Edmonton Oilers Vs Los Angeles Kings: Game 1 Goal Breakdown

Evan Bouchard from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman at 12:31 of the first period.

When it comes to breaking down a powerplay goal it is a lot harder to find a positive or an error sometimes because one team does have an extra player. That being said the first point and most important thing to do to avoid a powerplay goal against is to NOT TAKE A PENALTY.

Good Plays

• Just like the first goal at some point in the sequence, there was a loose puck that the Oilers gain back. Nugent-Hopkins does a good job of getting the puck back and slowing things down again.
• McDavid signs for Nuge to pass the puck to Bouchard.
• Bouchard does a good job of not differing from all the other skills on the powerplay and skates in a fire a shot in the perfect spot.

Breakdowns

• Don’t take one penalty. Even worse don’t take another penalty while on the penalty kill. 5 on 3’s don’t usually end well for the 3.
• Once the scramble started after the McDavid chance the Kings lost the puck in the slot. From that point, they were in survival mode.
• The Kings need to respect Bouchard passing to Draisaitl or McDavid, but they also need to respect Bouchard. On a 5 on 3, that’s hard to do, but not impossible.