The Kings dropped Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in a high-scoring affair. While offense was a common in Game 1, the Kings played catchup the whole night after surrendering an early lead and failed get the score onto even terms at any point during the game.
The Oilers struck 6:52 into the game when Zach Hyman netted his first of three goals on the night. Set up by Connor McDavid on a zone entry rush, Hyman finished off a centering pass from McDavid and beat the sprawling Cam Talbot for the opening goal of the series. Just under three minutes later, it was the veteran Adam Henrique who beat Talbot with a short-side shot above the blocker to push the lead to 2-0. Assists came from Hyman and Evan Bouchard. 20 minutes in, the Oilers led by a pair of goals and had outshot the Kings 15-7.
Enter period two and it was more of the same to begin the new 20-minute stanza. Hyman extended the lead to 3-0 with his second tally of the game 4:50 into the second period when McDavid found the league’s second leading goalscorer during the regular season in the slot. Just over three and a half minutes later, the dangerous Oiler power play found the back of the net. This time coming from the stick of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, passes from McDavid and Leon Draisaitl set up Nugent-Hopkins who snuck behind the Kings penalty killers backdoor. Down 4-0 but not out, the Kings found their footing and cut into the leading in the second half of the second period. Getting the Kings on the board first was Mikey Anderson who beat Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner through a screen from the point. With assists coming from defensive partner Drew Doughty and Victor Arvidsson, the goal for Anderson marked his first career playoff goal in his 14th career playoff game, all games coming against the Oilers. Following Anderson’s goal, the Kings briefly thought they cut the lead to 4-2 at the 12:35 mark of the period, but after a shot from Carl Grundstrom deflected off of Trevor Lewis’s glove and into the night, the goal was taken off the board after an official review. Still trailing 4-1 late in the second period, the Kings did eventually cut the lead to 4-2 with 2:04 remaining in the period when Adrian Kempe threw the puck through the crease and benefitted from a fortunate bounce off of Bouchard’s skate and into the Oilers net. Kempe’s goal was his eight against the Oilers in the postseason across the past three seasons and sent the Kings into the third period trailing by just two.
Now trailing 4-2, the Kings began the third period shorthanded and unfortunately a quick power-play goal by the Oilers extended their lead back to three goals. McDavid picked up his fourth point of the night by feeding Draisaitl for a sharply angled one-timer that beat Talbot short-side high above the glove and shoulder. The lead would be pushed back to four goals in favor of the Oilers 6:17 into the final period when the home team connected for their third power-play goal of night. Completing his hat trick, Hyman tapped in a backdoor goal for his fourth point of the night with the help of Bouchard’s fourth assist and McDavid’s fifth assist of the game. Trailing 6-2 late in the game, the Kings made things interesting with a pair of goals off of two fortuitous bounces. First to score for the Kings in the third period was Pierre-Luc Dubois who also threw a puck through the crease and banked the puck into the net off of another Oilers defenseman with 3:04 to go in the game. Then, with 1:11 to go in regulation, it was the Kings regular season leading goalscorer Trevor Moore who took advantage of an Oilers defenseman breaking his stick and passing the puck right to Alex Laferriere. Laferriere made no mistake and cashed in on the offensive opportunity by feeding Moore backdoor for his first career playoff point in his playoff debut. All the sudden a two-goal game with a glimmer of hope, the Oilers would seal the game with an empty net tally from Warren Foegele with 26 seconds left on the clock to officially take Game 1.
Talbot made 38 saves on 44 shots.
