Kings eager to ‘change that script’ against Oilers in Game 2 of Western 1st Round

EDMONTON -- The Los Angeles Kings are moving forward and know they have to be better in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, BSW, TBS, MAX).

Los Angeles did not practice Tuesday after a 7-4 loss in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series on Monday, sticking to its original schedule.

Now is not the time to dwell.

“Every game’s its own game, it really is,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “[The Oilers] feel good about that one; we don’t feel good about it. Let’s start tomorrow and let’s change that script.

“For me, we’ll be fresh. We have a lot of veteran players and you might worry about that as a younger team, but I don’t worry about that with our team.”

The Kings and Oilers are playing against each other in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season. Los Angeles won Game 1 the previous two seasons but lost the series each time. It is looking to return the favor this season.

“I think if you win, you try to keep it going from one game to the next, and I think if you lose, you try to stop it there and get to a whole new game in Game 2,” Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “For us, we’ve played better hockey this year. They played well yesterday; we didn’t play the way we can. You’re going to lose games in the playoffs. We lost the first game, but it’s a seven-game series and we have Game 2 and we’ll go from there.

“I’m sure they’re going to want to continue what they did in Game 1, and we’re going to have to play better and deliver in Game 2.”

Los Angeles fell behind 4-0 by 8:24 of the second period on Monday and was forced to deviate from its tight defensive system. The Kings did battle back to make it 4-2, but two quick power-play goals in the third period from Edmonton forwards Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman put the game out of reach.

“We’ve been really good all year eliminating other team’s rushes,” Dubois said. “We can score from a rush; we can also just create momentum [with] a good offensive-zone shift. If we can do a better job of cleaning that part up, giving our defensemen an easier read, having our [third forward] in a responsible position to where the defensemen, if they feel they can jump the winger they can, if they back up, then we’re still in a good spot.

“There are a couple of things that we can do better, but we’re not pressing the panic button. We know we can play better hockey this year and we can do it in the next game.”

Hyman scored his first NHL playoff hat trick in Game 1, and Connor McDavid became the 14th player to have at least five assists in a playoff game, and the first since Geoff Courtnall had a goal and five assists for the St. Louis Blues in an 8-3 win against the Kings on April 23, 1998. Los Angeles is armed with the task of trying to contain him moving forward.

The Kings feel they need to do a better job taking time and space away. The Oilers were able to gain entry into the offensive zone with ease Monday, particularly with McDavid carrying the puck.

“Connor’s a special player, I don’t think anyone is surprised by what he’s able to do in this league anymore,” Kings goalie Cam Talbot said. “You can see it in his first year when I came in (to Edmonton) when he was an 18-year-old, and you can just see him grow year after year.”

Talbot made 38 saves in Game 1 and is expected to start Game 2, although Hiller would not confirm it. Talbot played four seasons with Edmonton (2015-19) and helped the Oilers end an 11-year playoff drought in 2017.

“The biggest thing is to keep your mind square, stay even-keeled; after games like that, it’s easy to get a little too low,” Talbot said. “But in the playoffs, you have to let that one go or they can snowball pretty quickly.

“Staying even-keeled has always been a big part of my game, and I’m just going to try to do that moving forward and try to settle this down whenever I get the opportunity.”

Los Angeles also needs to be better on the penalty kill, giving up three power-play goals on four opportunities. Kings forward Trevor Moore took a tripping penalty with 20 seconds left in the second period, leading to Draisaitl’s goal at 1:08 of the third. Dubois’ holding penalty at 5:20 then led to Hyman’s goal at 6:17 that made it 6-2.

“Obviously, they have a really good power play, and you can’t spend too much time in the penalty box against any team, but especially against a power play like that,” said Dubois, who was assessed two minor penalties. “That’s definitely one thing that we can do better too.”

For their part, the Oilers know well what it’s like to be on the losing side of an opening game. They had not won Game 1 of a series since the second round in 2017 against the Anaheim Ducks.

Edmonton lost Game 1 in seven consecutive series before ending the skid Monday.

“We’ve been in that situation many times and found our way back, and we know [the Kings] don’t make anything easy for us on the other side,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “We know they’re going to want to come out hard and have a push to start, so we have to match that and control the game right from the very beginning.”