Round 1, Game 1 Preview – “Good Chance” on Arvidsson + Taking The Test, Matchups Down The Middle, ATKM Preview

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (0-0-0) @ Edmonton Oilers (0-0-0)
WHAT: 2022 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – Round 1, Game 1
WHEN: Monday, May 2 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Game 83! We’ve reached the postseason, Insiders! Not much of a break between regular-season and playoff action, with the Kings just three days removed from their last game and the Oilers just two days removed, but we’ll go every other day in Round 1.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings posted a 1-2-1 record against Edmonton during the regular season. With two goals and two assists, forward Trevor Moore led the Kings versus the Oilers this season with four total points. Forward Adrian Kempe also had two goals, while forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault each had two assists.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings ended the regular season on a six-game point streak, though everything resets to 0-0 with the commencement of the playoffs.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick was not on the ice today and is tonight’s projected starter for Game 1 in Edmonton. Quick has made 85 career playoff starts entering tonight’s game. The veteran netminder brings with him a 45-39 record, to go along with a .922 save percentage and a 2.23 goals-against average, with tonight marking his first playoff appearance since April 2018. Quick has never faced Edmonton in his playoff career.

Over the final two games of the regular season, the Kings opted to shuffle their lines a bit to give key players a game off to rest and not have to play the season-ending back-to-back set. Tonight, we’ll expect to see more of a return to what we saw in Game 80, the home finale against Anaheim and the last game with standings implications.

Forward Viktor Arvidsson is here in Edmonton but did not participate in morning skate, though Todd McLellan said there is a “good chance” he will feature tonight in Game 1. Arvidsson missed yesterday’s practice with a “personal” designation. Additionally, expect to see Mikey Anderson in the lineup tonight for his playoff debut. Anderson missed 22 games with an upper-body injury he suffered in Boston back on March 7, but returned to action for the final two games of the season, versus Seattle and Vancouver.

With Arvidsson’s status in mind, here’s how the Kings could line up this evening, though as always we wait for warmups to confirm –

Athanasiou – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Brown
Grundstrom – Byfield – Kaliyev

Edler – Roy
Anderson – Durzi
Maatta – Spence

Quick
Petersen

Also options for the Kings are four forwards – Lias Andersson, Rasmus Kupari, Brendan Lemieux and Gabe Vilardi – as well as four defensemen – Tobias Bjornfot, Jacob Moverare, Austin Strand and Troy Stecher.

OILERS VITALS: Edmonton enters the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The Oilers were one of just two squads around the league to post a winning percentage of over .800 since March 24, as they went 14-3-1 from 18 games played in that span.

Edmonton is expected to go with goaltender Mike Smith in Game 1 tonight versus the Kings. Smith has made 29 career playoff appearances and brings with him an 11-17 record from those games played, though he’s posted a .931 save percentage and a 2.34 goals-against average in the process. Smith has faced the Kings once before in his postseason career, as he went 1-4 in the 2012 Western Conference Finals, with a .936 save percentage on 202 shots faced.

Per Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, here’s how the Oilers lined up during yesterday’s practice –

Oilers lines and pairings at practice:
Kane-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Hyman-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-RNH-Ryan
Brassard-McLeod-Kassian
Shore-Archibald

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Russell-Barrie
Kulak-Broberg

Smith
Koskinen

This could set up an 11-7 situation.

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) May 1, 2022

Nugent-Bowman hinted that look could potentially mean an 11-7 alignment for Game 1. Edmonton Head Coach Jay Woodcroft noted that he feels comfortable with either an 11-7 look or a 12-6 look.

Edmonton is battling an injury to defenseman Darnell Nurse, who has a lower-body injury dating back to April 22. Nurse is expected to be ready for Game 1 this evening, though he was deemed a “game-time decision” earlier this morning.

Notes –

Taking The Test
All season long, Todd McLellan has referenced the concept of “taking the test”.

The latest exam on the schedule begins tonight with Game 1 of the postseason. The Kings have prepared as well as they could have prepared, though they still enter the game with several first-time test takers, with the expected lineup suggesting eight individuals in line to make their postseason debuts.

An excited group, a nervous group, and a group looking forward to puck drop tonight.

“I think we’re excited, I’m sure we’re a little bit nervous, we should be,” McLellan said. “A lot of the individuals in our locker room haven’t experienced what they’re going to be up against tonight, and not just the team but the whole environment. It’s really good for us to have pushed to have this opportunity to move the needle forward for our organization. We’re looking forward to it.”

The Kings have been in a playoff-mode, per say, over the last few weeks. They never faced a true “must-win” game down the stretch, with their playoff lives on the line, but they certainly have played in very meaningful games.

With four straight wins to seal their fate, and points in six straight to close out the season, they’ve pushed and pushed to get to this point, and now, after a short reset to close out the season, the playoffs have arrived. You can’t ask for much more excitement than that.

“I think we can feel the vibe, the last couple of weeks we pushed a lot and now here we are,” forward Phillip Danault said. “Just like that, the feeling is awesome. Game 1 tonight, it can’t be better than that, I don’t think. We’ve been working all year to be there and it’s going to be something special, it’s playoff time.”

For Danault, he made a long playoff run last spring and into the summer with Montreal. He’s back for another crack now with the Kings.

For the lifelong Kings, however, it’s the first taste of the postseason since 2018, a four-game sweep against Vegas. Anze Kopitar is certainly excited to be back with a new-look group of Kings, though one with the same amount of postseason passion.

“It’s exciting, that’s for sure,” Kopitar said. “It’s been four years since the last playoff round and we didn’t have much success in that one. Different times, quite a bit of difference with our team, but still the same passion and excitement that you usually get for the playoffs.”

Matchups Down The Middle
For those asking the questions and writing the stories, that’s been the most prevalent storyline we’ve heard.

It’s McDavid and Draisaitl against Kopitar and Danault. Or at least that’s what they’ll have you believe.

In reality, it’s a series of four lines against four lines, and to suggest the Kings will need anything less than that is a disservice to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan McLeod, who center the third and fourth lines of Edmonton.

“I don’t think the matchups are going to be easy to get, and they have their three centers spread out over three lines, so that makes it even more difficult,” McLellan said this morning. “We obviously have a gameplan that we’d like to use, it’s never perfect, and we’ll take what we can get. Sometimes the matches don’t work, either. Whether it works for the Kings or the Oilers, sometimes it doesn’t work and you’ve got to go in a different direction. There’s lots of hockey to be played and we’ll take it a shift at a time.”

Speaking with the pair of Kopitar and Danault, 1 and 2 down the middle of the ice, both emphasized that for the Kings, it’s about more than just the two big guns on Edmonton and with that in mind, it’ll take a full-team effort.

While the Kings possess several, elite two-way players, they don’t have a 40-goal scorer or an 80-point player on their roster. What they do have is a team, which is where their focus lies here entering Game 1.

Kopitar – It’s not rocket science that everybody looks down the middle and it is what it is. It’s going to take 20 of us to get the job done, I don’t think it’s just those two matchups that we’ve got to be aware of. Obviously they have some really good players outside of just McDavid and Draisaitl that we’re going to have to focus on, but there’s nothing new. You’ve got to try to limit them as much as you can and go from there.

Danault – I think it says a lot, we need everyone to win, we can’t have anyone off the boat, we need everyone on the same boat. We know, when McDavid or Draisaitl are on the ice, we have to defend them as a unit, it’s not one guy, it’s everyone and everyone has to be alert. Every detail is huge and you really have to be more alert.

With that being said, the Kings are certainly aware of the big guns as well. Danault faced Edmonton eight times in the regular season last year, due to the division and schedule shuffling due to COVID. The Kings have faced them four times here this year and they’ve certainly seen what those individuals have to offer.

Danault understands the threat those two individuals pose, within the larger group.

“McDavid is pure offense and he can create something out of nothing and it’s two monsters, that’s for sure, with Draisaitl as well, can’t forget about him,” he added. “It’s definitely a hard matchup, and I’ve seen them 10 times last year so why not a couple of more times.

Audio Preview!

Lastly, Insiders, an audio preview to take in prior to Game 1.

Jarret Stoll joined the All The Kings Men podcast to preview the matchups at the forward position, with Daryl Evans on to preview the defensemen and Mike McKenna on to preview the goaltenders. A great variety of individuals to set the stage for the first Kings playoff series since 2018 and the first Kings-Oilers playoff series since 1992.

Enjoy!

Regular game coverage to follow this evening, Insiders, with a Game Thread coming up later on and post-game notes, quotes and reactions to follow as always. Playoff hockey! Talk soon.