WCR1: Edmonton Oilers (P3) vs Los Angeles Kings (P2) - Oilers win 4-2

[OldSam]

I made the mistake of turning the volume up for the last half of the third. My ears are still bleeding 10 hours later. Holy unprofessional, Jack. Never again.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Watching the highlights; pretty damn impressive by McDavid.
Just did it himself and made 3 goals happen.
Love how it all fell apart so quickly and dramatically.

As mentioned, the toll of carrying so much empty weight on his shoulders must be getting to him by now & leaving Edmonton has to happen if/when they fail again this year.

[Toonage]

I wouldn't be celebrating too much if I were the Kings or a Kings fan. That was borderline pathetic. They lucked out and won't win a series playing like they did the second half of the game.

Also a good reminder for many of us celebrating like the game was over after the 2nd. These guys are like horror movie villains. Just keep popping up.

[Enoch Root]

bad 3rd, but a win is a win - four of them and you move on

the Kings just need to look at what they did well and focus on doing that again in game 2

[rotten42]

So I couldn't stand listening to the Sportsnet play by play. So ridiculously biased. So I change over to the ESPN feed only to have to listen to Cassie Campbell.

Can't win.

[chummer]

That 3rd goal by the Kings was epic Bouchard, he fell on his own and he was just laying behind the net when they scored. Not to mention he gave the puck away on 2 of their other two goals. As good as McDavid was Bouchard was equally bad.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

bad 3rd, but a win is a win - four of them and you move on

the Kings just need to look at what they did well and focus on doing that again in game 2

We all want the Kings to win but how large of a lead are they going to need to lock in wins? It's going to be tough for them to win three more games knowing that a four goal lead in the 2nd half of the game may not be enough. What we saw last night will be the norm for the officiating so holding late leads is going to be extremely difficult when guys like Perry and McDavid can get away with blatant penalties that result in big swings.

[Brupal]

This nugget was buried in the middle of a breathless account of the Oiler’s amazing performance in the Edmonton Journal:

All of the bad things that had people worrying during the regular season showed up and burned them badly.

They started slowly and dug a hole. They fell into a long second-period lapse (four shots). They made the big mistakes to give up goals against. Skinner gave up four goals on the first 17 shots.

And Evan Bouchard’s habit of burying his team with careless mistakes cost them two goals in three minutes and ultimately led to the defeat.


Kind of the perfect summary of all that is no good about Edmonton.

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by rotten42

So I couldn't stand listening to the Sportsnet play by play. So ridiculously biased. So I change over to the ESPN feed only to have to listen to Cassie Campbell.

Can't win.

I was able to get the Kings feed for this game and it was sure refreshing

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

We all want the Kings to win but how large of a lead are they going to need to lock in wins? It's going to be tough for them to win three more games knowing that a four goal lead in the 2nd half of the game may not be enough. What we saw last night will be the norm for the officiating so holding late leads is going to be extremely difficult when guys like Perry and McDavid can get away with blatant penalties that result in big swings.

This was very reminiscent of game 1 in 2022. Looked like the Flames would not only run the Oilers out of the rink but a sweep. Slowly they gained a bunch of momentum and our gaoltending fell apart along with the team.

Kings can't be timid, they need to forecheck like they did in the first half. Skinner was awful, but so was the defence. 3rd and 4th goal was hilarious.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by rotten42

So I couldn't stand listening to the Sportsnet play by play. So ridiculously biased. So I change over to the ESPN feed only to have to listen to Cassie Campbell.

Can't win.

MUTE, like Mother Nature, always wins. Relax, put on some music and let your eyeballs bleed. No need for an assault on your ears as well.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I sometimes wonder if the Oilers should just play that way all the time. Just go maximum chaos and focus entirely on offense. Or at least due that when McDavid and Leon are on the ice. They are incredibly hard to control late in games when they just go all offense.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I sometimes wonder if the Oilers should just play that way all the time. Just go maximum chaos and focus entirely on offense. Or at least due that when McDavid and Leon are on the ice. They are incredibly hard to control late in games when they just go all offense.

How is that any different than what they do most of the game?

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I sometimes wonder if the Oilers should just play that way all the time. Just go maximum chaos and focus entirely on offense. Or at least due that when McDavid and Leon are on the ice. They are incredibly hard to control late in games when they just go all offense.

They are but it’s also LA. They, like the flames sometimes, tend to play scared against the oilers once the 3rd period comes along. There are teams that don’t - Vegas and Vancouver don’t seem to have this problem as much. For LA and Calgary, it comes from recent breakdowns after outplaying Edmonton for long periods of games. There are other teams this happens to and a big part of it is the nature of game management. It’s pretty automatic that teams losing going into 3rd periods are more likely to get powerplays and Edmonton feasts on powerplays.

LA has struggled against the Oilers over the years during the playoffs but I think it would be a different story if they faced them in round 2 or 3 instead of round 1 when there a lot of penalties being called.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

How is that any different than what they do most of the game?

It's also kinda what happened in game 7 for the cup. Eventually they hit a wall and can barely skate. I can't believe they were out there for the last minute after basically moving a mountain during the previous 3 minutes.

[Roof-Daddy]

This Kings team should be good enough to beat this old musty oilers team but they seem mentally stunted. Blowing 4-0 and 5-2 leads is not a good sign for their mental toughness going forward in this series. Especially Keumper. Reminds me of the Flames game 1 against the oil in the playoffs. Ended up winning a river hockey game but they were spooked and weak mentally for the rest of the series, especially Markstrom. Hopefully that doesn't happen here.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I sometimes wonder if the Oilers should just play that way all the time. Just go maximum chaos and focus entirely on offense. Or at least due that when McDavid and Leon are on the ice. They are incredibly hard to control late in games when they just go all offense.

Kings also totally unravelled. I'm sure the Kings coaches have preached over and over to players to not lose track of McDavid when he's on the ice and yet on that tying goal three Kings players were looking up ice and let him walk right in. I get that it's a fast game but if you focus on McDavid and take him away, the chances of winning are infinitely higher than keying in on Hyman or RNH. Simply poor awareness and given how this Kings team has been taken to the woodshed by the Oilers for three straight Aprils, you would think they would learn their lesson by now but it appears they just aren't up to the task. I just don't think they believe deep down they can beat the Oilers when push comes to shove as the Oilers are to the Kings like the Ducks were to the Flames in the Getzlaf and Perry years.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Russic

It's also kinda what happened in game 7 for the cup. Eventually they hit a wall and can barely skate. I can't believe they were out there for the last minute after basically moving a mountain during the previous 3 minutes.

Yeah the Panthers basically had them fight to get the puck back along the wall for what felt like 10 hours. They had no gas left, and it was great to see.

McDavid really had 2 big games I think he had 10 points in game 4 and 5 and was a non-factor after.

[SuperMatt18]

It's all Scorps fault last night.

I warned him not to message or tweet about the Kings - Oilers games but he couldn't help himself at 4-0 and then the Oilers started the comeback.

Hopefully he learned his lesson and won't jinx the Kings anymore.

[CroFlames]

McDavid was putting up Gretzky-like points in the playoffs last year.

He had 4 points last night. Let's face it, he's in his prime and he's determined - that's nearly impossible to stop. On the first goal, Kopitar of all people basically defended against him perfectly and he still shook him off. His drive looked Crosby-esque on the tying goal.

If you can find a way to limit McDavid to 2 points per game or less, Oilers are very beatable.