The Edmonton Oilers have a golden chance to move to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs when they play host to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
The Oilers, having won three straight and leading the Western Conference first-round series 3-2, can dispatch the Kings in the opening round for a fourth consecutive season in front of their faithful supporters.
“We feel excited for the opportunity, at home and in front of our fans, but we know how well L.A. played us. … For us to sit back and not play our best, we’ll be in trouble,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’ll need the effort we had (Tuesday) to give us our best opportunity.”
The Oilers, who have won the last three games — all with comebacks — after dropping the first two games of the best-of-seven series, dominated the Kings in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory.
To say the score flattered Los Angeles would be an understatement. Edmonton outshot the Kings 10-0 to start the game and by a 46-22 margin when the final buzzer sounded.
The situation has been a wild turn of events. Los Angeles was on the verge of winning Game 4 and taking a 3-1 series lead, but the Oilers tied that clash with another third-period rally and then won in overtime.
“The playoffs are an emotional roller-coaster for both teams, and you’ve gotta make sure you’re able to steady yourself even after a win like (Tuesday),” forward Zach Hyman said. “It’s back to business. Same old. We’ve been here before. We have a huge opportunity to close it out at home, and that’s where the mindset is now.”
Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl has an opportunity to set a league record. He has collected a point in 19 consecutive playoff games against the Kings, which ties him with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier for point streak against a single team. Draisaitl has netted 17 goals and 19 assists in his run.
The Kings not only are in must-win territory against a foe that has vanquished them so many times, but also must try to find their footing. Despite being the league’s best home team, Los Angeles was abysmal on Tuesday, and had a chance thanks mainly to outstanding goaltending from Darcy Kuemper, who made 43 saves.
Now the Kings, who have been a middling road team all season and lost both of the previous clashes in Edmonton, must regroup with their playoff hopes on the line.
There was no sugar-coating what transpired in the Game 5 loss.
“They were stronger, they beat us in every area of the game, except for the special teams, oddly enough,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “The goaltender was great for us to give us a chance. They were just better in every way. We can’t look to one part of our game and think that that was acceptable or that was good enough.”
The Kings, who finished ahead of the Oilers during the regular season to earn home-ice advantage, have been guilty of more than just being run roughshod last outing.
Edmonton has outscored Los Angeles 13-5 in the third periods of the five games and dominated play in all of the last five periods of action.
“We couldn’t really get anything going,” captain Anze Kopitar said. “The shot clock was pretty evident that we didn’t sustain any offensive-zone time, and when you don’t have that, it’s hard to string shifts together and gain some momentum. We’re gonna look at some stuff and make sure we do a lot better job.”
