The Los Angeles Kings’ season ended with a loss to the Edmonton Oilers for a third year in a row, falling 4-3 in Game 5 last night.
The Kings came out with a pretty good start, outshooting Edmonton by about a 7-1 margin through the first 10 minutes. However, midway through the frame, the Oilers came in one a quick rush and Evander Kane shoveled a puck on net that somehow got past David Rittich, leaving the Kings down early.
But just as it looked like the Kings would head into intermission trailing, with under 30 seconds to go, a dump-in took a wild bounce off the glass to catch Stuart Skinner off guard and pop out front of the Oilers’ goal, for Alex Laferriere to score on the open net and tie the game.
Edmonton opened the second period on a power play, but after the Kings actually managed to kill it off, Blake Lizotte took a great pass from Viktor Arvidosson to get a rush chance and beat Skinner, giving the Kings the lead.
The Oilers did end up with another power play midway through the period though, and while it looked like Rittich made a massive glove save on Leon Draisaitl, the play was reviewed, and it was determined Rittich’s glove completely crossed the line, tying the game.
Los Angeles did have a power play opportunity of their own shortly after (which turned into a 4-on-3), but after Pierre-Luc Dubois got called on a very questionable penalty, Edmonton ended up on another power play afterwards. While the Oilers technically didn’t convert on the man advantage, just as it expired, Connor McDavid found Draisaitl at the side of the net to score, putting Edmonton back ahead.
The Kings’ troubles didn’t end there, though. Once again, they technically managed to kill off a penalty nearing the end of the frame, but just as the power play expired, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins redirected an Evan Bouchard shot off the post, and Zach Hyman was in front to bury the rebound, making it a 4-2 game.
Los Angeles was outshot 15-5 in the frame, with the three unanswered goals leaving them with only a period to save their season.
Unfortunately, the Kings really struggled to get much going though. They managed six shots all period, and while there were a couple net-front scrambles, there weren’t many threatening chances.
With the net empty though and only a little over two minutes remaining, Matt Roy put the puck to the slot and it was tipped in by Adrian Kempe, pulling the Kings back to within one.
Los Angeles did get set up in the offensive zone afterwards to press for a tying goal, but couldn’t get much going again, and the Oilers held on for the 4-3 win.
New year, same story: the Kings’ playoff run ends in the opening round, and the Oilers move on.
Once again, the Kings couldn’t contain the Oilers’ power play and while that wasn’t the sole issue by any means, it was a massive hurdle they couldn’t overcome. Of course, some of the second period penalties in Game 5 were tough, especially the call on Pierre-Luc Dubois.
At the same time though, the Kings need to be able to kill a penalty. Sure, Edmonton only went 1-for-5 on paper last night, but they had two other goals that came just seconds after penalties expired. It also didn’t help that on the other end of the special teams battle, the Kings couldn’t get anything going on their power plays, going 0-for-12 in the series. When your opponent is operating around 50 percent on their power plays and you’re going scoreless, the results won’t be good.
So many players also didn’t provide the impact they needed to, with the Kings managing four goals over the last three games of the series. To recap, through five playoff games:
- Kevin Fiala: 1 goal, 2 points
- Pierre-Luc Dubois, 1 goal, 1 point
- Trevor Moore: 1 goal, 1 point
- Phillip Danault: 0 goals, 1 point
The group of Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield had a bit of success, and Viktor Arvidsson was decent, but when the stats above represent the contributions from four of your most capable forwards, there’s an issue.
Of course, the Kings didn’t have the goaltending they needed either, but I just hesitate to think any goalie in the league could’ve propelled Los Angeles to a win in this series.
So a season that started with so much promise quickly fizzled out, ending in a whimper for a team that could've been a contender. Maybe most concerning part is that it seems like the Kings have stagnated a bit, and there’s no clear path to improvement. They’ve exhausted most of their prospect pool, and there will probably be a huge emphasis on internal improvement.
Comparing this series to last year’s defeat, it seems like Los Angeles was much less threatening this time around. So we’ll see where the Kings go from here. They’re clearly looking to continue building, but the back half of the season deflated all momentum the organization had.
A season recap/analysis article will be out early next week to kick off the offseason coverage.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM THE PLAYOFFS
- Previewing Round 1: Kings vs. Oilers
- Kings unable to contain Oilers’ offense, open playoffs with 7-4 loss
- Kempe and Kopitar shine for Kings in Game 2 OT win over Oilers
- Kings suffer blowout loss at home in Game 3, fall 6-1 to Oilers
- Kings facing huge uphill battle, on verge of another elimination to Oilers
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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