the Oilers can continue to play this well as a team with getting their traditional contributions from McDavid and Draisaitl, the road back to the Stanley Cup (and potentially a win) may be on the rise.
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