Edmonton Oilers Vs Los Angeles- Game 1 Morning After

Last night the Edmonton Oilers lost the first game of their 2022 playoffs with a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Edmonton Oilers in my opinion played a game that gave them a chance to win, but in the end they weren’t able to get it.

Edmonton Oilers Positives

• It appears that maybe this playoffs that refs may actually call penalties. There was 4 powerplays per team.
• The Oilers powerplay scored a couple goals and is the reason they were in the game.
• Yamamoto was a firecracker out there. With a goal and an assist he was one of the best players out there.
• The goal McDavid scored at the end of the first is just what the Oilers needed. You can’t head into the intermission down 2 and McDavid took it upon himself to get some momentum back.
• The Oilers didn’t play anywhere near their best game and they were still able to be tied with just over 5 minutes left in the game.
• Oilers killed all 4 penalties they took

Edmonton Oilers Negatives

• The Edmonton Oilers took to many penalties. If the Oilers are shorthanded McDavid is on your bench, and the team is much better when McDavid is on the ice.
• This play by Mike Smith. There is zero good reasons for him to try and make this play in a tie game late.

• The Edmonton Oilers in the regular season were a better team when they score the first goal. Being down 2-0 doesn’t make it easy on yourself

Quick Breakdown

Overall the Edmonton Oilers played an average game. The fact they were still in the hunt to win that game was actually fairly lucky. If the Edmonton Oilers can even elevate their play by 10% they would have won that game.

Another positive for the Oilers is Jonathan Quick made quite a few big saves for the Los Angeles Kings last night. If one of those get past him it is a completely different game. The opposite could be said about Mike Smith. Smith didn’t really make any big saves, and a few of his goals against were ones you wished he would have saved. Not including his bad pass that lead to the game winner.

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In Closing

There is nothing you can do about the game last night now. All there is to do is try and learn what you can do to improve the play. I think if the Edmonton Oilers can come out and start the game better than they did last night it is a completely different game.

It may have been playoff nerves at the start, but that should be gone on Wednesday night as they seemed to go away as the game went on. If the Edmonton Oilers get the first goal it changes the whole emotion of that game. The crowd can help if you’re up, but it hurts you when you’re down.