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Monday night was not how the Kings wanted to start their 2024 postseason run.
Edmonton ran away with Game 1, taking the opening contest of their first-round series against LA by a score of 7-4.
Oilers forward Zach Hyman picked up right where he left off after a 54-goal regular season, scoring a hat trick to almost single-handedly finish off the Kings himself. Hyman excels in high-danger areas around the net and he unsurprisingly potted all three of his goals in Game 1 from in tight.
To their credit, after falling behind 4-0, the Kings made it a two-goal game after 40 minutes off goals from Mikey Anderson and Adrian Kempe. However, any momentum they briefly established was quickly negated by the Oilers with two quick tallies in the final frame of regulation.
FIRST GOAL OF THE SERIES@LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/S0rR3XnegG
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 23, 2024
JUICE MAKES IT A TWO-GOAL GAME@LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/AUPoDSCwS1
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 23, 2024
LA again threatened a comeback late in the game, but it was too little too late. PL Dubois and Trevor Moore were able to get on the scoresheet before Edmonton sealed it with an empty-netter.
Prior to the series getting underway, defenseman Drew Doughty alluded to the fact LA needs to want it more than Edmonton in order for the Kings to have a chance. Unfortunately for Doughty and the majority of his teammates, the Oilers appeared to be the team with more hunger on Monday. While it’s only one game, the Kings will undoubtedly need to play a more assertive style of hockey if they want this series to go their way.
Matchups: On that note about assertiveness… there was longstanding hope LA’s depth at center would play out well in the postseason, and it’s therefore a concern they lost the matchup battle to Edmonton on Monday. There’s still time for the Kings to turn it around, yet their offensive depth must have a better showing and impose their will on the Oilers if they plan on winning games over the next two weeks.
Stat Sheet Takeaways: Five assists in a playoff game is certainly a rarity but shouldn’t be surprising when it’s Connor McDavid. The Kings will need to find a way to limit his impact on the game, as he’s virtually impossible to stop when he drives play the way he did on Monday. Interestingly enough, the last player to record five assists in a game came in 1998 when Geoff Courtnall did it… yes, against the Kings.
Special Teams: Perhaps the best chance the Kings have of stopping the Oilers is to win the special teams battle. LA’s PK was second-best in the NHL this season, and the Oilers went one-for-seven on the man-advantage over their final five regular season games. In Game 1, Edmonton reverted right back to what won them last year’s series, going 3-for-4 on the power play while coach Jim Hiller’s team came up empty on their two opportunities with the man-advantage. If LA can limit Edmonton to one power play goal per game, it could become a completely different series, but that prove to be easier said than done.
Who Starts Game 2: It goes without saying Cam Talbot could have had a better outing in Game 1. Giving up six goals could even warrant a change in net. It can also be pointed out his defensemen did him no favors by allowing 44 shots on goal over the course of the night. Tuesday’s practice should provide more clarity about whether Talbot or David Rittich starts for the Kings in Game 2.
Fan vote here…
Rookie Coaches: Hiller and his Edmonton counterpart, Kris Knoblauch, made their Stanley Cup Playoff head coaching debuts on Monday. Just as he did in the regular season, Hiller showed a willingness to make lineup adjustments during the game. Most notably, Quinton Byfield was moved from a line with Dubois up to the top line alongside Kempe and Anže Kopitar, a move that resulted in a primary assist for Byfield on Kempe’s goal in the second period. It will be interesting to see if Hiller keeps this line intact to start Game 2. On Knoblauch’s end, the rookie head coach stayed away from the 11+7 alignment that was preferred by former Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, a formula which gave the Kings matchup trouble in each of the past two years. Both Hiller and Knoblauch are carving their own paths in the playoffs, meaning how the rest of this series plays out is still very much unknown.
Flipping the Script: The Kings won each of the last two series openers against the Oilers by scores of 4-3, a streak that didn’t extend to three straight on Monday. As each of the past two years have shown, winning Game 1 guarantees nothing. Thus, Game 2 will provide the Kings with a chance to do something the Oilers did in both of those series — snatch the momentum and come back to LA with a split, instead of being down 0-2.
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