BLOG: Starting strong on special teams

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Oilers know well from the regular season that special teams can generate a lot of momentum for your bench. So far through the opening two games of their first-round matchup of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Los Angeles Kings, that understanding is showing.
How a team performs on the power play and penalty kill can be the deciding factor in playoff games decided by only a handful of opportunities or single moments over the course of the contest; the ultimate icebreaker in the post-season where the majority of play is played at even strength.
It can take just one critical kill or man advantage to get your team over the hump.
In Edmonton's case during Game 2 on Wednesday night -- a commanding 6-0 shutout victory over the Kings to even the series at one game apiece heading to Los Angeles -- the Oilers penalty kill came up with the stops they needed in the first period by shutting down two Kings man advantages that would inject momentum into their 5-on-5 efforts and provide the foundation for the powerplay to open things up in the middle frame.
"We played a strong first period, had two big penalty kills, and I thought that settled everything down for us," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said post-game.
Further to their influence in Game 2, the penalty kill picked up a shorthanded goal through Darnell Nurse in the second period after Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers up and going with a lethal power-play snipe on Edmonton's opening man advantage early in the stanza.
"Those two penalty kills in the first period really set us up," Woodcroft added. "We scored a shorthanded goal which is a huge thing to create momentum. The power play has been good and it was a factor in the team winning the game."

GAME 2: Oilers 6, Kings 0

POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game 1 vs. LAK
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Smith & Ryan
POST-RAW | Kane & Nurse
Full Highlights
POST-GAME WRITTEN & BLOGS

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Despite a nervy start and a momentary lapse late in Game 1 that led to their defeat, the Oilers left feeling encouraged by their special teams knowing it could help serve as a platform for an immediate bounce back. The power play cashed in twice to tie the game in the second period on Monday, while the penalty kill finished perfect on the night.
Early in this series, the powerplay is an impressive 4-for-8 alongside a stalwart penalty kill that's a perfect 8-for-8 after going 40-for-43 over the last 15 games of the regular season. The power play, spare a tough stretch along with the penalty kill to begin Woodcroft's tenure as head coach, has been reliable all season with a 25.9 per cent conversion rate that was third-best in the NHL.
"To be honest, there's been more penalties than I expected at the beginning of playoffs, but we all know special teams are huge come playoff time," forward Derek Ryan said. "You only get so many power plays and we want our power play to be lethal. If they're not scoring they're creating momentum for us right now, which is good.
"The penalty kill has been doing the same creating momentum by killing it off, and I think in the last couple of months we've kind of laid a good foundation in what we want our special teams looking like. That's rolled into playoffs."
A stalwart penalty kill is a product of its systems and its soldiers, and no more is that embodied than in the efforts of a veteran in Ryan, who played a team-high 3:10 shorthanded for Oilers forwards and came through with a big interception on Phillip Danault's pass destined for the blade of Anze Kopitar on a second-period penalty kill by making a sharp read on the chance before taking a hard hit.

For Woodcroft, the veteran's contributions on the penalty kill are the perfect example of what you need in the post-season to be successful.
"It starts in the faceoff circle," Woodcroft said. "He was 6-for-7 in Game 1, and he was 63 per cent [on Wednesday]. He blocks shots and he made a lot of really good reads on the penalty kill when there were breakdowns. He's an unsung hero for our team. The playoffs are when you see those. Every little play gets magnified and he makes a lot of good ones."
On the power play, the Oilers second unit is earning more opportunities and soaking up more time at the end of man advantages with its production that stems back before the beginning of playoffs.
Both units got on the board Wednesday night, with Evander Kane's lightning strike of a shot to make it 6-0 in the third period going down as part of a two-goal, three-point night for him alongside Draisaitl's opening tally from The Spot™ in the left circle during the second frame.

"We know the McDavid unit is going to get the majority of the time," Kane said. "As the second unit we have to be ready to strike quickly when we get ours. McLeod and Yamamoto had big goals this series and we have to stay sharp and keep contributing. We have 30 seconds to do our thing and so far, we're doing a good job."
To make it a special run this Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers will need to keep the special teams rolling.
"It seems that special teams in these first couple games throughout the league have been very important," Kane added. "In Game 1 we won the special teams battle but lost the game and that doesn't happen very often. Tonight, we did a great job again and that is going to have to be continued through the rest of our journey here."