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Playoff Game 3: Oilers vs Kings - Pushing Play |
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Going to open this blog by posting this neat little breakdown of 5 on 5 scoring chances, goals for, expected goals for, and shooting percentages for each team in the playoffs.
The Edmonton Oilers absolutely dominated the Kings at 5 on 5 in the first two games of this series. Edmonton has been able to roll four lines out against the Kings and all lines have done an excellent job at generating chances. Korpisalo has been unreal for LA and is the key reason why this series is 1-1 and that Edmonton hasn't scored 5+ goals a game.
I really wanted to avoid this conversation but it's time to talk about the powerplays. Through two games on home ice, the Edmonton Oilers have had 4 powerplays. The LA Kings have had 10. It is the biggest discrepancy in powerplay opportunities in the first round so far.
I don't think the matches are fixed, I do not believe that the refs are in the Kings pocket or anything like that. What I do believe is that the Edmonton Oilers powerplay is such a dominant force that refs are hesitant to give the Oilers the benefit of the doubt on a borderline call because it is almost the equivalent of handing them a goal.
Evan Bouchard got a two minute penalty near the end of the first game that gave the Kings the tying goal. In game two in the last few minutes of the game, Desharnais was crosschecked to the face and there was no call. Good luck getting a powerplay when you are leading.
Regardless of this, the Oilers still need to clean up their own game. The issue with most of the penalties against Edmonton is that they have been blatant just dumb decisions by the Oilers players. The Oilers biggest enemy in this series is the Edmonton Oilers. Once again the Oilers had a two goal lead, were not able to get the third, and then took bad penalties and gave the Kings a chance to get back in the game.
Some rumblings that McDavid is playing sick or hurt. Not sure what exactly to make of that but the whole line of McDavid, Hyman and RNH just haven't been able to get much going. Last game the trio still went 5-3 in shots against the Kings even though they were not able to capitalize. It looks like Kane might go with McDavid tonight with RNH on the second line.
The best player in this series so far for the Oilers has been Leon Draisaitl who is playing like a man possessed. While the Kings have focused in on suppressing McDavid, Draisaitl has been going against the Kopitar line and has been coming out ahead. I wonder how the Kings will want to matchup against the Oilers top two lines now that they have home ice.
The Oilers depth continues to shine through. Derek Ryan, Evan Bouchard, Klim Kostin have all scored timely goals for Edmonton. Eventually McDavid, Hyman, RNH, and Kane are going to get on the board at 5 on 5 but the role players are doing their job right now.
Enjoy the game!
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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