A star is born

More like a star is affirmed, but that's not as catchy. Adrian Kempe led the Kings' suddenly surging offense in a second straight six-goal spree--and a second straight playoff win over Edmonton.

In a series that features five-time NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid and four-time 50-goal scorer Leon Draisaitl—the reigning goals champion—it’s no surprise that a superstar has been the big story in the first two games of the Kings’ playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.

The twist is that the momentum-shifting superstar in question isn’t a member of the Oilers.

Kings winger Adrian Kempe, who quietly scored 35 goals while leading the team in regular-season scoring, has earned raves by moving to the forefront of the Kings’ surprising offensive explosion against the Oilers. The 28-year-old Swede produced a two-goal, four point performance on Wednesday in a 6-2 rout of the Oilers at the Crypt, an impressive followup to his three-point performance in the Kings’ nerve-jangling but victorious 6-5 opener on Monday.

“I think one thing that we all appreciate about Adrian, and the people who didn’t get a chance to see him, got to see him in the Four Nations Cup, is his work ethic and his tenacity with and without the puck,” Kings Coach Jim Hiller said. “I think that type of game translates pretty well to the playoffs.”

Two games into the chase for the Stanley Cup, Kempe led all NHL playoff scorers with seven points and shared the goalscoring lead with three. Draisaitl, who scored Edmonton’s second goal on Wednesday, has two goals and three points. McDavid, seemingly unstoppable in Game 1 with a goal and four points, was held off the scoresheet on Wednesday while being credited with two shots on goal.

Speaking of unstoppable, how about the Kings’ power play? And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write with those words in that exact order this season.

They were frustratingly feeble with a man advantage for most of the season. They got a noticeable bump when they acquired winger Andrei Kuzmenko in March, and they’ve been surprisingly potent against Edmonton so far, with five goals in 10 opportunities. A year ago, the Kings were 0 for five in a five-game elimination at the hands of the Oilers.

The right-handed shooting Kuzmenko, with two goals (both on the power play) and three assists (including one on the power play) has made their man-advantage play formidable, instead of being a morale-busting formality.

“Kuzy’s been great,” Kempe said. “He makes a lot of plays. I think everybody on the team is happy to have him…You score some goals, you get confidence.”

Kempe’s linemates, Kuzmenko and Anze Kopitar (one goal and five points after a career-record-tying three points on Wednesday), were in a cluster of players tied for second in postseason scoring, each with five points. According to the Kings, Kempe and Kopitar were the first set of Kings teammates to each record four points in the same playoff game since Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey did it in Game 2 of the 1982 division semifinals, an 8-5 Kings victory.

“His line has played very well,” Hiller said of Kempe. “They’ve complemented each other pretty well.”

In 20 career playoff games against the Oilers, Kempe has 14 goals and 26 points. McDavid (40 points in 20 playoff games against the Kings) and Draisaitl (19 goals and 33 points in 20 postseason games against the Kings) have him beat there, but he’s closing the gap.

Kempe acknowledged he felt “that little extra excitement” as the playoffs began after a long season.

“I’ve pretty much only played these guys in the playoffs in my career,” said Kempe, who made his postseason debut in the Kings’ four straight losses to Vegas in 2017-18 but since then has had a steady diet of Edmonton.

He added that he and his teammates felt less nervous on Wednesday than they had on Monday, and it showed in their play. They rarely scrambled in their own end and they went three-for-three killing penalties in a game in which they never trailed. They allowed one goal in the third period on Wednesday, to former King Viktor Arvidsson, but didn’t allow the Oilers to recreate the chaos they’d created with a four-goal third period on Monday.

“Today I felt like we settled down a little more. We played a little bit more off the instincts, and that’s what I’m good at,” Kempe said.

And so the Kings hold a 2-0 lead in a playoff series for the first time since they won the first two games of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. That’s also the last series they won.

“It’s a good start,” Hiller said, with appropriate restraint.

And a terrible start for the Oilers, who eliminated the Kings in the first three of their four straight playoff series.

Edmonton’s spotty defense continued its mistake-prone habits, and goaltender Stuart Skinner, though better in Game 2 than he was in Game 1, was pulled and replaced by Calvin Pickard after allowing five goals on 28 shots. The Oilers brought rugged forward Evander Kane into the lineup in an effort to add toughness but he was a factor only in taking a penalty that the Kings cashed in with Brandt Clarke’s power-play goal, scored nicely off the rush.

Asked if the Kings were driven by a hunger to end a streak of three straight postseason eliminations by the Oilers, Draisaitl was emphatic about his own team’s passion to extend that postseason streak.

“We’ve got a hunger to win as well, but we’ve got to ramp it up and we’ve got to dig in. We’ve got to start playing here,” he told reporters after the game. “Obviously, it hasn’t been good enough.

“There’s hunger on their side. Of course. You can sense it. But it’s not anything that we’re not able to match. We just have to find it. We’ve got to find it quick, of course.”

There are miles to go in this best-of-seven series. Metaphorically and literally: the scene will shift to Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday, and the Oilers are sure to get a lift from their home crowd.

The Kings’ franchise-record 31 home wins this season overshadowed their stumbles on the road, where they were 17-19-5. But unlike their three previous playoff matchups against the Oilers, the Kings have home-ice advantage this time around because they finished second in the Pacific division, one spot ahead of Edmonton, and they’re determined to pack up their home mentality and deploy it on the road.

“We’ve been a really strong home team,” Kempe said. “We have to build off what we’ve done all year at home. We can rely on our home game throughout the playoffs. Our road game’s got to be a little better than we have been in the past.”

Hiller said the Kings play “a road game type of style,” with less risk. “That’s a loud, raucous building. We’ve got to make sure to keep the crowd out of the game if we can,” he said.

That won’t be easy in hockey-mad Edmonton. With two wins, the Kings have earned one more victory than they earned against the Oilers last spring but they know that their road will only get tougher from here. “The job’s not done,” said Kempe, who has done his job like a superstar so far.

Random playoff thoughts…

Even if you’re not a fan of the Colorado Avalanche, you can appreciate the effort it took for Gabriel Landeskog to return on Wednesday after missing three years because of a knee injury and resulting surgical procedures. He played a couple of minor-league games on a rehab assignment before rejoining the Avs in their 2-1 overtime loss to Dallas, which gave the Stars a 2-1 series lead. He didn’t tip-toe back in: he was credited with three hits in his first five shifts in the first period and six overall during his 13 minutes and 16 seconds of ice time. Hockey’s better when he’s playing.

Bob Wischusen is doing outstanding work as a play-by-play announcer on ESPN playoff telecasts. He conveys the emotions of the game without screaming, owns a great announcer voice, and he has developed a good rapport with Ryan Callahan, who makes sharp observations that go beyond the usual cliches. I’m not a Sean McDonough fan, but I’ll listen to analyst Ray Ferraro any day. McDonough did have a prescient moment during Game 1 of the Capitals-Canadiens series, mentioning that Alex Ovechkin had never scored an overtime playoff goal. A few seconds later….yup.

Speaking of announcers, here’s a reminder to Kings fans to appreciate Nick Nickson on local TV during this round. If the Kings advance, their games won’t be on local TV in the second round but would be aired by national networks with those networks’ announcers. Nickson is retiring after this season.

It’s great to see the fine folks in Winnipeg continuing the tradition of the playoff whiteout, with fans wearing white and swirling white streamers. The Jets sold out their first two playoff games at Canada Life Centre, which is noteworthy because they played to 94.4% of capacity during the regular season.