In a time of cliches, Kings have the chance to practice what they’ve preached and win one game

Everything on the line tomorrow afternoon for the LA Kings.

“I think it’s fair to say that this series has been a lot closer than 3-0 but at the end of the day, the wins are the ones that matter and we have to find a way to win tomorrow,” forward Anze Kopitar said. “It doesn’t matter how it happens, but obviously in order to stay alive, we’ve got to find a way.”

The Kings really shouldn’t have much worry in their game tomorrow.

Down 3-0 is probably the easiest elimination game to play in, though it is also the saddest. This isn’t 3-3, where the tension and pressure are absurd on both sides. The Kings haven’t drawn any blood in this series thus far. They feel it’s been a closer series than 3-0, as Kopitar said, and that probably is fair, but the reality is that it isn’t closer. It’s 3-0. Winning four consecutive games against the NHL’s best team is a massive ask. Perhaps it’s not even a doable ask. In Game 4, though, with all of that considered, the situation can help the Kings do things a little bit differently. At least, that’s the hope.

“I think you’ve got to be loose now, I mean, you know the ultimate end result if you don’t win,” Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith said, entering Game 4. “So, sometimes when that happens, you grip it a little less and you make a play maybe that you wouldn’t have made earlier on. I can tell you this, there’s a lot of guys playing hard and giving everything they have to win a hockey game. It hasn’t gone our way. The number one thing you can’t do is get down on yourself, get down on your team, get down on your teammates and I don’t see any of that in the room. I think, and we’ve all seen it over years, as the series goes on, some guys get rattled and things happen. That is not the case here. I don’t feel for one second that anyone in that room doesn’t think that we can win our next hockey game. I know they’re going to get behind [Anze Kopitar] and I know that team and my team will be ready to play.”

Elimination games bring with them the string of cliches. In many ways that is what the quote above it. You want them to be true but there’s no way of knowing if they actually are. The energy felt good today, the players said the right things and said them with confidence. The focus seems to be there. But you never really know where everyone is at on the inside after you lose three straight games to begin a playoff series.

Yeah, you go out there and play to win one game and yeah, you can’t win four games tomorrow, but everyone knows where the series is at. If the players and coaches can truly block that out of their minds it’s extremely commendable. I’d love to have that kind of singular focus and mental toughness. Perhaps that’s why they are the best on the planet at what they do. Everyone said the right things today and we just saw two teams today go out and compete while down 3-0 in a series. Ottawa lost in Game 4 while Pittsburgh is on its way, as of now, towards extending its series to Game 5.

So, it can be done tomorrow afternoon. It can certainly be close. Suppose that’s a double entendre. But the Kings can win one hockey game.

Yeah, the series win is still an incredible longshot. But can the Kings dial it in and win one game? They are certainly capable of that, assuming their mindset is exactly where they say it is.

“Yeah, you stay in the present,” forward Scott Laughton said. “You have that focus on one game and what you can do. I think Forsy has been unbelievable for us, we’re going to need them again, and you capitalize on your chances. You just stay in the moment and you play. We’ve been in tight games all year it feels like and we’re probably going to be in another one. You’ve just got to go out and play.”

Really all they can do, right?

The alternative means the end of what was a disappointing season, before an encouraging surge down the stretch. It would also mean the end of Anze Kopitar’s NHL career. A loss would begin what figures to be an extremely reflective summer for the Kings, in several areas. Down 3-0 against the Avalanche, those things might be inevitable. But they aren’t inevitable tomorrow.

“We’ve just got to start with the first one,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “I think we’ve done some things so far that we’ve liked, just haven’t gotten the results obviously. So, we got a good skate today, guys had good energy. You reset and you just worry about the next one. You try and win the first one, then reset and go from there……we’ll come in tomorrow and try and worry about winning one.”

The all-time NHL history of teams surviving elimination in Game 4 goes against the Kings. Per Hockey Reference, throughout NHL history, this scenario had happened 213 entering yesterday’s action and teams that trail 3-0 have around a 40 percent success rate in Game 4. It stands to reason. Typically, 3-0 series leads are held by teams with a substantial on-ice advantage, which is, well, why they won the first three games. 84 times of those 213, the series has been extended to Game 5, more routinely when the team is playing at home. So, if you believe in that sort of thing, it’s happened before and it will happen again. Just depends on whether or not it will happen tomorrow.

Those numbers really don’t apply to the Kings. You can take them however you want to take them.

The Kings will come out and try to win a game. Hopefully everything that’s been said over the last 48 hours will show itself on the ice. If it does, they’ll be in their fourth winnable game in the series. They might get swept anyways. But they’ll be in the game. And then you see what happens.

“You’ve just got to get the first one,” Smith added. “I’ve twice come back from 0-3 [at other levels] and the key is obviously momentum. You just have to win one. that’s first off and then the hardest one will be the next one. Then, momentum changes, but you can’t think about that without winning one. You can’t think about winning one without winning the first period. You’re up against it, but I don’t think you can think about winning the series. You’ve just got to think about winning one game. If you’re them, you want to finish us off, you don’t want to get hit, you don’t need guys getting banged up. That’s what they’re thinking. We’re trying to extend this and then you never know what happens. Injuries, suspensions, things happen and all of a sudden you’re right back in this thing. So. we’re trying to put our nose in there and see what happens.”