The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have been excellent, if you like lead changes, big hits, late rallies and an elevated heart rate.
— Oilers fans should be used to late-game heroics, as the Oilers have been on the winning and losing side of both lately.
- 2024, Game 4 v. Vancouver. Evan Bouchard scores the game-winning goal with 39 seconds left.
- 2024, Game 5 @ Vancouver. JT Miller scores the game-winning goal for Vancouver with 33 seconds left.
- 2025, Game 1 @ LA. Phil Danault tallies the game-winning goal with 42 seconds remaining.
There have only been 63 games where a team scored the game winner in the final 60 seconds. You’ve witnessed three in the last two years.
— In 2023, Anze Kopitar tied Game 1 with 17 seconds left for the Kings. They won in OT.
Last night, Evan Bouchard scored the tying goal with 29 seconds remaining. The Oilers won in overtime.
There have only been 62 games where a team tied a playoff game in the final 30 seconds.
The NHL has played 4,930 playoff games, and 125 of them have either been tied in the final 30 seconds and/or won in the last minute. The Oilers have been involved in five of them in their last 41 games. Unreal. You can’t say you aren’t entertained.
— The Oilers and Kings have been very different teams early in games, compared to late in games and in OT.
Kris Knoblauch said this morning, “I think we have been too cautious to start games.” He wants them to be more assertive early. It is clear the Oilers haven’t done enough early in games.
— I’ve read and heard a lot of people suggesting the Kings have dominated the series. I’m not sold on that. The Oilers’ PK was dreadful in the first two games, and their ability to gift LA goals was even worse. However, the Oilers have had significantly more O-zone possession time at 5×5, where most of the game is played. The Oilers have had 21:45 (third-most in the playoffs) of O-zone possession time compared to 14:23 (14th) for LA, courtesy of Sportloqiq.
Their issue in the first two games was gifting LA great chances, and then they’d score. It is still a bit of an issue. Last night, Darnell Nurse had possession and just blindly rimmed it around the boards. LA knocked it down, and seconds later, it was in the back of the net. On the third goal, Evan Bouchard had the puck in the Ozone, mishandled it, and seconds later, Kevin Fiala skated in all alone on a breakaway.
The Kings are rarely scoring goals off of extended O-zone time, where they are cycling and wearing down the Oilers. They have killed Edmonton on what I like to call quick hitters — either off the rush, or after a giveaway/turnover. The Oilers reduced those in Games 3 and 4, and not surprisingly, their goals against went down. They still have room to improve there as well.
— Some potential good news on Mattias Ekholm. Originally, the Oilers thought it was very unlikely he’d play in the playoffs. But he has responded well to treatment. He won’t play this series, or next, but if the Oilers go deeper, they now believe there is a decent chance he could return to the lineup. That is still weeks away, but at least there is a chance if they keep winning.
— The goal of delivering more body checks in the playoffs is twofold: You hope it makes a player rush a pass and turn the puck over, or for the cumulative effect, where it wears them down the longer the series goes. The Kings are relying heavily on four D-men and nine forwards. Through four games, the Kings have 10 skaters who are averaging 20+ minutes a night. The Oilers have seven. Power play minutes are the easiest minutes to play, compared to PK and 5×5.
There is a stark difference in 5×5 time between LA’s top four D-men and the Oilers’.
Mikey Anderson is at 96:27, Drew Doughty (93:45), Joel Edmundson (92:31) and Vladislav Gavrikov (78:28) — compared to the Oilers’ four with Brett Kulak (86:06), Darnell Nurse (85:09), Evan Bouchard (84:40) and Jake Walman (69:18).
Kulak has absorbed 14 hits, while the other three have each taken eight.
Doughty has taken 16, Anderson and Gavrikov 14 and Edmundson 12.
The Kings’ four play more and have been hit 56 times compared to 36 for the Oilers’ D. The Oilers forecheck harder and are more physical, and they’ve forced the Kings to defend more. In overtime, the Kings looked like the slower team. Will that continue as the series goes longer?
— Leon Draisaitl continues to be a beast in the playoffs. He factored in on all four goals last night, including scoring the OT winner, his first playoff OT goal. He now has eight playoff games with at least four points, which moves him into a tie for fifth most all time.
Oilers fans are the luckiest fans in NHL history when it comes to watching high-end offensive players.
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