Kings sliding toward playoff oblivion again

The Kings stumbled after taking a 2-0 series lead and now face elimination after Edmonton's impressive 3-1 victory on Tuesday. It's win or go home Thursday.

For the growing number of fans who question the coaching chops of Jim Hiller, we present something the Kings’ coach got right on Tuesday. Alas, it came in his summation of the Oilers’ ceaseless barrage against his team’s fading defense in the 3-1 victory that put Edmonton in position to eliminate the Kings from the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

“They beat us in every area of the game except for the special teams, oddly enough,” Hiller said after the Oilers had pelted Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper with 45 shots—and added one into an empty net for a total of 94 over the past two games—in taking a 3-2 series lead at the Crypt.

“They were just better in every way,” Hiller said. “We can’t look to one part of our game and think, ‘That was acceptable,’ or ‘That was good enough.’”

Right again.

The Kings weren’t good enough offensively or defensively on Tuesday, allowing the Oilers to come from behind and win for the third straight game. Which means the Kings’ season could end on Thursday if the Oilers prevail at home at Rogers Place, where they won Games 3 and 4. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played at the Crypt on Saturday.

The Kings have no margin for error left.

“I think we’ve had a pretty good season to this part. Guys have put in a massive effort thus far,” said Hiller, who deservedly has drawn criticism for his game-changing, futile challenge of Evander Kane’s tying goal in Game 3, his sit-back stance that cost his team leads in the games at Edmonton, and for the uneven way he has distributed minutes on a team whose balance was supposed to be a key asset.

“You’ve got to go win a game,” Hiller added. “I mean, I know it’s a cliche, but it goes up and down. We’ve got to go win a hockey game. They took it away from us. We’ve got to go win a hockey game and take it back. That’s just the way it goes. There’s no tricks here.

“We’ve proven we’re a pretty good hockey team. I guess that’s what I’d say [to his players]. If you’re a pretty good hockey team, go there and take it back because they just took it away.”

Edmonton earned its victory Tuesday. The Oilers pressed from the start, taking the game’s first 10 shots on goal and dominating that stat 19-4 through the scoreless first period. “We couldn’t really get anything going,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “The shot clock was pretty evident that we didn’t sustain any O-zone time. When you don’t have that it’s hard to string shifts together and gain some momentum.”

The Kings did score first, on a power play goal by Andrei Kuzmenko at 3:33 of the second period, but Kane scored from the right circle soon after a failed Kings power play at 6:16 of the second period and Mattias Janmark converted the rebound of a shot by former King Viktor Arvidsson to put the Oilers ahead for good at 7:12 of the third period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored into an empty net with 58 seconds left to seal it.

The Kings couldn’t make plays, couldn’t consistently connect on passes offensively. They were no better defensively. The Oilers could hardly miss the net, thwarted repeatedly by Kuemper on high-percentage scoring chances.

“I think you can connect it on both sides of the puck. We were not connected defensively and I don’t think we gave ourselves a great chance,” Hiller said. “We turned the puck over. I mean, you guys [reporters] watched the game. How many times did we turn the puck over so we were disorganized and they came racing at us. That team, we probably gave them more odd-man rushes in the first period tonight than they might have had in the whole series to this part.

“You’re just not going to, we’re not going to win that way. Maybe some other teams are going to win that way. We’re not going to win that way, and that’s why we play the style that we do. We have to keep it tight, and then grind you for one or two.”

Hiller didn’t shorten his bench Tuesday as dramatically as he did in the Kings’ 4-3 overtime loss on Sunday, but he again gave his reconfigured fourth line little ice time. Jeff Mallot played a minute and 31 seconds in the third period. Alex Turcotte played two shifts in the third period, both in the early minutes, for a total of 57 seconds. Samuel Helenius didn’t play at all in the third. On defense, Jordan Spence—restored to the lineup—played 8:17. Brandt Clarke played 14:43, more than half of that total in the third period as the Kings looked for an offensive spark.

Momentum rarely carries over from one game to the next in a playoff series; each game tends to be a unique event with its own story. But it’s clear that the Oilers have improved over the course of this series, in no small part due to their decision to switch from Stuart Skinner to Calvin Pickard in goal. They’ve improved defensively, too, without sacrificing offense, and that should alarm the Kings.

During the regular season, the Kings allowed the second-fewest shots against per game, an average of 25.5. The Oilers have averaged 36.4 shots on goal per game in this series. The Kings, during the regular season, gave up an average of 2.48 goals per game, second-best in the NHL. Over five playoff games, they’ve given up an average of 4.20 goals per game, the highest among playoff teams.

“They’re shooting from all areas. They’re just trying to get the puck to the crease and they’ve got bodies there,” Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “Thankfully we’ve got Darcy. He’s been unbelievable. We want to make it easier on him….We’ve relied on him too much in the series.”

Big guns Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were each credited with merely two shots on goal, but they did their jobs well. “It doesn’t matter if we keep them to the outside. They’re just kind of chucking them in there and pucks are bouncing around,” Edmundson said. The remedy for that, Edmundson said, “is take the body and clear out the front of the net.”

Easier said than done for the Kings, who look much the worse for wear after chasing the Oilers around for the past two games.

Kopitar said fatigue wasn’t a factor on Tuesday because players have been getting rest days, and Edmundson said they had energy at the start. That makes it more worrisome for them to be dominated so badly if they truly were feeling good.

“It’s not easy but we’ve got to push through it. It is what it is,” Kopitar said, invoking one of his favorite phrases. “We knew we were going to have to win a game on the road eventually and no better time to do it than now.”

No other time, really, or their season will end on an even more disappointing note than their previous three exits at the Oilers’ hands.

After they tied franchise records for wins and points this season, after they went through another season of tweaking the roster to get the right mix after so many years of rebuilding, they should have been ready and able to make a long playoff journey, no matter the first-round matchup. Teams are defined by what they accomplish in the playoffs, and the Kings are on the verge of defining themselves as failures again.