Kings went into Game 2 against Oilers with house money
Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan is not a fan of losing any kind of money.
So, heading into Game 2 of the Western Conference first round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday up a 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, McLellan wasn’t buying into the notion his team would be a more relaxed group because they were playing with ‘house’ money.
“No one likes to lose their house money either,” McLellan said prior to a 6-0 Game 2 loss. “When you go to Vegas (to gamble) you want to leave with house money. So, the pressure that we put on team is different than the pressure that Edmonton has.
“No one picked us to win this series, and that’s OK, we’re OK with being the underdog; this team has won two Cups being the underdogs. But that doesn’t mean we don’t put pressure on ourselves within the locker room. We didn’t come here just to play hockey; we came here to win.”
By winning the opening game of the series, the Kings were able to wrestle home-ice advantage away from the Oilers in the series.
Having achieved the goal of splitting the two games in Edmonton, there was a sense the Kings would be the more relaxed group heading into Game 2 at Rogers Place.
McLellan did not necessarily agree.
“LA Kings, San Jose Sharks, 3-0, enough said,” he smiled.
McLellan was behind the bench as coach of the San Jose Sharks when they took a 3-0 series lead in the first round of the playoffs in 2014. Los Angeles came back and won the next four games of the series to move on to the next round.
The Kings became the fourth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to come back and win a series.
They went on to claim their second Stanley Cup championship that year.
“There is pressure on us when it comes internally for growth,” McLellan said. “We’re in this series to win, we’re not just in it to gain experience and that’s the way we’re approaching it.”
Games 3 and 4 of the series take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Friday and Sunday.
There was a lot riding on Game 2, considering teams that take a 2-0 series lead go on to win over 86.6 per cent of NHL playoff series. And those who take a 2-0 lead on the road win 80.8 per cent of the time.
“We came into the last game and we knew they had a lot of pressure on them,” said Kings centre Adrian Kempe. “We came into the game as a little bit of an underdog, but we know we can beat them. We know how good we are when we play our game. We got our first win, but we have to forget about that going into the next game.”
With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl centring the top two lines for the Oilers, and Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault countering for the Kings, the determining factor in the series will likely be up the middle.
McLellan is trying to utilize Kopitar and Danault as much as possible against Edmonton’s dynamic duo and the pair were effective to a point in the opening game of the series.
McDavid and Draisaitl each had a goal in the opener, but the Kings won the game, so the first battle went to Los Angeles.
“A lot is made about their two centremen and our two and it’s a natural storyline; if I had your job, I’d be writing about it too because they’re four outstanding players,” McLellan said. “But there are also some really good wingers on those lines who play a significant role in the outcome of the game. We’re fortunate to have five or six of them that we can put up there and we can do the same.”
Kopitar, 34, played a gamehigh 25:41 in Game 1 and was expected to log a similar amount of ice time chasing McDavid around the ice in Game 2.
“Kopitar played eight second more than his match up (McDavid), and Danault played 11 seconds more than his match up (Draisaitl) and they also played less five-onfive,” McLellan said. “We’re going to play the game and we’re going to play our players. There is no saving anything for us.”