Angeles Analysis – Round 1, Game 1

That’s one down, Insiders!

In so many ways, last night’s game packed just about every storyline the Kings have had this season into 60 minutes.

You want identity?

The Kings felt that they played to it quite well. From the opening puck drop, we saw the volume-shooting, puck retrieving, speed in all three zones style of hockey we’ve come to know from the LA Kings. Unsurprisingly, the Kings had the second most 5-on-5 shot attempts of all eight playoff teams last night, the most scoring chances and tied for the most high-danger chances. At even strength, there were offensive opportunities created, there were chances to be had, as we’ve seen from this team all season long.

Sure, there were chances against as well, but they were largely limited. Outside of two standout Grade-A looks, both created by Connor McDavid, the Kings were relatively responsible in the opening period. They checked fairly well and they checked for their chances. Things changed in a helter skelter middle stanza, but the Kings got back to their game in the third. They’ve had a formula for success all season long and that has rarely deviated from the plan. In Game 1, we saw an identity team win.

“That was a big identity game, we showed the character that we’ve got,” Phillip Danault said. “They came back in the game but we stuck with it and we got the job done, everyone did their job, we made some plays in the first game away. It’s important to show what we’ve got, big win.”

You want next person up?

All season long, the Kings have dealt with players being out of the lineup. From Quinton Byfield and Lias Andersson going down in the preseason to Drew Doughty and Sean Walker suffering long-term injuries within the first six regular season games to an absolutely absurd stretch in February and March, it’s been injury upon injury and absence upon absence. The Kings were without forward Viktor Arvidsson last night, who is without a doubt a key contributor, and what’s the response? Others stepping up.

Filling Arvidsson’s spot was forward Alex Iafallo, who had an outstanding start to the season but scored just three goals from February through April. In Game 1? He sets up the game-opening goal and scores himself later in the first period, his first career multi-point game of the postseason. Iafallo’s shuffle upwards created an opening in the bottom six, which Brendan Lemieux filled. He played just 2:59 but created one of the biggest moments in the game, as he broke a 2-2 deadlock in the second period, after the Oilers came from two goals down to tie the game. It was this team in a nutshell.

“I’ve been with teams where the injury thing at this time of the year would really throw you for a loop,” Todd McLellan said. “You lose Viktor Arvidsson, we’re not loaded with 20-goal scorers and he’s a critical offensive and defensive piece to our team, a big part of that line. We’ve been through this so much this season, I really thought it was just another day at the office for us. Somebody falls out of the lineup and somebody steps in and we try to get it done.”

You want adversity?

How about that extended second period. I say extended, because I think the stretch I’m talking about really begins with McDavid’s goal in the final minute of the first period, a goal which cut a two-goal Kings advantage to one goal at the break. Then came the phantom tripping call on Iafallo, a power play on which the Oilers scored on. LA found itself shorthanded three times in the second period, with two power-play goals scored against. One was off that Iafallo penalty while the other came off a tough bounce, with McDavid’s centering feed hitting a discarded, broken stick in front, setting up Leon Draisaitl all alone for the wrist shot, an area he’ll rarely miss from. Through a raucous atmosphere and the potential for a momentum swing the other way, the Kings got to the intermission twice at a great time, setting the stage for the third period.

“I thought we did a good job, how we have all year, leaning on our leadership,” Moore said. “We know those guys are going to have pushes, they have two of the best players in the world, it’s going to be that way and they’re going to have their moments but I thought Quickie made huge saves when we needed them. We did a good job.”

Of course it was a one-goal game too for the Kings. On a night when the NHL saw four Game 1’s contested, three of the four were blowouts, decided by four-or-more goals. The only game not in that category was Kings – Oilers, with the Kings skating to the 4-3 victory, courtesy of a late, third-period goal. And that’s what we’ve seen from this team all season long. There is no panic in a 3-3 game in the third period and in fact, the Kings might be more comfortable in that situation than any other. It’s been well-documented at this point, but the Kings finished the season tied for second in the NHL in number of one-goal games played this season. They’re certainly familiar, and it showed last night in Edmonton.

The thing with one-goal games is that they won’t always go your way, but in Game 1, it did go the Kings way. As noted above, the Kings stuck with so many of the things that have made this team great all season during postseason play. If there was a concern about the style of the Kings translating into the playoffs, we’ve now seen the proof that it can work at this time of the year.

We’ve gone through this entire article without even mentioning the performance put in by Jonathan Quick, who made timely save after timely save and got important whistle after important whistle. A deeper look into Quick’s play in today’s practice notebook to follow.

As we look ahead to Game 2, the Kings are naturally looking to repeat some of the things that made them successful on what will then be two days prior. Penalties taken, against this opponent, are an obvious cause for concern considering the two power-play goals against. The Kings made no excuses following the game in that department, but both Moore and McLellan noted it as an area to clean up. Doing their best to keep as much of this series at 5-on-5 will serve the Kings well. There’s also the status of Arvidsson, one that is very much a day-by-day situation at this time, with Todd McLellan saying after the game that we’ll see where he’s at today.

Both of those, however, are things that are either correctable or out of their control. It’s a good thing in some ways that all we’re looking at from that side of things coming out of Game 1 are in one of those two categories.

The Kings are scheduled to practice this afternoon at 1:15 in Edmonton, 12:15 California time. We’ll see how things shake out during that skate, are there bumps and bruises from Game 1, are there maintenance days given after heavy-minute performances from the top six, or will we see the entire group on the ice here today. We’ll let you know soon, same bat time, same bat channel.