Angeles Analysis – Game 5

If you told me a week ago that this series would have a 6-5 game and a 3-1 game, I know which side I’d have put these two teams on.

Naturally, I’d have been incorrect.

To take it a step further, if you told me that with the series tied at two, Game 5 in Los Angeles would end in a 3-1 final on a night in which Darcy Kuemper turned in a Vezina-worthy performance on home ice, I’d have felt pretty good. Imagine many of you would as well. That the Kings were heading to Edmonton with a chance to close out the series.

But here we are.

We’re here after a performance when Jim Hiller called the Oilers “better in every way” in his first answer. When Anze Kopitar’s first answer spoke about how the Kings “couldn’t get anything going.”

The Kings allowed season highs in a 60-minute game in both shots on goal and high-danger chances against, with only Kuemper’s brilliance keeping the game within striking distance until the bitter end. And Kuemper was brilliant, though one of the finest goaltending displays in recent memory ultimately will count for nothing more than praise in this article.

For a team that’s been so good at home this season, a team that’s taken so much pride in playing in Los Angeles it was Joel Edmundson’s opening statement that really stuck with me.

“Huge game for us and we come out like that.”

Was pretty evident early than Edmonton was pushing the pace and controlling the game. Kuemper was heroic in the first period with 19 saves, including several on Grade-A chances. There was a point in the first period, as the game flow felt obvious, that I thought to look up the scoring chances on Natural Stat Trick. They read 16-0 Oilers. In a 0-0 game, less than 20 minutes old. That told the story.

There really isn’t all that much more to say about that game, right? Kuemper was the best player on the ice wearing a black jersey and without the performance he delivered, the game is blown open all that much more. Edmonton was in control for all 60 minutes, minus a few sporadic bursts here and there.

The Kings did score first though, a power-play goal at that. At the time, it felt like a ray of light after the way the first period went. A goal against the grain can do that, perhaps building frustration the other way while settling a team in. The Kings then got a gutsy, scrambling penalty kill a few minutes later – again, a potential momentum builder. What happened next though, was Evander Kane scored seven seconds later, 5-on-5, to tie the game. It was at that moment you felt the air let out of the building, even though it was only 1-1. From that point on, there just wasn’t a ton to build on.

The Kings didn’t bow down and the game remained 1-1 into the third period but it was clear they just didn’t have it. Despite trailing the game for the bulk of the third period, the Kings only had three high-danger chances throughout the 20 minutes. Despite Kuemper’s showing, on a night that saw Edmonton post a whopping 6.35 expected goals, the Kings couldn’t find the equalizer 6-on-5 to force an unlikely overtime.

And that brings us to now.

The moment of truth on what’s been a fine season up until this point. A fine season that doesn’t much matter if the Kings can’t extend it tomorrow evening at Rogers Place.

In so many ways this Kings team has been different. I mean, even in this series, how many of the bigger storylines have gone the Kings way? They’ve thoroughly won the special teams battle, scoring one fewer power-play goal this season than they did the previous three seasons combined. All three lines have produced in different games. The Kings have gotten big games from Kuemper. But for the third time in four seasons, they trail three games to two.

Sometimes, even a choose your own adventure book leads to the same destination.

It’s important to remember, for all that’s gone wrong, that the book isn’t over yet.

There’s still time to change the next path traveled that leads to the ending. You’ve got to hang your hat on something and the Kings should be confident in the way they’ve played in Edmonton so far in this series. They controlled the bulk of the first two periods in Games 3 and 4. Playing well or establishing a lead in that building certainly was not a problem. So, for as poorly as the third periods went in both of those games, the focus won’t be on that. It can’t be. It’ll be on what got the team to the position of having a lead to lose. Coming off three consecutive defeats, it’s got to be something like that to drive confidence and reestablish the way they’re capable of playing heading into Game 6.

The Kings have yet to go 0’fer on the road in the postseason. They’ve won at least one game in Edmonton over each of the last three seasons and I think the games they played this spring have been close to the best of the bunch. Passively played third periods have yielded comeback wins against but with the season on the line tomorrow evening, the focus has to be on the positive things done in this building. After what we saw in Game 5, I think we’d take the game script from either Game 3 or Game 4 happily. If the Kings come out the way they did last night it won’t much matter. Regardless of where you feel this team is at from a fatigue standpoint, now’s the time to dig deep, take a breath and find something to force this series to seven games.

Because while everything feels like it’s going the wrong way, while in some ways it feels like the writing is on the wall on the outside looking in, that’s not the belief within the locker room. Players in that room have played in a series just like this, winning Games 1 and 2 before dropping Games 3, 4 and 5. They’re in another one now, with a road victory needed to force a decisive seventh game. All we can do for now is wait.