Edmonton, Canada – THE Kings-Ooilers NHL qualifying series was supposed to be decided by the most elementary of the tests: the unstoppable force compared to the irremovable object. In this case, Edmonton's powerful power game against the Kiss“Effective pincipe of the penalty.
But in match 1 on Monday, the kings kill has produced only self-inflicted injuries, allowing the oilers to score three times A 7-4 EDMONTON victory It was not as close as the final score could indicate.
“It just pulled us in the foot,” said defender Drew Doughty after the Kings were stopped the Oilers only once on four possibilities of power game. “They are so good on the power game. So let's stimulate in this area. “
It is not as if the Kings did not see it coming. As Doughty admitted it after the debacle on Monday, the team “talked about their power game so much before this series”.
And with reason. Edmonton scored on more than 26% of his opportunities for men during the regular season, the best percentage of the Western Conference and the fourth best of the NHL.
But the Kings only granted 39 power, third less in the league; Its 84.6% of percentage by percentage in second position in the NHL. However, all this did not mean anything in match 1, with the penalty of the Kings which abandons as many goals in a period of 20 minutes of the second and third periods as in the last nine regular season games combined.
“Two things that have been and are the forces of our forces are the penalty and eliminate advanced chances. This is what we are doing well ”, Kings Coach Kings Jim Hiller said. “And we did not do any of these good tonight.
“This is the evidence. I think everyone saw this. We will have to solve this problem. “
The Kings have a lot to repair after watching Zach Hyman score a hat trick while Connor McDavid and defender Evan Bouchard combined nine assists. Leon Draisaitl also had a goal and a decisive pass, both on power games.
The Kings obtained second period goals from Mikey Anderson and Adrian Kempe and Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor Moore's trash goals in the last four minutes, long after the result of the result.
Even so, take the power game objectives of the oilers and the teams are even after three periods. This is why Hiller's advice to his team entering the series were simple: stay outside the penalty surface.
“This is the message of each team, I am sure,” he said. “We don't want to put them on the power game. But when they get the power game, we want to make sure we continue to do a good job, as we have done in the regular season.”
Instead, the Kings have returned to the form they have shown in the past two seasons when their penalty killer has ranked in the lower third of the league – something that the oilers have taken advantage of, marking power goals in 11 of their 13 previous qualifying games with the Kings, winning the two first round series.
This year, the Kings were supposed to have the advantage of the special teams. According to the wisdom of longtime hockey, if the success of a team, as a percentage, both in the death of penalties and the score on the power game totals more than 100, the special teams of this team are … well, special.
The total of kings in the regular season was 107.2, slightly better than the Oilers.
“This is something that can make the difference throughout a match throughout a series,” said Anderson. “We have lost the battle for the past two years. Now is a new challenge, and a new start for us and a new start for them.
“Obviously, there are many other factors that enter it. But during this time of year, it is difficult to mark five against five. The teams follow very tight. This is therefore up to special teams, which can capitalize, which can keep the washer out of the net.”
On Monday, these special teams belonged to the Oilers, who marked on three of their four chances of electricity play and killed their only two penalties.
“We just couldn't stop their power game tonight, for any reason,” said Hiller. “It makes things quite difficult. Once they have obtained this kind of track, it deflates you and comes back it far away.”
Edmonton was simply too fast and too skillful for kings. McDavid was unstoppable, with his line – one who had Adam Henrique on a wing and Hyman on the other – combining for four goals and seven assists.
“He is the best skater in the world, probably,” Kempe said about McDavid.
“We have to be better on the PK,” he added. “We eliminate some of these penalties and do not let them be (75%) on the power game, I think it's a more uniform game.”
Hiller promised that his team would play his forces – which include the penalty – in match 2 Wednesday. He really has no choice, because in match 1, the only victims of the Kings penalty were the Kings.
“These are things that are repairable for us,” said Hiller. “It's really the point. We can repair these things; We generally do them well. “
If they do not do so, the Kings building subject could consider another release in the playoffs.
