Edmonton Oilers Vs Los Angeles Kings: Game 1 Goal Breakdown

Last night the Edmonton Oilers lost to the Los Angeles Kings in a fairly depressing way. The Edmonton Oilers held a two-goal lead twice in the game. They ended up blowing the lead when the Kings tied the game with under 20 seconds left in the game. The Kings then went on to win the game in overtime.

In the playoffs each goal for and against means so much more than it does in the regular season. For that reason I am going to take a look at each goal and see where there was a breakdown by the defence or if it was just good play by a player.

Edmonton Oilers 1- LA Kings 0

Leon Draisaitl for Mattias Janmark at 6:57 of the first period.

On this goal, Draisaitl starts off the play by getting the puck deep in the Kings zone. Kane takes the first defenceman out of the play with a hit. After a quick battle for the puck, Janmark gets the puck out and goes to play it to the front of the net.

Janmark’s pass goes off the skate of Edler’s skate and right into the wheelhouse of Draisaitl. Draisaitl makes no mistake and buries the wide-open look, as he usually does. There was virtually no chance for Joonas Korpisalo to make a save on that play.

Good Plays

• Good job by Draisaitl getting the puck deep after being stopped just inside the blue line. He will sometimes try a low-percentage pass in that spot. Putting it deep is never a bad choice.
• Evander Kane taking the body of the first man. If Kane plays the stick, the defenceman just pushes the puck back up the boards and out of harm’s way.
• Janmark digging that puck out with precision was impressive. It also goes to show when you try and funnel the puck into a good spot good things can happen.
• A wide-open Draisaitl is expected to score on that opportunity and he does.

Breakdowns

• They got outworked by the Edmonton Oilers forwards in the puck battle which allowed them to get the puck in front and to a dangerous spot.
• Someone should have been closer to Leon Draisaitl on that play. If the Kings want to have success in this series they can’t give either Draisaitl or McDavid any space.

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.

This is a goal where you can see the Edmonton Oilers gameplay changed a bit slightly. Yes, it was 4 on 4, but that shouldn’t cause there to be any issues that lead to goals like this one. The Kings turned a 2 on 1 against into a goal. That shouldn’t happen if you’re the Edmonton Oilers.

Good Plays

• Vladislav Gavrikov makes a perfect play on a pass attempt from McDavid to Draisaitl. It instantly breaks out the Los Angeles Kings.
• The pass from Kopitar to move up the ice was perfect and the touch pass from Roy to Kempe was also executed perfectly.
• Roy net drive causes disruption in the Oilers defence and seems to make Ceci back right into Skinner.
• Kempe with a good move to avoid Draisaitl’s stick lift then he makes a well-placed shot that beats Skinner

Breakdowns

• When you have skilled players they try skilled plays, sometimes it doesn’t work out. I would have liked to see McDavid try and take the shot on that 2 on 1.
• Where Kempe did a good job avoiding the stick lift, I would have preferred Draisaitl to try and take a bit of his body there. I get that a clean stick lift and steal would turn it around faster. That wasn’t what the Oilers need when they are up 2.
• The Edmonton Oilers defence was backing up too much on this play. If they step up earlier Kempe doesn’t get as close to the net where a backhander can beat the goalie.
• Skinner likey would like another chance on this one.

This goal was only assisted by Kane, but if it was possible it should also have been assisted by Draisaitl himself as well. He does all the work here and the puck squirts out to him and he puts it in the net after a scrum in front of the net.

Good Plays

• Draisaitl never gives up on this play.
  • Wins the faceoff
  • Drives around the net
  • Gets shot on goal that causes a scrum
  • Scores a goal from a loose puck
• Kane and Yamamoto with a smart play to not touch this puck with their hands and cause a hand pass.

Breakdowns

• The Kings once again leave Draisaitl wide open and he scored on a loose puck.
• The Kings have to do everything in their power to make sure that the puck doesn’t go to the front of their net. They should have had a player on the ice making sure that it could go anywhere but there.
• Korpisalo probably regrets diving to his left and leaving himself helpless on the ice.

For this goal, there is a bit of a break in coverage by the Edmonton Oilers, but mostly this is just a well ran play by the Kings. The puck was free in the faceoff dot for a while, but no one seemed to know where it was till it was too late.

Good Plays

• The poke check by Byfield lands the puck right on the stick of Kempe.
• Perfect placed shot by Kempe, no real chance by Skinner on that one.
• A good tie-up by Kopitar takes McDavid out of this play.

Breakdowns

• That puck in on Hyman’s stick for a moment, he has to move it out of that area.
• Hyman also sets a pick on Ekholm which is what causes Kempe to be wide open. If these two don’t get tangled up this goal doesn’t end up in the net.

Alex Iafallo from Viktor Arvidsson and Anze Kopitar at 9:19 of overtime.

This is the real heartbreaker for the Edmonton Oilers. A soft call against them leads to the goal that wins game one. I’m not saying it wasn’t a penalty, I am saying with the way it was being called earlier it should not have been called.

Good Plays

• This is a beautiful passing play by the Los Angeles Kings.
• In this series the Kings are going to need to take advantage of the powerplay. When it mattered the most they did.
• Perfectly placed shot by Iafallo.

Breakdowns

• Oilers needed to be disciplined and not give the Kings a chance on the powerplay. They gave up a lot in the game, eventually, it was really going to hurt them and it did.
• Ceci may have floated up a bit high to leave Iafallo open in the slot, but if he doesn’t move up there is another opening created.

Overall I thought the Edmonton Oilers were the better team. They just gave the Los Angeles Kings a couple of opportunities to score and they took advantage. In the next game, I don’t expect there Oilers to make the same mistakes. My prediction is a 4-1 Oilers win tomorrow night