Angeles Analysis – R1, G1

Doesn’t get much sweeter than that to start a playoff run, Insiders.

If you look at the 2022 and 2023 postseasons, both began with a 4-3 Kings victory. I think that’s just about where the similarities end. A season ago, the Kings never trailed in Game 1, finding the winning goal in the game’s final five minutes off a gaffe by Edmonton netminder Mike Smith. Last night, the Kings never led, as they stared down deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to eventually find that ever-so-familiar 4-3 final score, this time off an overtime winner. Resilliancy personified.

“Very resilient, everyone gave it their all,” Alex Iafallo said after the game. “Huge blocks from the forwards and defense and Korpi made some huge saves. We’ve talked about being resilient all year, coming back. It was good for us.”

For large stretches of last night’s game, the Kings were heavily outchanced. Edmonton had a 16-6 advantage in high-danger chances in the first two periods of the game, with timely defensive plays and a stout performance between the pipes by Joonas Korpisalo keeping the Kings within striking distance. The first period was tilted in the Oilers favor and while I thought the Kings did a very good job of simply calming the game down in the second period, the chances didn’t come along with them. I think that’s the first sign of where last night looked different for the Kings. In the games a season ago in which they were clearly outplayed, they lost either by six goals (Games 2 and 3) or never felt like they had a real chance of scoring (Game 7). Last night’s performance looked tentative out of the gates, which isn’t completely unexpected in the first game of the postseason, but found its stride when needed. The aforementioned factors kept it close until a “gamebreaker” like Adrian Kempe did his thing to get within one, while Anze Kopitar did what was “expected and delivered” with the game-tying goal. The unsung Alex Iafallo found the game-winning goal in overtime as the Kings found another difference early in this series – special teams.

For lack of a better word, the Kings were dominated in last season’s series on special teams and that started in Game 1. Edmonton scored twice on the power play in coming back to tie the game a season ago, on route to a heavy series advantage in combined special-teams goals. Last night, the Kings scored a 4-on-4 goal, which is frankly not a situation you want to find yourself in all too often against the Oilers. They tied the game with a 6-on-4 power-play goal and won it with their second of the night on the man advantage. It wasn’t perfect and ultimately the Kings still want to take their chances playing 5-on-5, but we all know that special teams can swing a game. The NHL’s fourth-ranked power play unit pulled the upset over the top seed, if you will, in the comeback win.

There are several “heroes” from Game 1. There are the obvious ones, starting with the four-point man in Anze Kopitar and the two-goal man in Adrian Kempe. I’m not sure if I can find this exact search function, but I recall looking at the shot attempts for and against early in the second period and seeing something a very lopsided – against – margin for the top line. 2 For, 10 Against feels right. Kopitar finished the night even, while Kempe and Quinton Byfield were within striking distance of it. Over the final 50 or so minutes, they started to change their game for the better, driven by Kopitar’s leadership as the team captain and the leader of his line.

“He’s one of the best leaders out there, he takes charge when he’s out there,” Kempe said of Kopitar. “He told me after the first period he wasn’t really happy with the way our line played in the first, but Kopi took charge in the second period and we started going the right way, made some good plays and scored a couple of goals. He had four points, that’s just who he is.”

Then there are the less obvious heroes. Okay, fine, Alex Iafallo is obvious too and we’ll get to him later in the day. Speaking of Byfield though, he played a man’s game last night, contributing with a point and playing with physicality and authority. He had four hits, second on the Kings, and played with a different type of confidence with the puck at times. We’ll talk more about Vladislav Gavrikov in either today’s practice report or tomorrow’s game preview, but he was the only player in the positives in terms of shot attempts at 5-on-5 and was the team’s “best defenseman” per Todd McLellan. He won’t get an assist for it, but his defensive play that came before Kempe’s 4-on-4 goal was a sublime example of his ability to break up plays that seemingly should not be broken up. That puck gets across, it’s 3-0 Edmonton. It doesn’t and it’s 2-1 Kings. Thems the breaks.

Come for the Gavrikov play, stay for Kempe's backhand. 👑 pic.twitter.com/1ozQJux6yK

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 18, 2023

Now, it’s on to Game 2 and the Kings know they need to be better tomorrow than they were last night.

Gavrikov spoke about the need to be stronger in the details of the game last night, while Kempe talked about possible playoff nerves to start the game, with the group not happy with their start or the first period as a whole. Thought Gavrikov’s quote was a very good summary.

Vladislav Gavrikov on the team's comeback win –

"That kind of comeback and overtime win, it’s a perfect feeling, but it’s just Game 1. We’ve got to be better, we know they’re coming and we’ve got to be all about [our play]."

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 18, 2023

As McLellan described, the pace last season was elevated between Game 1 and Game 2 and the Kings weren’t ready for it. They lost Game 2 lastyear 6-0. Fool me once, strike one, fool me twice, strike three.

The acknowledgement is a good step towards thinking they’ll know what to expect 12 months later.

Onto practice, Insiders! The Kings will skate this afternoon at 1:15 PM at Rogers Place. Wouldn’t be surprised to see either an optional practice or a shortly-contested skate, at least for the heavier-minute players, coming off of the overtime win. Practice report to follow from Edmonton, along with a feature story this evening to take us into Game 2. Certainly want to dive a bit deeper into McLellan’s remark regarding the level elevating going into Game 2 and that’ll be a focal point with the line of questioning between today and tomorrow. Lots to come on Gavrikov, Iafallo, Korpisalo……and perhaps others as well. Thanks for reading and following as always!