Entering Game 4 of the Kings-Oilers first round series on Sunday night, there are still a myriad of questions to be answered on both sides of the ice. While LA leads 2-1 in the best-of-seven set, they could just as easily be up 3-0 or down 1-2. Therefore, ‘What is this team made of?’ feels like an appropriate question for either coach at this point.
However, come later tonight, everything that’s happened up until this point is all in the past. None of it matters. There is nothing from the first three games that will impact tonight — including the failed coach’s challenge that has been all the talk of social media. It’s done and over with.
What faces Jim Hiller and his team tonight is an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead with a road victory before heading home for Game 5 on Tuesday. If handed that script two weeks ago, anybody from the Kings side would have surely signed up for such an opportunity.
All in all, it’s been a different style of play through three games than many thought the Kings would utilize to find success with. Despite being a strong defensive-oriented team with solid goaltending all season, it’s been the offense and power play driving the bus early on in the playoffs. While the goals have been great, though, Hiller is probably looking for more out of his defense and netminder.
One thing the Oilers have proven thus far is an ability to put pucks in the back of the net even when they’re being out played. Twice Edmonton has produced at least five goals, largely due to the play of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who continue to show why they are among the best players on the planet.
Overall, if you were to watch back all nine periods of hockey played in this series thus far, you’d likely come to the conclusion the Kings have been the better team in seven of them. While it’s been good enough to win two of three games, they’ll need to put together more complete efforts if they have aspirations to move past this first round.
Something to keep an eye on is the ice time distributed to LA’s fourth line and bottom defensive pairing. Jordan Spence played just two minutes in game three, and the fourth line hasn’t seen more than four minutes of ice time in any of the first three contests. How long can Hiller continue using just nine forwards to carry the team without them suffering some burnout?
With an optional morning skate today, Hiller’s lineup plans remain unclear. He has several options at his disposal, including a return to an 11+7 configuration and slotting Alex Turcotte back in on the fourth line. He’s been a healthy scratch the past two games.
Statistically Speaking
— After a pair of assists in Game 3 on Friday, Anze Kopitar is just the third player in Kings history to record 10 multi-assist playoff games. The others: Wayne Gretzky (17) and Luc Robitaille (11).
— Kopitar’s seven points (1G, 6A) are the most assists and total points in NHL history through the first three games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by a skater aged 37 or older.
— With his team-leading fourth playoff goal this postseason, forward Adrian Kempe became the fifth player in Kings history to open a postseason with a three-game goal streak. The others: Wayne Gretzky (4 GP in 1991), Dustin Brown (3 GP in 2012), Jimmy Carson (3 GP in 1988) and Daryl Evans (3 GP in 1982), per NHL PR.
— With a League-leading seven power play goals (PPG) on 12 opportunities (58.3%), the Kings have struck multiple times with the extra man in each of their first three games of a playoff year for the second time in franchise history. This marks the most LA PPGs in a series since the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals, where the Kings struck at least twice with the man advantage in the first four consecutive contests against the Vancouver Canucks and finished the six-game series with 10 PPGs.
Reign Fall, Greentree on the Move
In a note that is tangentially related — with the Reign falling 2-1 to the Barracuda on Saturday night, Ontario has been eliminated from the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. LA’s top prospect, Liam Greentree, is arriving in SoCal this weekend and was going to put through the usual round of medical testing on Monday for a chance to join the Reign (where several other prospects were recently assigned as well). With that option now removed, he’ll likely be joining the Kings as part of a small Black Aces group.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Oilers
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Helenius – Turcotte
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Spence
Edmundson – Clarke
Kuemper (starter)
Rittich
Likely scratches: (F) Lewis, Thomas and (D) Burroughs, Moverare and (G) George
Injured: Jeannot, not skating yet, officially week-to-week (initially reported as out for extended time period)
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 6:30 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports Network. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app (which is the new home for Kings radio this season, they’ve moved off of the iHeart platform). More on the ongoing TV situation here.
Across the Ice
Here is how Edmonton is projected to lineup tonight:
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