When I was a young hockey player, I had a coach who would run his practices in blue jeans. No, it wasn’t Jason Strudwick.
More memorable than my coach wearing denim for a 90-minute practice was him constantly saying to us, “play fast to play slow.”
What it meant is something I talked about in the Tactical Preview to this series, which was that the Oilers needed to get into the offensive quickly and then slow down to develop the attack.
This would have a two-pronged effect. First, it would prevent the Kings from creating transition chances off neutral zone turnovers. Second, it would take advantage of a Los Angeles defensive zone that has its struggles.
Whether it was the home cooking or lots of good video work, Game 3 played out exactly like that. The result was a hard-fought and critical win. Maybe as important, the Oilers might have found the key to challenging this fast-tempo, quick-strike Kings team.
What was the key? Let’s go to the video.
What Caught My Eye?
Playing Quick Creates Chaos
Right from the Oilers’ first goal, it was pretty clear there was a determination to move the puck up the ice quickly and try to pressure the Kings in their own zone.
Here is the clip that starts with Darnell Nurse in his own zone. He could have reversed the puck back below the net and waited for a re-group attack, but instead, he turned and sent the puck to McDavid in the middle of the ice.
Now, it wasn’t a clean entry, but look at the setup here for the Oilers. They have three players on the blueline ready to attack, and the puck has already beaten the Kings to the defensive zone. Bouchard plays his 60-degree lob wedge here, and the Oilers win the forecheck battle.
Here comes the chaos. The Kings play a very swarming style of defence down low. It can be exploited. It was here and the Oilers had their first lead of the series.
Here is another example of a great backcheck by Evander Kane. His pressure back allows Jake Walman to attack his player on the wall.
The puck comes loose in the middle of the ice, and Kane gathers it up and immediately attacks Los Angeles’s zone. When Kane retrieves the puck, you can see the Kings are still trying to sort out their defensive coverage. Kane and Brown connect on a great pass-tip play, and it’s a goal.
My favourite one of the night involved two defencemen. It is a shame Mattias Ekholm cannot play because this defence group is so dynamic on and off the puck.
On this play, it is noted defender, Vasily Podkolzin, going back for the retrieval. Instead of just eating the puck behind the net, he makes a quick, strong pass to Jake Walman on the boards. Walman promptly sends it to Kulak, who is attacking the middle of the Kings’ zone.
That’s right, two defenders up on the attack. Kulak gets his shot away, and there’s a loose puck. Again, because the Oilers were in the zone so quickly, the Kings are scrambling to sort out assignments. Watch at the end of this clip how wide open Leon Draisaitl is at the net. If McDavid can thread the needle, it is certainly a high danger chance.
The more important part of this play is that the puck never left the Kings zone until it was in the back of their net.
This entire goal started because Vasily Podkolzin and two defenders attacked quickly. Once the puck was in the zone, the Oilers went to work on their in-zone play and the game was tied.
The Oilers, but for about nine minutes of play early in the game, were relentless in trying to get into the Kings’ zone quickly. Even late in the game, look at this play by Brett Kulak. He doesn’t slow the play down. Instead, he attacks quickly with three Kings forecheckers up the ice. It leads to a half-formed 3v2 that could have been quick and dangerous for the Oilers.
Even when the plays were starting slowly, the Oilers still tried to advance the puck as far up the ice as they could to get on the forecheck.
Here is a great example. Bouchard, who had some great play in Game 3, makes a ridiculous stretch pass for the tip-in. The Oilers get on their 1-2-2 offensive zone forecheck.
Now, watch once the Oilers set up. I have been shouting from the mountain tops for the Oilers to run more 2-3 offensive zone attacks. They were much better on Friday, and watch this little addition on the attack here with Bouchard and Draisaitl switching.
This play was defended quite well by the Kings, but the pass still gets across the ice and just misses Arvidsson.
From my tracking, this was the best 60 minutes of attack from the Oilers in this series. The third period of Game 1 was off the charts, but this was far more consistent and led to far more chances for Edmonton. A major key to this was the play of the team to get on the attack and into the zone quickly.
Pick N’ Roll Hockey Style
We have to talk about the game-winner by Evan Bouchard off a brilliant pass from Leon Draisaitl. When I first saw it, I was reminded of so many basketball plays I’ve seen over the years.
Bouchard enters the zone with no pressure. I don’t understand that, given it was a 1v3, but the Kings don’t attack. Bouchard drops the puck to Draisaitl and then just rubs off the Kings defender into a little seam area. The pass Draisaitl makes is sublime. Bouchard scores.
Now, maybe I am crazy, but watch this basketball play and tell me if it doesn’t look similar.
In any event, it was a spectacular offensive play by two great offensive players.
Still Have Some Homework
The Oilers were better this game in defending the rush, but not perfect. The forward group had a more determined effort to protect against layered attacks. The defenders were ok, but not great.
The Kings’ fourth goal is an example, so let’s start here. Calvin Pickard needs to make this save. No question. I am not too critical of the other goals, although much like Skinner, a save would be good.
On this one, you need to be able to stop a puck that is shot by a guy with one hand on his stick being mauled. All that said, Jake Walman committed the cardinal sin for defenders. On a pressure play on the wall, you either need to get the man or the puck. Walman got neither. He starts with a very poor angle by getting on the high side of Moore. He needed to attack him from underneath so that he had Moore in front of him. Moore rolls off with the puck, and now it is a race to the net.
Again, I want my NHL goalie to make this save. However, it should never have come to this in the first place had Walman managed the situation better. The Oilers were cleaner this game, but more improvement is available to them.
Game 4 Thoughts…
Calvin Pickard will start. The young man fights no matter what I think of his style of play. In the end, he was Grant Fuhr in Game 3. He made one more save.
The play of John Klingberg can not be overstated. He was tremendous tonight and he only looked overwhelmed a couple of times on speed rushes. This is a major development for the Oilers. His play along with the brilliant play of Brett Kulak and Jake Walman tonight give the team some options on how to deploy.
Evander Kane. I never thought I would see Kane in an Oilers jersey again. Yet, here he is and he is playing well. 1-1-2 tonight and was a menace on the forecheck. Again with Trent Frederic labouring this is a very welcome development.
The Kings essentially ran nine forwards and four defencemen tonight. The Oilers went back to more normal set-ups for their lines, and I wonder if this Kings deployment runs out of juice as the series carries on.
That’s it for the Game 3 Tactical Review. Thanks for reading. See you after Game 4.
