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R1, G3 Preview – Lizotte out, Vilardi to center + Better Start Needed, Korpi-Diem, Excitement @ Home

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WHO: Los Angeles Kings (1-1) vs. Edmonton Oilers (1-1)
WHAT: ROUND 1, GAME 3 – PACIFIC DIVISION SEMIFINALS
WHEN: Friday, April 21 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports So-Cal (Local) / TNT (National) – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The series has shifted to Los Angeles, as the Kings and Oilers compete in Game 3 this evening, tied at one win apiece.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe has nine points (4-5-9) from nine career playoff games against Edmonton. His assist in Game 2 moved him into a tie for tenth all-time in franchise history in playoff points versus the Oilers. Forward Gabe Vilardi scored his first career playoff goal in Game 2, his first career goal against Edmonton in any meeting.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team skate this morning after they did not hold a team practice yesterday afternoon.

Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo was off first this morning for the Kings, making him tonight’s projected starter in Game 3. Korpisalo brings with him a record of 1-1-0 in the series to date, with a .921 save percentage and a 2.83 goals-against average. No goaltender has faced more shots than Korpisalo (76) so far in the 2023 postseason.

Line rushes from this morning shown below –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Vilardi – Grundstrom
Anderson-Dolan – Kupari – MacEwen

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Edler – Durzi

Koprisalo
Copley

Forwards Kevin Fiala and Blake Lizotte (lower-body injury) will not play tonight, per Head Coach Todd McLellan. The rushes show Gabe Vilardi moving into the middle for his second game back off of his own injury, between forwards Carl Grundstrom and Alex Iafallo. Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Zack MacEwen could both potentially check in up front as well. Forwards Arthur Kaliyev and Alex Laferriere, along with defenseman Sean Walker, were on late after morning skate today.

“They have some experience, they’ve played in our system and our structure, so they have a good idea of what we want to do,” Todd McLellan said this morning of Anderson-Dolan and MacEwen. “They can play in straight lines, which I think is important and they can get to the blue paint and they’re both willing to do that, I think that’s important. There’s a lot that they can bring.”

OILERS VITALS: The Oilers led the NHL this season in regular-season goals scored on the road (166) and away power-play percentage (33.1%).

Rookie netminder Stuart Skinner will have the start again for the Oilers, his third consecutive nod of the series. Skinner has a .898 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average from the first two games thus far. Skinner became the third rookie goaltender in Edmonton history to win a playoff game, when he earned the victory during Game 2.

A look at a potential Edmonton lineup this evening per Tony Brar of Oilers TV –

The Oilers switched to a look with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen in Game 2, with the possibility of that continuing into Game 3. Forward Klim Kostin scored his first career playoff goal in Game 2. Forward Leon Draisaitl is tied for third in the NHL with five points (3-2-5) thus far in the postseason.

Notes –
Importance Of The Start
It’s not secret, Insiders. The starts haven’t been where they’ve needed to be through two games.

The Kings haven’t hidden from it and are determined to get it right, starting tonight with Game 3.

“There are some things that have to be done early in the game and we’re playing against what needs to be done,” Head Coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re making things a little more difficult for ourselves and you have to give them credit too, they’re energized in their building, as we will be here, they were ready to play. I think we were ready to play but our execution was very poor early in the game.”

McLellan indicated after Game 2 that he felt there were things that the group knew they needed to do to find success in the first period, but they didn’t. He didn’t elaborate into specifics but said that the group as a whole knows what those things are and will need to work on them. There isn’t practice time to work on these things – the Kings traveled yesterday and only had a morning skate today – so it’s video work and committing to executing in games.

Clearly, from listening to players speak on the matter around the room, the commitment to those things is there.

“We have to be ready to go right off the bat,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Simply, we have to get in on the forecheck. At home, your juices might be flowing a little more the with home crowd on your side but really there’s no excuse to the starts we’ve had.”

Forwards Viktor Arvidsson, Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe echoed those thoughts.

Arvidsson – Just be ready to play. We need to be aggressive and just play our game. We have to do it from the start, not just coming in the second period. The start is going to be key.

Iafallo – We know we can be better and we will be better next game, you’ve just got to play a lot faster and just play a lot harder. Defensively and offensively, just getting to pucks and winning a lot more battles.

Kempe – A little more physical, win more battles, just be harder out there. The last two games, I felt like they’ve been coming out a little more physical and they’ve won more battles than we have in the first period. It’s something that we usually don’t lose, so it’s something we have to change for sure.

The Kings know what they need to do out of the gates and they’re saying all the right things. As Game 3 begins tonight, they’ll have an opportunity to show it on home ice.

Korpi Diem
Yesterday, the story was about how defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was atop the charts. Today, we’ll talk about the other half of that deadline deal, Joonas Korpisalo.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Korpisalo has saved 3.52 high-danger goals above expected during Games 1 and 2, the highest mark in the playoffs amongst all goaltenders. That certainly feels backed by the eye test. In both games, the Kings have gone down 2-0, but it wasn’t the second goal against that sparked the comebacks. In between that point and when the Kings actually turned it around were several Grade-A saves from Korpisalo to keep the Kings in the game when they needed to them.

“Korpi has been great, I can’t say enough about all the good things about him,” Doughty said. “He kept us in both games, gave us a chance to win both games, made big saves on their big players. He’s playing great and he deserves a better performance in front of him.”

No goaltender has faced more high-danger chances than Korpisalo through two games, with his .923 high-danger save percentage ranking second amongst netminders who have appeared in two games.

Edmonton has had the advantage early in games, both by quantity and quality, as noted above. While the Kings have trailed by two goals in both games, they’ve never trailed by MORE than two goals. Much of that has come down to Korpisalo’s play, fending off high-quality looks in both games to keep his team in the game, before the Kings turned it up in the second half.

“He’s been able to keep us alive in the games where we haven’t started real well,” McLellan added. “Both games have kind of gone the same way, we weren’t out of the gate real good, but we hung around and then we began to play. Korpi has been a big part of that. Obviously, we need him to continue to play the way he’s playing and we’ve got to fix some of those early issues.”

The Kings hope to get a better 60 minutes in front of Korpisalo tonight, while still needing his level of performance to remain where it’s been. Something we’ll hopefully see over the course of tonight’s Game 3.

Hometown Crowd
Lastly, Insiders, the Kings are just excited to be home.

“I was in the stands last year, I saw it and it was great,” forward Viktor Arvidsson said. “Even though I wasn’t playing, it was a great atmosphere, the crowd was really excited. I’m really looking forward to being on the ice this time.”

For Arvidsson, it will be his first-ever home playoff game with the Kings. For Doughty, it will be his first playoff game in Los Angeles since Game 4 in 2018. Most of this group has played in the postseason in LA since that point, but coming home for the first time in a playoff season still brings a different level of excitement. The Kings are hopeful to ride some of that energy to a Game 3 victory tonight, as Todd McLellan detailed below.

“After being in Edmonton, however many times we’ve played here now and watching other team’s buildings at home, the excitement and energy, thinking back to last year about how our fans brought it, it will give us a boost that we’re looking forward to.”

Playoff hockey returns to Crypto.com Arena at 7 PM this evening for Game 3! See you there.

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