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The Los Angeles Kings opened their first round series against the Edmonton Oilers with a road win last night, hanging on for a 4-3 victory in Game 1.
Mike Smith was tasked with bailing out the Oilers early as a result of a quick start by the Kings, with several saves in the first two or three minutes. Just as the Oilers started to gain momentum though, Los Angeles struck first about midway through the period, with Alex Iafallo finding Trevor Moore in the slot, who opened the scoring. Then with only about three minutes to go in the period, Iafallo got on the board himself, this time taking a pass from Moore from behind the net and converting to make it a 2-0 game. However, Connor McDavid cut the lead in half with under a minute to go in the period, driving wide down the wing for an entry and ripping a shot past Jonathan Quick, leaving the game at 2-1 heading into intermission.
The Oilers tied the game on a power play early in the second period, with Duncan Keith putting a perfect slap-pass on the stick of Kailer Yamamoto, who redirected the puck past Quick. However, only about a minute later, Brendan Lemieux took a pass from Adrian Kempe on a rush and beat Smith, restoring the Kings’ lead. The back-and-forth continued though, with Leon Draisaitl scoring on another power play at the midway mark of the period to tie the game once again.
The tables turned in the third period though, with the Kings outshooting Edmonton by as much as a 13-2 margin by about the midway mark of the frame. Then late in the period, Los Angeles was rewarded and after Mike Smith recovered from coughing up the puck, Sean Durzi’s point shot went in off Phillip Danault to give the Kings a lead with only five minutes to go. The Oilers pressed to tie it in the final minutes, but the Kings held on for a 4-3 win in Game 1.
It was a strong performance from the Kings, both starting and ending the game strong, outshooting Edmonton by a 31-23 margin over the first and third periods combined. They were able to sustain pressure in Edmonton’s end after causing turnovers with a hard forecheck and kept generating opportunities.
That said, it was a pretty rough second frame for the Kings, where they were outshot by a huge 16-4 margin and handed the Oilers three power plays. Los Angeles can’t afford to keep taking penalties like they did in the frame, given that a matchup of the third-ranked power play versus 22nd-ranked penalty kill usually isn’t going to go well for the guys who are down a man.
Jonathan Quick was really good for the Kings, stopping 36 of 39 shots in the win and making some key saves at key times. The line of Phillip Danault, Alex Iafallo and Trevor Moore was also huge, with each forward scoring in the win.
Viktor Arvidsson was also out of the lineup for Game 1, but given that Todd McLellan was optimistic about him returning yesterday, you have to think there’s a strong chance he’s back in for Game 2.
It was key for Los Angeles to pick up a road win in their first playoff game in four years – Game 2 takes place tomorrow night in Edmonton.
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