GAME PREVIEW - GAME 3 Edmonton Oilers @ Los Angeles Kings

Edmonton Oilers (1-1)

Los Angeles Kings (1-1)

-PLAYOFFS-

Round 1, Game 3

06 May 2021

Crypto.Com Arena

8 PM MT

TV: CBC

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Jewels From The Crown

MORE LIKE THAT

It wasn’t quite a “must-win” game for the Oilers on Wednesday, but it was close. The Oilers responded to Monday’s disappointing loss by hanging a six spot on the Kings. Evander Kane had two goals, Leon Draisatil, Jesse Puljujärvi, Darnell Nurse and Ryan McLeod each had one for the Oilers. Mike Smith was letter-perfect, turning aside all 30 shots from the Kings. Now on the road in LA, the Oilers look for similar results tonight. Will the Oilers have an encore presentation of game 2 tonight?

Let’s go to the tape.

THE OILERS ARE SAYING

“I thought we played a strong first period, had two big penalty kills that settled everything down for us...We had two good scoring chances that we didn’t convert, but we stuck with it. The second period was a breakout period for us, and it was led by our leaders, who went out and scored a huge power-play goal and kind of broke the ice for us. It was a strong game, 20 players deep, in our lineup tonight.”

Source

That’s Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft after his club’s 6-0 victory on Wednesday night.

The Oilers are 4/8 on the power play in two games. Not sure how long a 50% power play is going to hold, but if it can hang tight for three more Oiler wins this series, that’d be some good news for the Oilers.

THE KINGS ARE SAYING

“Sometimes you tip your hat to the opposition, they played a really good game...Secondly, that’s called ‘experience’ tonight. A lot of guys had their eyes opened up in terms of what playoffs is all about, and others were reminded to what playoffs are all about. It happens in series. It happens more often than you think. We have to go home now, recover, get some rest and we can play better than that, we know that.”

Source

That’s Kings head coach Todd McLellan after his club’s 6-0 loss to the Oilers on Wednesday.

One of our Three Things To Look For was a quick start for the Oilers. Leon Draisaitl scored 82 seconds into the game on the power play, and the goals didn’t stop coming.

HAVE SOME OF THIS

• Keep the power play clicking. The Oilers are 4/8 in the first two games of this series, and they’ll continue to do well if they can continually cash in on their chances. Right now, the Kings have a hard time keeping up.
• I’m critical of Mike Smith, but he stopped all 30 shots from the Kings on Wednesday. The Oilers are depending on another solid outing from the net out, and Smith (1-1, .938 SV% / 2.00 GAA) will be asked to deliver. Jonathan Quick (1-1, .880 SV% / 4.50 GAA) will look to forget all about Wednesday’s six goal affair, he’ll look for a bounce-back effort at home.
• Want to see something cool?

• That’s Jesse Puljujärvi’s second career playoff goal. Looked good from here. Puljujärvi’s goal was Edmonton’s fifth of the game, it came just seconds after Evander Kane made it 4-0. I bet you he’s got another goal or two in this series left in him.
• Jay Woodcroft played Josh Archibald in Game 2, he played 12 and a half minutes and had a couple of takeaways. Could see him doing that again tonight.
• Limiting Phillip Danault to one shot is a good way to keep hi off the scoreboard. Kopitar had six, and Kempe had five, which is the duo to keep an eye on tonight and every night the Kings are playing. Don’t let up on Danault, either.

The Oilers grabbing tonight’s game by the horns would get them halfway home to the next round. They’ll need to follow the same game plan they took on Wednesday, which is to get ahead early and keep the foot on the gas.