LOS ANGELES -- The Edmonton Oilers have taken control of their Western Conference First Round series against the Los Angeles Kings and now want a stranglehold on it.
Edmonton leads the best-of-7 series 2-1 heading into Game 4 here Sunday (10:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, BSW, SN1, SN, TVAS).
“It’s a big game. Game 4 is a big game whether you’re up 2-1 or down 2-1,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said Friday. “Game 4 feels like it’s always a big swing game. I think we learned our lesson from Game 2, we came out a little bit flat and didn’t match their desperation and spotted them three (goals) in the first and had a difficult time coming back. We have to be ready right off the hop. The first five minutes is huge and we have to be ready to go.”
The Oilers were dominant in a 6-1 win in Game 3 here Friday, jumping out to a three-goal lead in the first period and forcing the Kings out of their defensive shell.
Edmonton won Game 1 on Monday in a similar fashion, leading by two in the first period and by four midway through the second on the way to a 7-4 victory.
“It would be great if we could replicate it,” McDavid said. “With that being said, I’m sure they’re going to be hungry to come out of the gate hot. We’re going to have to match their level of their desperation.”
The Kings twice led by two in Game 2 before winning 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Anze Kopitar.
“L.A. is a great team and they’ve got veteran guys over there and they know how to play playoff series,” McDavid said. “I feel like we’ve done a lot of good things. With that being said, it’s only 2-1 and we’re going into a big swing game in Game 4, and we have to be ready.”
Los Angeles is much better playing with the lead. When ahead, it can maintain its defensive structure through the neutral zone, making it difficult for Edmonton to come through with possession of the puck.
If the Kings fall behind, they are forced to chase the game, leaving gaps behind them, which the Oilers have been able to exploit with their speed.
“It’s big. The team that scores first in any game is a big deal, especially with these two teams and a team that plays as tight as they do,” McDavid said. “If you can force them to kind of get out of their structure a little bit, it seems they’re a little more uncomfortable playing that way. They’re as solid defensively as any team in this league. If you can get them to change their identity a little bit it’s a good thing.”
The Kings want to challenge opponents to make low-percentage plays with the puck. Los Angeles generates much of its offense off turnovers in the neutral zone.
“We’ve seen it a lot, we’ve faced this team a lot and we’ve tried different things through trial and error,” McDavid said. “We’ve kind of figured out things that worked and things to stay away from. It’s not perfect by any means. They still break a lot of pucks out, they do a great job of going back and getting pucks and breaking them out of their zone. That’s what makes it tough to play against, but I thought we hit them a couple of times with some different looks and found a way to get through.”
Los Angeles had a good response to losing Game 1 and is looking for another after dropping its first home game. If the Kings lose Sunday, they would be facing elimination with the series returning to Edmonton for Game 5 on Wednesday.
“If you look at their two guys (McDavid, Leon Draisaitl) that have 100-plus points, we don’t even have a 90-point guy,” Kings forward Blake Lizotte said Saturday. “That’s part of our identity is to play a little more grinder-ish. We’ve talked about the 1-3-1 (system) for four years now. The best part of our identity is playing tight-checking and not so much gambling on scoring five or six. We’re not going to win many games when we give up four or five.”
Los Angeles has been successful with its tight-checking approach for years and won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 with an emphasis on defense in front of goalie Jonathan Quick.
Yet the Kings have struggled to contain the Oilers in the first round the past two seasons, losing to them in seven games in 2002 and six games last season.
“I think if you look back of the history between us in Edmonton, every time a team has won, the other has come back with a strong effort, even in this series so far,” Lizotte said. “We have to give them credit, they played a good game, we didn’t have our best stuff, obviously. Our goal is to get this back to 2-2, and I think the confidence our group to make that happen is high and we just have to go out and execute.”
Los Angeles believes that if it can keep the game close and stick with its structure it will be able to generate enough offense to get past Edmonton. The key for the Kings is not to fall behind early and get dragged into a transition game against the high-flying Oilers.
“We think we have a plan and a recipe that we think is going to lead to success,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said Saturday. “We didn’t follow it well enough last night in the first period specifically. We know what we have to do, we just have to do it better.”
