Through 40 minutes, the thought of Game 1 finishing with a score of 6-5 didn’t seem possible, but that uncertainty and wildness is what makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs so great. The Los Angeles Kings seemed to have everything under control, playing the same way they played at Crypto.com Arena all season, suffocating the Edmonton Oilers defensively and capitalizing on the offensive chances they created, but their inability to stop the storm of what is the Oilers’ star power changed the complexion of the game in a matter of minutes.
The Kings at one point had a 4-0 lead with just a few minutes remaining in the second period and then a 5-2 lead early on in the third. Comfortably ahead is what the Kings were for most of this game, until they weren’t. An almost epic collapse that saw the Kings allow the Oilers to pot four goals in the third period to tie the game up at five was saved by Phillip Danault, whose fluttering floater of a shot somehow made its way over Stuart Skinner and into the back of the net with 41 seconds to go.
In dramatic fashion and in a rather ugly way, the Kings managed to pull out the win, and in the playoffs, that’s all that matters.
“Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of closing that game off, but you know a win’s a win, and we’ll take that, we’ll enjoy it, and then move on tomorrow,” Quinton Byfield said. “No lead is safe in playoffs.”
Special Teams Off to a Great Start
Heading into this first-round matchup, knowing what has played key parts in the previous series that have featured these two teams, we know just how important special teams are when up against the Oilers. There weren’t many areas the Kings struggled in throughout the regular season, but the power play was definitely one of them. Nothing seemed to click on the man-advantage until Andrei Kuzmenko was brought in, and it wasn’t until his addition that we saw any real progress or improvement. With just a few games left in the regular season, the Kings formed a five-forward power play unit in which Kuzmenko was featured on, that looked dangerous right away.
Both of those changes to the power play unit were on full display in Game 1 as the Kings were able to capitalize…
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