- Joined
- Jul 28, 2004
- Messages
- 130,155
They’re now down to their last life.
Despite the Kings putting forth far and away their best effort of the postseason in Game 4, the Oilers emerged with a 1-0 victory on Sunday night. With the loss, LA’s 2023-24 season could possibly come to a close on Wednesday night in Alberta.
Throughout the regular season and even into the opening round of the playoffs, the first few minutes of a game has often provided a great preview of how the Kings are going to play the rest of the night. In Game 4, the Kings got off to a fantastic start and held a 10-4 advantage in shots at the end of 20 minutes, which had to have coach Jim Hiller and his group at ease given Game 3’s disaster.
Unsurprisingly, LA conceded a power play goal in the second period. Each team had one man-advantage apiece; Evan Bouchard cashed in for the Oilers, while the Kings did not generate a shot-on-goal when having an extra attacker. As has been discussed repeatedly throughout the series, LA has simply not figured out their special teams and it’s a huge reason why they have not been able to solve Edmonton.
It’s a bit baffling on the penalty kill side too. LA had one of the top PK’s in the league all season. Yet, it’s been a completely different story in the postseason.
Just like Game 3, Crypto.com Arena was rocking again on Monday. Unfortunately, the fans in downtown LA witnessed another disappointing outcome. The Kings’ effort was greatly improved, but the final result was the same. A win in Game 5 would allow them at least one more game in front of their home crowd — a tall ask at the moment.
Skinner Shines Bright: Edmonton-native Stuart Skinner stopped all 33 shots he faced on Sunday. The Oilers starting netminder struggled in the opening two games of the series before posting a 0.50 goals against average and .984 save percentage once the series moved to LA. Kings goalie David Rittich also played well on Sunday, even though he only had to face 13 shots. It would be reasonable for one to expect Rittich to get the nod once again in Game 5, although Hiller did not give any intel during his postgame press conference.
Stat Sheet Takeaways: Per statistician Blake Warye, the Oilers are only the eighth team in the past two decades to be outshot by 20+ in a playoff game and win. The Kings played a complete 60 minutes – by far their most complete outing of the playoffs – but were simply unable to capitalize on their multitude of opportunities.
Unpredictability: WIth this series being the third consecutive installment of Kings vs. Oilers, many might expect each game to follow a similar script as the two teams have gained familiarity. However, it has not played out this way. Final scores in this series have been 7-4, 5-4 (OT), 6-1, and 1-0. While it has to be a concern for the Kings that the Oilers have found a variety of ways to win, players and coaches can’t spend time focusing on past results.
Extra Day of Rest: The Kings will have two days of rest before squaring off with the Oilers again on Wednesday. Perhaps this will allow LA to reset mentally and sharpen their focus ahead of Game 5, where everyone will need to bring their A-game in order for the Kings to gain some life in this series.
RELATED CONTENT:
Follow @mayorNHL
//
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-522840723937225840-1’); });
Continue reading...
