Kings plan to stick to template as they face elimination against Oilers
That the Los Angeles Kings from the start Sunday night controlled the play nearly the entire 60 minutes of Game 4 is a testament to their ability to dictate the flow of a playoff match.
That the Edmonton Oilers kept the Kings from getting close to goalie Stuart Skinner and his net the bulk of it is a testament to their ability to play defensive hockey while still generating — albeit not nearly as many as hockey fans are used to seeing from Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and company — high-grade scoring chances.
In the end, the Oilers won it via special teams play, with defenceman Evan Bouchard scoring the only goal of the match on Edmonton's lone power-play opportunity via one of his patented slap shots from the point, then denying the Kings a shot on net on their only chance with the man advantage.
Kings head coach Jim Hiller said that despite the loss, his team needs to replicate Game 4's style of play in the return match on Wednesday in Edmonton.
It's do-or-die for Los Angeles. A Game 5 loss to the Oilers will end their season.
"We didn't get perfection, but we played as well as we've played in a long, long time," Hiller told media on Monday. "So what do we do? We just go play that game again.
"I said it last night, the guys should be feeling good despite the loss — what can you do? That's playoff hockey, it goes up and down — but we've got a game that can beat them going up and down, and that was it last night."
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch welcomed the low-scoring, defensive affair.
"There's going to be a lot of more of those games if we're going to have success long term, and we need to have the mindset of maybe we just need one to win sometimes," Knoblauch told media Monday.
He said while the Oilers didn't generate many shots in Game 4 — 13 to the Kings' 33 — the shots they did manage to put on Kings goalie David Rittich, who replaced Cam Talbot in the L.A. goal after Talbot played the first three games of the series, he felt Edmonton's scoring opportunities were the better ones.
"If you look at the shots, I don't think that's a good indicator of how the game went," Knoblauch said.
"I know in the first period, we had only four shots on goal and I know we had four scoring chances. Leon (Draisaitl) had a great scoring chance off the rush. Dylan Holloway, a one-timer. Corey Perry driving to the net. I thought we had a lot of good looks rolling in despite only having four shots."
And as the game ground on, the Oilers snuffed many a Kings offensive assault.
Knoblauch said, in his opinion, his team didn't give up a so-called Grade 'A' scoring chance.
"(On) a lot of their looks, we didn't give up a scoring chance off the rush," he said.
"There were a lot of Grade 'Bs' (scoring chances for the Kings), they were throwing a lot of pucks to the net, and they were looking for rebounds. There were a lot of times where they almost got those rebounds, but I thought our defence especially did a really good job of clearing in front of the net, whether tying up a stick or clearing a rebound."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Some structural damage' from wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor confirms
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver says he got a cellphone ticket for using his points app in the drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
B.C. YouTuber ordered to pay $350K for 'relentless' online defamation campaign
An 'unrepentant' YouTuber has been ordered to pay $350,000 in damages as compensation for a 'relentless' campaign of defamation waged online against a business owner and his company, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things 'full circle'
Chief Robert Michell says relief isn't the right word to describe his reaction as the search begins for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school he attended in northern British Columbia.
'Endless Shrimp' just one misstep for Red Lobster as it eyes bankruptcy protection
While it's unclear what these closures might mean for the 27 restaurants in Canada, Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month.
B.C. man shot sex worker in the back during drug-fuelled birthday, court hears
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
'Inhumane conditions': 68 dogs pulled from Winnipeg home
Nearly six dozen dogs were seized from a home Wednesday morning by the Winnipeg Humane Society. It is the largest known seizure of animals in the city’s history.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Of the $40-million Aiden Pleterski was handed over two years, documents show he invested just over one per cent and instead spent $15.9 million on "his personal lifestyle." The 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont. man was arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering on Tuesday.
Driver said he smoked pot oil, took medication before Florida crash that killed 8 Mexican workers
A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed Wednesday.