Oilers power play potent, PK perfect in playoff series victory over Kings
Kris Knoblauch’s love of his life is wife Autumn but he likes spring, too.
On the morning of his 20th wedding anniversary, in his first NHL playoff season, the Edmonton Oilers coach laughed when asked if he had any plans later Wednesday. Maybe no bottle of Merlot or any Michelin meal to celebrate, but, as Knoblauch said post-game “I’m sure I’ll have a beverage at some time tonight.”
Or two, or three. And why not, after toasting the Los Angeles Kings in five.
In 2022, it was seven games, in 2023 it was six, now it’s five in this playoff trilogy. The first time around Evander Kane had seven goals in the series, last year Leon Draisaitl had seven and this time around Zach Hyman had seven.
How’s that for synchronicity? The Kings were in the game 5-on-5 in the five games but as soon as the stripes put their hands up for a penalty, the Oiler stars came out. They lit it up against a capped out, old Kings team that hasn’t won a playoff series in 10 years and maybe has to swallow their off-season mistake and buy out Pierre-luc Dubois at one-third of his seven years left because he’s still under 26, saving them $31.6 million so they can retool with other people.
RED-HOT POWER PLAY
Connor Mcdavid was never denied entry into the Kings’ territory at passport control on the Oiler power play and Draisaitl, Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-hopkins followed along. The power play officially went for 9-for-20 in the series, but,in reality, it was 11-for20 because Dubois and Drew Doughty were out of the penalty box for four and three seconds only and not fully back in the play to defend second-period goals by Draisaitl and Hyman in Game 5. Draisaitl had scored on the power play earlier with that wicked referee reviewed shot with Vladislav Gavrikov off for hooking Mcdavid.
Here’s all you needed to know.
In this series, the Oilers had the power play for 26:55 and had 44 shots on either David Rittich or Cam Talbot, while the Kings had the PP for 24 minutes and mustered 16 shots on Stu Skinner.
As ex-oilers coach and retired Hall of Famer Ken Hitchcock opined in a pre-game 5 chat with The Athletic and TSN’S Pierre Lebrun “their powerplay is a good reason to not be coaching.”
In the three spring playoffs with LA, the Oilers were 25for-55, and again, that doesn’t include the two by Draisaitl and Hyman with Dubois and Doughty frantically escaping the penalty box but too late to help in Game 5. If that power play stat doesn’t get assistant Glen Gulutzan, who looks after it, an interview for any of those vacant head-coaching jobs right now, these other teams are not watching.
No argument from Kings’ interim head man Jim Hiller. The Kings had the NHL’S secondbest PK over regular-season, only to have that implode over 10 days. It helped that Draisaitl won 83 per cent of the faceoffs from the left dot coming into Game 5, and that Mcdavid is a zone entry all by himself, just like Nathan Mackinnon in Colorado.
You’re entitled to ask why the Kings didn’t just shadow Mcdavid coming up the ice and forget about Bouchard who was always sashaying up ice and dropping the puck to Mcdavid But we digress, leaving Hiller the last words.
“Pretty easy write up in this series, one team performed on special teams, the other didn’t,” said Hiller.
Not just the horrid Kings’ penalty kill, but the Kings power play, which was 0-for-12, even with Adrian Kempe, who has had 11 goals in the 18 games over the last three playoff series.
PK WAS PERFECT
This series was infield practice for the Oiler penalty-killers — Nugent-hopkins, Derek Ryan, Mattias Janmark, Ryan Mcleod, Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick, who rotated with Ryan and was a healthy scratch for the last two games. And, Mattias Ekholm, Cody Ceci, Darnell Nurse and Vincent Desharnais on the back-end.
Skinner, the ultimate company man, says thank you. This was one of those cases where the goalie didn’t have to be the best penalty-killer.
“As a group we were so well connected, we had so much chemistry… we just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. And, when we needed it, we got some massive blocks. I certainly didn’t see many shots tonight (just one),” said Skinner.
One more stat: this was the first-time ever, the Oilers have not allowed a power play goal in 59 career playoff series.
Skinner had the best view in the house for the Oiler power play, too.
He could have reclined in a La-z-boy because when the Oilers got a power play in the series, the puck barely left the LA end. The Oiler power play has always provided oxygen for the team when their 5-on-5 game is maybe stumbling, but this series was rarified air, heck, the last three Kings series were.