GAME RECAP: Kings 4, Oilers 3 (Game 1)

EDMONTON, AB – Game 1 goes the way of Los Angeles.

The Edmonton Oilers dropped Game 1 of their best-of-seven series with the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at Rogers Place, with Phillip Danault scoring the decisive goal with 5:14 remaining in regulation.

Trevor Moore recorded a goal and two assists on a night that saw the Kings jump out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period before Connor McDavid responded before the intermission. Two power-play tallies in the middle frame from Kailer Yamamoto and Leon Draisaitl had the Oilers back in the contest, with the score level through 40 minutes.

The Kings took advantage in the third as the clock ticked towards the final five minutes when Mike Smith’s giveaway in the defensive zone led to the game-winning goal going in off Danault to settle the 4-3 scoreline and give Los Angeles the 1-0 advantage in the series heading into Wednesday night’s Game 2 at Rogers Place.

McDavid and Yamamoto both tallied a goal and assist in the defeat, while Smith made 31 saves on 35 shots.

Video: OILERS TODAY | Post-Game 1 vs LAK 05.02.22

FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers were engrossed in the energy of Rogers Place, playing with excitement and a hint of nerves in the first half of the first period, but the Kings came out looking composed before eventually striking first.

The pucked worked its way out in front from behind the Oilers net, kicking off the blade of Smith’s paddle and onto the stick of Alex Iafallo, who took two quick touches with the puck before passing off to Trevor Moore to snipe the opening goal of Game 1 top shelf with 11 minutes on the clock in the opening frame.

Moore turned provider 5:48 later when he put a no-look pass from below the goal line right into the wheelhouse of Iafallo to wire a slap shot past Smith to double LA’s lead with just over three minutes left in the opening frame.

THE CALL OF THE CAPTAIN

Take it all the way, Connor.

The clock dwindled into the final minute of the first frame when McDavid took a drop pass in Edmonton’s zone from Darnell Nurse, who made his return to the lineup from injury on Monday in time for Game 1. The captain faced three Kings at the opposing blueline and blazed past the pressure before cutting inside above the left-circle dot and wristing an unstoppable shot back across Jonathan Quick to halve the Oilers deficit with 43 seconds left in the period.

It was a spark delivered for the Oilers by their captain to send them into the intermission with something to build on after what was a challenging opening 20 minutes.

Video: LAK@EDM, Gm1: McDavid’s speed cuts deficit in half

TURNING THE POWER ON

Flicking the switch for the Oilers in the second period was as easy as reigniting the powerplay.

With Iafallo in the box for tripping Leon Draisaitl in the first minute out of the intermission as he entered the Kings zone, it was Yamamoto putting the redirection on Duncan Keith’s point in the slot in the dying seconds of the man advantage to tie the score.

Brendan Lemieux restored LA’s lead only 1:11 later, but Iaffalo was back in the box midway through the frame for cross-checking Zach Hyman when McDavid’s cross-zone feed struck a broken blade in the slot and fell to Draisaitl alone inside the circle to pick his spot far side on Quick and make it a 3-3 game.

Edmonton’s powerplay finished third in the regular season with a 26.0 per cent conversion rate and was playing a vital role in their 2022 post-season debut, going 2-for-3 in a middle frame where the Oilers outshot the Kings by a 16-4 margin.

Video: LAK@EDM, Gm1: Draisaitl picks corner for tie

SAVE OF THE GAME

Jonathan Quick is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings, so there’s precedent there for stellar saves and eye-catching athleticism in the LA crease. 

McDavid picked the pocket of a Kings defender in the offensive zone to create a 2-on-1 with Evander Kane in the final two minutes of the first frame. The captain set Kane up for a one-timer that the winger powered towards the right quadrant of the Kings net, but the netminder dived across and got to the effort with the left pad to stamp out what otherwise would’ve been a locked-in Oilers goal. Kane put his stick to his knees after the whistle and couldn’t believe he hadn’t got the Oilers on the board.

TURNING POINT

Smith made a miraculous recovery save on his own giveaway when his breakout pass up the ice was intercepted, but the Kings held possession and had the puck in the back of the net after Sean Durzi’s shot from the poitn struck Danault in front and found its way into the top corner with 5:14 remaining in regulation.

TOP PERFORMER

Yamamoto was buzzing on Monday night, most notably in a second period that saw the Spokane, Wash. product notch his first career post-season goal on the powerplay and add an assist to double his playoff output from eight games over the last two playoff runs (9GP – 1G, 2A).

Video: LAK@EDM, Gm1: Yamamoto redirects in equalizer on PP

PARTING WORDS

McDavid on how the game started:

“There’s obviously a lot of emotion with fans in the building, and excitement. I thought we just didn’t handle it all that well. The Kings got the jump on us. I think we did a great job getting back in the game and gave ourselves a chance, but ultimately it came down to one bounce.”

Smith on the decisive giveaway in the third period:

“I was just trying to make something happen. I tried to do too much in a tight game, and it ended up costing us the game. I’m obviously disappointed, but it’s one game and we move on and worry about game two.”

Smith on trying to stay even-keeled moving forward:

“You can’t do anything about it now, it’s over. It didn’t go the way we wanted, but it’s a long series and a long playoff if you want to get where we want to go. Nobody thought we’d win 16 straight, so it’s some adversity in the series but it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before. I’m sure we’ll deal with it again on the journey, so we’ll move on.”

McDavid on what they want to carry over from this game into the rest of the series:

“I liked our special teams. Our powerplay kept us in it. I liked how we battled back in the game and we didn’t quit on it. There are things to like, and obviously, there are some things to not like. We’ll learn from it and take what we learned in Game 1 and apply it in Game 2.”

McDavid on the Kings matching lines and if it took an adjustment:

“No, I think you’re going to expect that from LA. They’re a team that wants to get their matchups and Todd’s always been a matchup guy, we understand that. We’re comfortable playing against anybody.”

McDavid on rebounding next game:

“Just having a short memory and moving on, but also learning. They did things to us that we’ll want to adjust and we’ll make those adjustments and be ready to go again.”

Video: POST-RAW | Connor McDavid, Mike Smith 05.02.22

McDavid on the Kings having scoring opportunities off the rush, which has been uncharacteristic for the Oilers defence: 

“Our trackbacks could have been better. Forwards needed to do a better job coming back and allowing the D to stand and make it hard to get into our zone.”

Smith on comparing this team to previous Oilers playoff teams: 

“Everyone wants to compare year-to-year, but this team is different. It’s easy to compare from the outside, but it’s a team that really gelled here in the last couple of months winning close games, coming back in games and learning how to hold leads. The playoffs are a long journey, there are going to be ups and downs and it’s how you deal with that which makes you a team watching from the sidelines. You learn from the things you maybe need to improve on. All-in-all, it’s a different team and we’re feeling good where we’re at. It’s a game of inches, and a mistake here and there and it’s a different game.”

McDavid on the strong performance of Yamamoto:

“He did a lot of good things. He was hard on the forecheck, got pucks back, he scored a goal and was kind of all over the game tonight.”

Mike Smith on the Rogers Place fans:

“They were unbelievable, it was bumping in there. Maybe to a fault, we came out and we were running all over the place and got out of our structure because it was so energetic. You feed off the energy. To be out there and barely hear your heartbeat is something you just live for and why you play hockey. It’s good to have fans back in the building, the energy was unbelievable and we want to keep that going and hopefully get a win out of it.”

Woodcroft on the Oilers not managing the emotion in the building early in the game:

“I didn’t love the way we started the game. Obviously, we have up a chance off a neutral-zone faceoff, we took an early penalty and those types of things that allowed them to feel good at the start of the game. But I thought we worked our way into things and found a way to compete. In the end, it came down to an error in the third period and they capitalized on it.”

“I thought everyone was excited. While there are some execution things that we can clean up, it’s hard to fault our effort or enthusiasm in our game tonight. We’re disappointed with the result, but I have strong faith in our ability to regenerate. We’ll pick some things we need to improve and we’ll work at them and be better.”

Woodcroft on ensuring his players don’t beat themselves on the ice:

“I would say that it was a 3-3 hockey game, competitive on both sides. We had the opportunity to win that game on different occasions. I thought in the end, we made some mistakes that we haven’t made over the last two months or so. There are areas that we can clean up, for sure.”

Video: POST-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 05.02.22

Woodcroft on how he saw the play that lead to Danault’s game-winning goal:

“Obviously Mike would like to have that puck handle back, but there was other stuff on that play too that I think we can handle a little bit better. He’s done a good job of making big saves for us over time, and we want to make sure we can clean up some of those areas.”

Woodcroft on the play of Yamamoto tonight:

“I thought he was very good. He won a lot of puck battles, went to hard areas, and he brings what he brings. He was a good player for us tonight.”

Woodcroft on Nurse’s performance in his return from injury:

“I thought there was some good stuff from Darnell tonight. Obviously, he’s been off the ice for a little bit over a week, and there are moments where he’s just getting back up to speed. We tried not to overuse him tonight, but he was competitive and very good on our penalty kill.”

Woodcroft on a breakdown in structure tonight:

“I think a little bit of everything you just mentioned there. I think there are areas we can be better. There are areas we can be better. Like I said, it’s hard to fault our players’ effort. For me, it comes down to execution on some things and trusting what your structure is during certain times. In the end, it was a 3-3 hockey game in the third period and we made one more mistake than they did and it ended up a 4-3 hockey game.

Woodcroft on matchups and keeping McDavid away from the Danault line:

“You know what, it was an interesting game, especially with minutes distributed. They had some people that didn’t play a heck of a lot. I think I saw one of their players was under three minutes, another one was under six minutes, so at that point in time when that stuff happens, you’re just trying to get people on the ice and make sure that we’re using enough people to spread the minutes out so you’re not overtaxing anybody.”