The injury bug at the end of the regular season - a hidden blessing in disguise?
I'm wondering if all of the players that were off with injury/illness at the end of the season, including the McDrai duo, were perhaps better off for the rest they got. Yeah the Oilers are unlikely to get home ice advantage in whatever round they play from here on in, but look at what Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal had to say about home ice advantage in his column two days ago. While there was some rust evident in the McDrai duo, John Klingberg, Trent Frederic, and everyone else who was injured in the latter portion of the season, the rest seemed to have done them some good. Evander Kane is playing like the Evander Kane of old - and finished 2-1-3 in the five games he played (he still sat out game one, IIRC).
We got our second look at Trent Frederic after he got into only a single game in the regular season post-trade deadline, and you got to see why Stan Bowman traded for him. Not only did Frederic put up 1-2-3 finishing even in the six games, but he was fifth on the team in hits during the series with 18, and fourth in hits/60 despite playing only 10:27 average TOI per game. Talk about a guy who uses his minutes effectively. Klingberg didn't put up a lot of offence - only two assists in five games - but he did finish fourth on the team in blocked shots with 10 and finished the first round +3. all with a TOI just short of 20 minutes at 19:33. The McDrai duo did McDrai duo things, racking up 11 and 10 points respectively in the six games of the series while finishing +5 and +6. That places McDavid in a tie with Nathan Mckinnon for second in the league in playoff scoring while Draisaitl is in a three way tie for the bronze medal with Cam Fowler and Adrian Kempe, the latter of which of course will now drop down with his team eliminated - and possibly Fowler too if the Jets beat the Blues tonight.
Between the Oilers coming at the Kings in waves wearing them down and the Kings shooting themselves in the foot, the Oilers seemed to have an extra swing in their step while the Kings got worn down. Now the only players for the Oilers who are still injured are Mattias Ekholm and Troy Stecher, the former of which won't be available until the end of the second round at the earliest.
Home ice - just like the regular season - meant squat for the Kings
A lot of pundits and hockey people were picking the Kings to beat the Oilers precisely because the Kings had home ice advantage for the first time in the last four years due to finishing second in the division while the Oilers finished third. It just goes to show you in the right circumstances that means absolutely nothing. You just knew that the first team to win in the other team's barn would likely take the series. Well, that script played out as expected, with the Kings taking the games in their barn and the Oilers taking the two games in their barn. It was the Oilers who drew first in this department as they took game five in LA 3-1 and then closed out the series in Edmonton 6-4. In other words, when home ice matters most in game seven was negated because a game seven was never played. Sorry Kings, you lose.
The Kings shot themselves in the foot
We can likely chalk this up to the mistake of a rookie head coach on the Kings side. Hiller shortened his bench in the entire series, barely playing the fourth line or the third pairing D at all. As a result, a lot of players were playing 20 minutes a night, including some, like Kopitar and Doughty, whose bodies are no longer equipped to play those kinds of minutes anymore. Doughty, in fact, was pushing 30 minutes a night. Between this and the fact that the Oilers now have enough depth they can send any line out there at any time and be confident that even the fourth line can beat the first line of the other team, this means that the Kings were 50% responsible for running out of gas by the end of the series. Maybe they need new players on the fourth line, or maybe a new coach, or a new strategy. Whatever it is, the Kings need to change something because if their bottom six forwards and bottom pairing D are not up to the task it doesn't matter who they play in the playoffs, they will always bow out in the first round.
Goaltending
On paper the Kings got much better between the pipes when they let Cam Talbot walk and traded for Darcy Kuemper. However, it was not to be as the increased minutes the key forwards and defenders had to play for the Kings decreased their effectiveness while team defence overall went down, which means more heat on the goalie.
Of course, Stuart Skinner didn't exactly perform up to par, either, but I tend to cut him some slack because he was one of the guys who was injured at the end of the season and thus had some rust to shake off in those two games he played. I suspect he'll play better to start the Vegas series if coach double K gives him the start.
Of course, in defense of both Kuemper and Skinner, a lot of big name goalies are struggling these playoffs. Hellebuyck - the Vezina trophy winner for the second year in a row - is crapping it in the playoffs for the second year in a row. How the Jets fix that I don't know. Jordan Binnington, Mackenzie Blackwood, Linus Ullmark, Adin Hill, and Andrei Vasilevsky are all struggling for their teams right now - or did struggle, for those whose teams are eliminated. Freddie Anderson, a notorious playoff choker, is leading the league in sv% amongst goalies who have started, and is first amongst starters in GAA too for goodness sakes. It's a real bizarro world of goaltending in these playoffs.
Calvin Pickard's stats aren't that great, either, but at least he's given us timely saves, something I didn't see Stuart Skinner doing in his two starts. Who starts against Vegas? Hard to say at this point, but Pickard isn't exactly built for a lot of starts in a row which means if you want to keep his play in reserve you should probably give Stuart Skinner a second chance against Vegas.
As for why the Kings didn't make a switch in net to David Rittich? Take a look at his horrendous career stats in playoff games. Enough said.
The Kings never protected a lead after game two
Once you get a lead you've got to be able to close out the game. Even in game one, one of the Kings wins, they almost lost it to the Oilers in the third period. The Oilers, however, being an experienced playoff team, were able to close out their leads in the third period. Whether it was fatigue or defensive lapses, the Kings have to close out the games with a lead if they hope to win. The Oilers did that more often than not.
The Oilers depth came through, the Kings depth didn't
There are two key numbers to look at to come to this conclusion. First of all, the Kings had four players without a point in the series, while the Oilers only had two. Second, it's worth looking at individual players as well. The entire Kings fourth line only had a single point between them. Part of that is the fact that Hiller hardly played them of course, that's a big factor, but still worth mentioning. Meanwhile the Oilers fourth line center Mattias Janmark had 2-1-3 in the series, outscoring the Kings entire fourth line by a wide margin. Even looking at the third lines of both teams, while Philip Danault somehow put up 8 points in 6 games, Warren Foegele, who scored 20 goals during the regular season, only mustered a single goal all series. Trevor Moore likewise was 2-2-4. after scoring 18 goals in the regular season. Connor Brown had five points during the series and outscored two out of three Kings on the third line.
Next up, Vegas. I'll go through what the Oilers can expect from them tomorrow.