EDMONTON -- The Los Angeles Kings want to repeat their previous effort in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round against the Edmonton Oilers, but with a different result.
Los Angeles dominated but lost 1-0 to the Oilers at home in Game 4 Sunday to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-7 series. The Kings need a win here Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, SN1, ESPN, BSW) to avoid elimination.
“I thought the last game was a pretty good indicator of what we need to do, to play in their zone and put them on their heels, but obviously we have to be a lot hungrier around the net,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said Tuesday. “We just have to go and play our game. It’s win or go home, so we have to play desperate with emotion and obviously discipline, and go from there.”
Los Angeles outshot Edmonton 33-13 in Game 4 but was unable to beat Stuart Skinner, who earned his first Stanley Cup Playoff shutout. The Oilers scored the only goal of the game on the power play at 11:49 of the second period on a point shot from defenseman Evan Bouchard.
Despite the loss, the Kings are looking to play a similar game to Sunday, when they were hard on the forecheck, physical and disciplined, outside of the one penalty, a holding call on defenseman Andreas Englund, that led to the goal.
“We took a big step the last game in the way we played, and if we have the same mindset going into the next game, it’ll be a big confidence boost for us,” Kings forward Trevor Lewis said. “Two of the games we’ve lost, our starts are not where they needed to be. I think last game we started well and we just continued it. We came at them in waves, and everybody was playing the same way. We just kept it simple, we forechecked, got the puck back (to the point) and tried to get to the net. One thing I think we can do a bit better is stay at the net and get a little hungrier there.”
Special teams have been the difference in the series. Each team has scored 10 even-strength goals, but Edmonton is 8-for-15 on the power play (53.3 percent) and Los Angeles is 0-for-11.
“We prefer to play 5-on-5 and I think last game was just one penalty each,” Lewis said. “I think if we do that and stay out of the box, we got a good chance.”
During the regular season, the Kings had the 12th-ranked power play in the NHL, converting at 22.6 percent. Los Angeles also had the second-best penalty kill at 84.6 percent, but that is struggling against the Edmonton as well.
“We maybe simplify it (the power play) a little more now and get pucks to the net and try to get a dirty one,” Kopitar said. “The power play hasn’t been good so we’re not doing a good enough job, whether that’s movement, getting pucks to the net, making plays. The bottom line [is] it’s not good enough and we’re going to have to be better in Game 5.”
A win by the Kings in Game 5 would send the series back to Crypto.com Arena for Game 6 on Friday. Los Angeles has been eliminated by Edmonton in the first round the past two seasons, losing in seven games in 2022 and six games last season.
“You don’t want to be put in this position, but when your back’s against the wall you learn what you’re really made of,” Lewis said. “I know we have the character and the leadership to do it, we just have to take it one shift, one period and one game at a time.”
Edmonton expects Los Angeles to put up another good fight Wednesday. The Oilers want to end the series and not have to go back to Southern California for Game 6.
“They had a really good push on home ice in Game 4 and they’re going to have a good push coming in here tomorrow night,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “For us, it’s going to be important that we come out and try to get on the front leg and try to dictate the play.”
The fourth win in a series is often the toughest to get, and the Oilers feel they’ll have to be much better than they were in Game 4 to close it out.
“We’re expecting them to have the same desperation they had the previous game and also probably with a lot of belief they can win,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “L.A. is obviously a very good hockey team. You look at the regular season, we had two more regulation wins than they did (39 to 37), but from the All-Star break on, they had the better record (.632 points percentage to .608).
“We’re very happy to be up 3-1 and it’s going to be very difficult to get that last victory because they are a good hockey team.”
