Kings’ one-game deficit against Oilers looks much bigger

LOS ANGELES — The Kings said all the expected things Friday night after squandering the home-court advantage they earned two nights earlier in Edmonton — decisively, in a tough, penalty-filled 6-1 loss to the Oil tankers.

“I think our team has a lot of character,” said defenseman Matt Roy. “It’s 2 to 1. We’re still in the series. We didn’t get out of it. No one is going to give up here.

“Obviously, learn from it,” added Kevin Fiala. “Forget.

“I mean, that’s a game. Obviously we all wanted this one, and they wanted it. …Just look at it as one game, you know? We just have to come back to the next game and it’s 2-2.

And this from coach Jim Hiller, when asked what needs to change, and if that’s perhaps a bigger challenge than the way his team bounced back to win Game 2 in Edmonton after losing game 1:

“No, it’s the same thing. You know, when people were talking after the last game, I said, what I know for sure is that it’s a one-on-one game. So no different tonight. What I’m sure of is that it’s two for them, one for us. And you have to win four in a series. So we’ll have a similar approach and we’ll come back, and we’ll have to play better than we did tonight. It is essential. Just like Game 2.”

Perhaps the clichés, old adages and vestiges of hockey from yesteryear are necessary to hang on under the pressure of a best-of-seven-game series. It’s a comfort, a support to lean on, a way for players, coaches – and fans – to remember that anything is possible.

Moments like this, especially against this opponent, there are reminders. After all, earlier this month marked the 41st anniversary of current radio analyst Daryl Evans’ overtime goal that completed the miracle against Manchester, a third-period comeback from a five-goal deficit to tie and then beat Edmonton in the Forum. That memorable moment provided the impetus to win the best-of-five first round against the future dynastic Oilers of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and the others, one of only two playoff victories for the Kings in nine. previous meetings with Edmonton.

That said, I wouldn’t bet on a repeat.

– Jim_Alexander (@Jim_Alexander) April 27, 2024

Maybe you’ll get one of these miracles per millennium.

Of course, these Oilers have their own future Hall of Famers. Leon Draisaitl scored twice Friday night and Connor McDavid finally scored a goal in these playoffs; for him, three games without a goal would be an eternity. But Zach Hyman, who scored 54 goals in the regular season, scored his fifth and sixth of the playoffs, while Evander Kane completed Gordie Howe’s hat trick: one goal (his first of the playoffs), one assist decisive (also his first of the playoffs). ) and a brawl, when he got into a battle with Andreas Englund after being leveled by a vicious open ice shot from Englund, which, among other things, sparked a multi-player brawl.

(Kane was asked, with a straight face, what makes him play his best hockey this time of year and he replied, “Just the drama of it all.” Members of the Edmonton media erupted to laugh, Kane not being particularly known for avoiding drama.)

The reality is that the Kings can erase the bitter taste of Friday night’s defeat with another inspired effort in Sunday’s Game 4, because while the tension, the familiarity and the grunt — and, yes, the drama — increase as a better The series of seven progresses, each game is still its own entity. Adjustments are made, emotions are stirred, and the embarrassment of one match can create motivation for the next.

But you have to take care of the mechanics of the sport. The Kings had the second-best shorthanded unit in the NHL during the regular season, but they were crushed by Edmonton in the first three games, scoring seven goals on 14 power plays (including 3 for 7 on Friday night). And the Kings posted a respectable 22.6 percent on the power play in the regular season, but are 0 for 10 in this series, including 0 for 5 in Game 3, and came up empty on two power plays in the first period that could have blunted Edmonton’s momentum. .

Instead, the Oilers scored three in the first period and went on a run.