PREVIEW: Oilers at Kings (Game 4)

The Edmonton Oilers look to take a 3-1 lead on the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 of their first-round series at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:30 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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Game previews during the 2024 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

PREVIEW: Oilers at Kings (Game 4)

LOS ANGELES, CA – If Game 3 was a lesson in preparation, patience and execution for the Oilers, Game 4 on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena will be about continuing to do those things they did right for the rest of their opening-round showdown against the Kings to claim another playoff series win over their Pacific rivals.

And then, hopefully, three more rounds after that.

“Just trying to regain our play that we had in Game 1 and Game 3,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said during his media availability on Saturday.

"There are things that we're going to alter to our game plan, but we're just trying to maximize our effort as much as possible and play very similarly to the way we played in Game 3 and not let up knowing that they're gonna have a stronger push.

"It's a very pivotal game for them, but we can't control how they're gonna play. We've just got to make sure that we're ready."

The Oilers didn’t practice on Saturday after showcasing a little bit of everything they have to offer in Friday's solid 6-1 victory in Game 3, giving them a 2-1 lead in the series and earning the opportunity to take a firm grasp on advancing to the next round if they can replicate that effort on Sunday.

Zach Hyman now leads the NHL in playoff scoring with six goals in three games after picking up a pair in Game 3 along with Leon Draisaitl, becoming just the second player in the last 30 years (Mark Stone – 2019) and the second-ever Oiler (1987 – Jari Kurri) to score six goals in the first three games of a postseason.

Draisaitl is officially the fastest player to score 20 playoff road goals in his career after he did it in his 26^th game during the first period on Friday, following up Hyman’s opening goal in the first period before Connor McDavid notched his first playoff tally of ’23-24 on the power play at the tail end of Edmonton’s three-goal frame that kept the Kings chasing for the rest of Game 3.

"It's always so much easier to play when you have the lead," Knoblauch said post-game. "They have to open things up, and with the way we play, we love it when another team opens things up and it just gives our guys a little more room."

The Oilers power play is now 7-for-17 in the series after going 3-for-8 in Game 3, making it a combined 23-for-49 (46.9 percent) over their three consecutive meetings with Los Angeles in the first round.

On the other side of special teams, the penalty kill hasn't had a blemish over 10 straight kills and remains the only unit during the 2024 Playoffs that has yet to let in a power-play goal, with the Kings having bared the brunt of the blow over the past three seasons with only 10 PPGs scored against the Oilers on 55 opportunities (18.2 percent).

McDavid and Draisaitl continue to be unmanageable for the Kings after picking up a combined three goals and three assists in the victory to reach 60 points together over the past three series with LA.

Following Friday night's victory in Game 3, each of the elite Oilers forwards now have identical post-season totals of 82 points through 52 career games, registering an average of 1.62 points per game that beats out Mario Lemieux and is only bested by one individual in NHL history – Wayne Gretzky.

"It's remarkable for them to be mentioned with those two players, and then also, to do it now where scoring is a lot tighter," Knoblauch said. "For them to show up and play as well as they have in the playoffs, it's quite significant. It's not an overstatement to say that is remarkable, and so many players get a bad rap of: 'They do in the regular season, but when things are tough and the checking is harder and there's not as much space, they fade away'.

"But those two just elevate their play in the playoffs."

Perhaps nobody is more tailored for the emotions of playoff hockey than Evander Kane, who in conjunction with his teammates on Friday, showed how important team toughness is during the playoffs. "The drama of it all," Kane said post-game. "It just brings the best out of me."

The 32-year-old winger assisted on Draisaitl's first-period goal, got a piece of Cody Ceci's point shot in the middle frame and then took exception to a high hit from Andreas Englund in the final stanza, leading to a full-team scrum before he fought the defenceman to earn himself the Gordie Howe hat trick, the first recorded by an Oiler in the playoffs since Craig MacTavish in 1986 against – you guessed it – Los Angeles.

"Everyone got in there and defended each other," Nurse said. "That's what this time of the year is about. In the full 82-game season that you play before, that's what brings everyone together. I think this group is really tight. We've been through a lot this year, and that was just a good example of what everyone means to each other in here, so it's a good sign."

Edmonton has scored four goals or more in all three of their playoff games in 2024 for only the fourth time in franchise history, and the first time since 1986. Continuing to pile on the offence while limiting the goals against begins with another fast start on Sunday after they pounded the Kings for three in the first frame during Game 6.

"I think the games that we've won we've had a strong first period, and the game that we lost, I thought we put in a pretty solid 40 minutes, but it was just too big of a hole to overcome," Knoblauch said. "We need a really strong start, especially playing in their building where they played really well this past second half of the year. We need to make sure that we're ready from the start."

Regardless of whether they had won or lost in Game 3, Knoblauch and his coaching staff planned to give the team the day off from practicing because they liked the rhythm they had going from Thursday's travel day, where the team forewent holding their morning practice at Rogers Place and instead kept the full-team practice for the pre-game skate the next morning in LA.

With one skate between games – either on the day between or the pre-game skate before a game – Knoblauch likes the idea of continuing that until changes need to be made.