LOS ANGELES — There's been one stark difference in the battle between the Edmonton Oilers and L.A. Kings this post-season: special teams.
Three power-play goals lifted the Kings to a 6-2 victory over the Oilers in Game 2 of their first-round series on Wednesday. L.A. now leads the best-of-seven matchup 2-0.
The Kings have scored on 5-of-10 power plays across the first two games. The Oilers have been shut out on all five of their man advantages.
“If we have an opportunity to turn this thing around, it’s special teams," Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after Wednesday's loss.
"But we look at the goals against, there’s certain things that we can do better. Not that we have to change our system, but we just need to elevate some of our play when we’re killing.”
It's a drastically different situation than a year ago when Edmonton's potent power play and lethal penalty kill fuelled the team through the playoffs all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
The Oilers gave up just four power-play goals across that entire run. The team has already surrendered five to the Kings this post-season.
L.A. opened the scoring on a man advantage Wednesday after Edmonton winger Evander Kane was sent to the box for cross-checking.
Former Oiler Warren Foegele carried the puck up the ice and sliced a pass to Brandt Clarke, sending the puck under the shins of blueliner Darnell Nurse as he dropped to the slippery surface in a bid to take away the lane. Clarke collected the pass and tapped it in for his first-ever playoff goal.
Everyone on Edmonton's penalty kill knows there's room for improvement, Nurse said.
“It's just the details of our game," he said. "Whether it's sticks, finding lanes, we haven't been good enough on kill, and that's to a man. And each of us knows individually, starting with myself, we’ve gotta be better.”
The Kings' power play hasn't brought any surprises into the post-season, Knoblauch said.
“It’s a good power play. There’s a lot of good moving parts there, and it’s difficult to check," the coach said. "All five of those guys bring different elements. It’s exactly what we expected from them.”
With the offensive juggernauts of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers' power play has long been feared around the NHL.
Edmonton went 9-for-20 on the man advantage against L.A. when the two sides met in the first round last year.
Despite having virtually the same personnel, the unit has yet to score in this year's playoffs.
“Just got to execute. Simple as that — execution," said Oilers winger Corey Perry. "And we know how they kill. There's no secret, they pressure all over the place. So you’ve got to make a couple good passes and execute.”
The Kings had the eighth-best penalty kill in the league during the regular season, operating at 81.4 per cent.
The team made some changes to its kill ahead of the year, said defenceman Mikey Anderson, and it turned into one of L.A.'s strengths.
During the playoffs, the unit has given up "a few chances," but held strong, he added.
"(Goalie Darcy Kuemper) has made some saves. Maybe a little bit scrambly here and there, but that’s going to happen," Anderson said. "It’s a chess match, too. They’re going to change things, we’ve got to adapt to it, vice versa. So far, it’s been a good start, but we want to keep going with it.”
Nothing the Kings are doing on the penalty kill is unexpected, Draisaitl said.
"The first game, we created lots of looks that probably could have ended up in some goals," he said. "We haven't (scored). There's no going around that. We just have to cash in. We’ve gotta dig in a little deeper and execute a little bit better.”
Game 3 of the series goes Friday in Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
