LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings dominated the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night, taking home the Game 2 victory by a score of 6-2.
The Kings were truly on fire on the special teams with three powerplay goals, and holding the Oilers scoreless on three chances.
"It's huge," defenseman Brandt Clarke said about how big of an emphasis winning the special teams battle is in this series. "You can look in years past, they had better execution. That's what it comes down to sometimes. We had a lot of emphasis on that and coming into this series, they have high end players on their powerplay so I think our penalty killers have done an excellent job neutralizing that."
Los Angeles had the first good chance about five minutes in when a pass was thrown out in front of the net and a one-timer connected, but Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner turned the shot aside with his shoulder to keep the game scoreless.
One thing was for certain, though: the Oilers stepped up the physicality since Game 1. This would come back to hurt them as winger Evander Kane would cross-check defenseman Brandt Clarke in the back, and the Kings would go on the powerplay seven minutes into the game. This was Kane’s first game since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last June.
The Kings would get a great opportunity right in front of the net off the faceoff after a tic-tac-toe play from captain center Anze Kopitar, who passed to winger Andrei Kuzmenko and finally, the shot right in front of the goal by center Quinton Byfield. Still, it was turned away by Skinner, who looked strong at the start of the contest.
That would be until the Kings would strike nearly a minute later on a mini-fast break. Winger Warren Foegele threw a pass in front to Clarke for a tap-in goal to break the tie and put Los Angeles up 1-0. This was Clarke and Foegele’s first postseason points this year nearly nine minutes into Game 2.
"We were happy to get up one," Clarke said after the game. "They came out really hot, they had really good possession out of the gates, but when we got that powerplay, our first unit had really good execution, really good looks, then we got out there, we knew we only had 30 seconds, we had to get something to the net. We did and we executed well."
Right after, winger Kevin Fiala would get called for a high stick on defenseman Brett Kulak, leading to Edmonton’s first man-advantage of the night. A quarter of the way into the powerplay, L.A. goaltender Darcy Kuemper made a brilliant left pad save sliding from the right to left post to keep Los Angeles up one momentarily. A fanned shot and a Kings two-on-two break later, the Oilers powerplay would end with no blood.
At the end of the first, Byfield would get called for a trip and spend two minutes in the penalty box while his team was a man down. The Kings penalty kill prevailed again, stopping the man-advantage from the Oilers that extended into the early portion of the second period, with L.A. still up 1-0.
After a few huge stops against Edmonton, L.A. scored again to push the score to 2-0. Byfield caught himself on a quick breakaway from inside his offensive zone and flicked a puck past Skinner to bring L.A.’s lead up to two goals four minutes into the second period.
The chaos of the second period continued after center Mattias Janmark was called for a slash, bringing the Kings back on the powerplay. Shortly after, the Kings would be called for interference, making it four-on-four hockey, drastically favoring the Oilers. Both teams could not get the offense going, though, so the Kings remained up by a mere two goals.
Los Angeles would return on the powerplay and score their third goal just over 10 minutes into the game. After a slap shot from the point from winger Adrian Kempe that hit the boards, Kuzmenko rounded from behind the goal and knocked in his second of the series to put L.A. up 3-0.
The Oilers would press on the attack with a great chance from the point a minute later, but Kuemper stood strong and made a great pad save to keep Edmonton scoreless.
The pressure would be too much, though and with six minutes left in the second period, defenseman John Klingberg would take a snapshot from the point, which was tipped right in front of the goal by center Leon Draisaitl to bring the game back within two. This was Klingberg’s first game since late last March after a lower-body injury.
With the score now 3-1, the next goal would be crucial for whichever team scored it. Pressure from both teams would ensue in the final six minutes, but no goals would be scored, and the teams would head into the locker room for the second intermission.
After the game Clarke, talked about how last games' third period went compared to this one.
"We kind of let them dictate the third period last time. We luckily got to learn from that mistake, it didn't cost us too big. We remembered that tonight and it went well, and we shut them down and built confidence for game three."
The two teams kept battling through the beginning of the third, but it would be Edmonton who broke the silence with a former King getting on the board in winger Viktor Arvidsson. After a good play by winger Vasily Podkolzin to apply the breaks and turn back, Kulak hit a slapshot from the point, which was tipped in right in front of the crease by Arvidsson to make the score 3-2 with the Kings still leading by one.
Shortly after, though, the Kings would get right back on the scoresheet to get their lead back up to two. After a giveaway in front of the net, Kempe stepped in from the hash marks and made no mistake of the shot, giving L.A. the 4-2 lead. This was Kempe’s second goal of the Playoffs, seven minutes into the third frame of play.
After the game head coach Jim Hiller talked about how Kempe's game thrives in the playoffs.
"It's not like he doesn't have a proven track record of scoring," Hiller said. "For the people who didn't have a chance to see him, got to see him in the four nations tournament. And that's his work ethic, his tenacity with and without the puck. I think he got a lot of respect for the way he plays the game. We know him as that... I think that type of game translates really well to the playoffs, that's why you are seeing him be pretty consistent in the playoff."
The Kings would go on the powerplay after center Adam Henrique laid a late hit on Byfield, hurting the blue and orange yet again. With time winding down on the penalty, Fiala hit Kopitar on the far post for a one-timer to make the score 5-2 Los Angeles with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. This was the Kings' third powerplay goal of the game on four attempts.
Hiller also mentioned the special teams battle after the game in his post game press conference.
"I'll just go back one year, there powerplay was really good and we didn't score one powerplay goal last year in the series," Hiller said. "That clearly was going to have to be an emphasis this year, and I think both the powerplay and the penalty kill thus far has performed pretty well."
This was the last straw for the starter, as Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch pulled Skinner out of the game at the next whistle and replaced him with backup goaltender Calvin Pickard.
It did not change the momentum of the Kings, though, as on a three-on-one break, Kempe took it himself and sniped the top left corner off the back post inside the goal and out for his second goal of the game and third of the Playoffs to make the score 6-2 Los Angeles.
After the game Clarke talked about Kempe and how great he has played so far in the playoffs.
"As far as [Kempe], he's been remarkable," Clarke said. "His ability to just execute every little play... he also just does every detail properly. He's the first guy back, everything he does is so crisp."
It seemed to get to Edmonton mentally, as shortly after, Janmark came off the bench and slashed Byfield behind the play to put the Kings back on the powerplay. The frustration continued, with Podkolzin getting hit with a 10 minute game misconduct shortly after.
The Kings cruised the rest of the way, finishing off the first two games outscoring the Oilers 12-7, and getting ahead in the series 2-0 heading to Edmonton.
After the game, Clarke talked about the team scoring 12 goals in two games on home ice and how great the atmosphere was.
"We are happy the fans are so involved. They were so loud for us," Clarke said. "We are so grateful that they are so passionate. I am happy that we can reward them and give them goals and something to celebrate."
Game 3 will be on Friday at 7 p.m. in Edmonton at Rogers Place.