The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Los Angeles Kings tonight (April 27) in the first round of the Western Conference at Rogers Place. Edmonton trailed by one-seventh 2-1, hoping for a second straight win even in the Kings.
After losing 1 and 2 games to 6-5 and 6-2, respectively, the Oilers beat Los Angeles 7-4 at home on Friday (April 25). Edmonton entered the third stage, trailing 4-3 before scoring four unresolved goals in the final 6:42 of the game.
Here are four keys to Edmonton’s win Game 4 and finished with two wins in Game 5 on Tuesday (April 29).
Oil man must Avoid mistakes
The instant collapse that led to the goal was a problem for the Oilers, and the continued season was even more amplified during the playoffs.
In the first three games, four of which, the Oilers gave up the goal in less than three minutes. In Game 1, when Edmonton tied the game 5-5, Connor McDavid laid the hockey behind 18:32 in the third stage of the third stage, but watched Los Angeles return immediately and win from forward Phillip Danault with 42 seconds left.
Edmonton scored a huge goal from Connor Brown on Friday at 17:19 in the second quarter, keeping the scoreboard 3-3. But before the goal was announced, Los Angeles’ Trevor Moore responded when he scored nine seconds later.
Moore’s goal was the intuition of momentum shifting that brought Los Angeles’ lead into stage three, which almost proved to be a fatal blow, if not for the Edmonton rally late in the game.
Oil man must Avoid
The Oilers were only 12-5 in the penalty kills in the series. They allowed at least two powerful goals in all three games, winning consecutive playoff records in a row, allowing multiple powerful games.
Ideally, Edmonton could solve its short-handed plight, but the Oilers didn’t have the service of top penalty killer Mattias Ekholm, and the injured defender did not return to action in this series.
The best way to hit Los Angeles’ powers play is to simply limit its chances. Los Angeles played five powerful games in each of the first two games when Edmonton was guilty of unnecessary and disciplinary charges.
On Friday, the Kings had only two chances, which was the man’s advantage, and when they converted both, it was crucial for Edmonton to be out of the free throw box in the third stage. The result was a victory in the last few minutes.
Oil people need it Stop in time
Goalkeeper Calvin Pickard’s game was another major factor in the third phase of Friday.
Pickard scored 11 goals in the game 58 and Game 2, and he started the first time in the series, closing the Los Angeles door in the final frame, stopping all eight shots he faced in the last 20 minutes. This is the first time in this series that has kept the King for a while.
The experienced Netminder was beaten four times in Los Angeles’ first 17 goals, but hit the puck with 11 after Moore scored a 4-3 lead. Pickard helped keep his team in one goal and then protected the lead once Edmonton targeted two goals in the third stage 13:18 and 13:28.
Related: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Hub
As of Sunday (April 27) morning, it is not known whether Pickard or Skinner will start Game 4, but no matter which goalkeeper draws the task, the task is the same. Before Friday, the Kings scored three or more goals in the regular season with a 43-0-2 record and a playoff run, so Edmonton couldn’t rely on winning high-scoring games like Game 3.
Oil man must Score first
The open-scoring team won all three games in the series. The last six games between Edmonton and Los Angeles were won by the team that scored first, including the regular season.
Although Edmonton eventually trailed after leading 2-0 in the first phase of Friday, the fact that there was no chase to the game from the outset was crucial. Los Angeles scored before the midpoint of the first stage of Game 1 and Game 2 and eventually established a 4-0 and 3-0 lead, which proves that the Oilers have overcome so much: Edmonton is getting farther and farther away from the game plan as Los Angeles leads grow, and it seems like snowballing. If the Kings scored for the first time on Friday, the results could be very different, rather than Edmonton’s favorable.
The way the third game started was that Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored only 2:49 after the opening standoff, the exact template for the Oilers tonight to turn the series into a best three-event.
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