EDMONTON — They draw up defensive schemes, stress out over neutral zone alignment, and after that, the coaches drill down on things like “responsible play” and “staying on the right side of the puck.”
Then they dropped the biscuit on a Thursday night in May, and the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers played like 40 kids at the outdoor rink on a Saturday afternoon over Christmas break.
It was 60 minutes of no-structure, fast-paced and brilliantly entertaining hockey, reminiscent of that old Miracle on Manchester series back in ’82, when Game 1 opened at Northlands Coliseum with a 10-8 Kings win.
Forty three years later, it was Edmonton who came out on top in a 6-4 firewagon finale, hoisting the Kings on the same petard they’ve been gutted by the previous three springs, this time in six games.
Edmonton moves on to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, meeting the Vegas Golden Knights in a series expected to start Monday or Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“Early in the series, we just looked a step behind,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “They were just ready to roll. You could just tell that they wanted it to be different.
“Our guys got their legs under them, and a little bit of momentum in two of the gutsier wins that I’ve ever been a part of in Edmonton.”
Edmonton lost Games 1 and 2, then won out in this Round 1 series. Games 3 and 4, to which McDavid referred, were stolen by an Oilers team that simply knows how to win, from an L.A. team that just can’t figure out the formula.
The Kings simply can not beat Edmonton, even though they’re telling themselves that it was different, that they were closer this time around.
“One hundred per cent, it’s a missed opportunity for us,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller, whose resume will have a hard time shedding the questionable goaltender interference challenge in Game 3 around which this series turned. “We believe we could have won the series. We believe we should have won the series.
“We had our chances to get it done. Didn’t get it done.”
If Quinton Byfield clears that puck with 45 seconds left in Game 4, the Kings probably head home with a 3-1 series lead. Admittedly, you don’t have to squint too hard to see a series that might have been swept by L.A., but instead it was the Oilers who won the way they always do against L.A.
Going away.
“You can pinpoint Game 3, and we didn’t close out Game 4,” said the great Anze Kopitar, who had nine points in the series but went minus-6. At 37, those ageing legs just don’t keep up with the McDavids the way they once did.
“That’s a completely different series if we go home up 3-1 versus 2-2,” he said. “But, coulda, woulda, shoulda…”
The Oilers, with 10 series and a Stanley Cup Final appearance under their belts over the past four springs, have become that team that simply knows how to win no matter the path that is required.
Yes, they haven’t won the Stanley Cup — yet. But they’ve won everything else, including seven of eight series-clinching games over the last four years, an intangible that the Kings simply can’t get their hands or their heads around.
“We just willed it out. Two of the gutsier wins that I’ve been a part of here in Edmonton, Games 3 and 4. Just not being denied,” said McDavid. “It’s a credit to everybody in this room — we dug ourselves out of tough, tough spots against a stingy, stingy team.
“We should be proud of this one,” he said. “It’s not easy to beat a team four years straight. It was a fun series to be a part of, fun to come out on the good side.”
A wild and whacky Game 6 opened with four goals in the opening 5:55, and when Zach Hyman scored at 12:49, the Oilers somehow took a 3-2 lead into the intermission, in a period where they weren’t very good.
Then they settled down, their depth took over, and in the end, Edmonton won a game 6-4 in which their top scorers — McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard — combined for just a single assist. That trio had three points over the final two games of the series, and Edmonton scored nine times anyhow.
In these parts, that may be the best sign of them all.
“The deeper you go in the playoffs, the more it becomes a team game,” said the best Connor on the ice Thursday — Connor Brown. “The more it becomes about what your team is missing. Our depth guys were able to produce when needed and we’re going to need a lot more of that.”
Brown had what McDavid called “his best game as an Oiler,” with a goal and two assists. He was everywhere, and his line — with Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic — combined for a goal each and six points.
Meanwhile, the line of Mattias Janmark, Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin set up Darnell Nurse for a massive goal, and suddenly the Oilers have four lines that can help you win.
It has not been like that for an entire season, but now that it truly matters, their depth is intriguing.
“We have a lot of guys who want the puck on their stick in big moments,” Brown said. “Arvi (Arvidsson) showed that, Janitor (Janmark) showed that time and time again. Rico (Henrique) showed that. You can go through every line and we have guys who want the puck in big moments and aren’t shying away any time of limelight or adversity.”
And, of course, Calvin Pickard became the only goalie in these Stanley Cup Playoffs to run his record to 4-0.
That, in a series that so many picked to go L.A.’s way, is perhaps a metaphor for this Oilers team.
They’re better than we thought.
And as the Evander Kanes, John Klingbergs, Hymans and Frederics find their legs, they might just turn out to be better than we think.
from Sportsnet.ca https://ift.tt/TycVpQt
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