The Los Angeles Kings took a page right out of the Edmonton Oilers’ book when it came to pulling their starting goalie in Game 5 of their Western Conference playoff series.
But it didn’t result in the same sort of story from Game 4 that saw Edmonton bounce back from the brink of extinction, overcoming a 3-0 first-period deficit to tie the series 2-2 after Jack Campbell took over for Stuart Skinner to make 27 of 28 saves in the comeback.
This time, it was Joonas Korpisalo’s turn to get chased from his net, after the Oilers took a 4-2 lead in Game 5, ushering in Pheonix Copley. But instead of providing the same sort of spark that Edmonton turned into a blaze on the way to a 5-4 win that tied the series, the Kings find themselves trailing in the series for the first time.
The Oilers poured on the offence in a 6-3 victory to set themselves up for a potential series-winning Game 6 on Saturday in L.A.
But the Kings aren’t about to lay any blame at the foot of their crease, given goaltending was what kept them in all four previous games against Edmonton’s high-octane offence.
“I think they do a good job every night,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said following the latest loss. “Korpi’s been playing great for us all series, so we can’t ask too much from them.
“And obviously it’s hard to come into this building for Copper, who hasn’t played in a little while. So, we’ve got to be better in front of them, for sure.”
Up until Game 5, Edmonton had outshot L.A. in each game (40-35, 37-24, 40-31 and 42-39), before the Kings ended up with a 28-27 advantage in shots Tuesday. But the score resulted in Edmonton’s favour, and in the most lopsided finish of the series, at that.
“Usually when you get into an open game like that, the shots are 50-22,” Kings head coach Todd McLellan said following the Game 5 loss. “We didn’t give up a ton of shots, but we gave up good chances.”
Especially on the power play, where Edmonton went two-for-three in their latest outing to sit at a combined eight-for-14 in the series.
That’s a success rate of 57.1 per cent, and not something the Kings can afford to have factor in over the next two must-win games.
“Yeah, we knew that going in,” Anze Kopitar said. “Certainly not the game we wanted to play tonight. The result, it is what it is now, but we’re still going home obviously down 3-2. We’re going to play a lot better than this.
“A couple of errant plays, a penalty that we certainly didn’t need, and they were able to score a couple goals. But coming in (to the second period down) 3-2, I felt it was anybody’s game.”
Right up until it wasn’t, when Nick Bjugstad opened the second-period scoring with his first of two goals after getting promoted to second-line centre. That put Edmonton ahead 4-2, and they never looked back.
Thirteen players got in on the scoring for Edmonton, whose 325 goals-for led the league in the regular season.
And the Kings know goaltending can only take them so far before they have to start matching Edmonton on offence.
“They’re a good team, they have some really skilled players,” Kempe said. “It’s hard when they have (the puck), but I think we showed last game when we played our best that we can be aggressive, we can turn pucks over and go the other way. So, that’s something that we have to continue to do, but it wasn’t there enough tonight.
“I think we’ve got to clean up some stuff from tonight. Our play in our own zone wasn’t very good from the start. So, we’ll try to stay out of the box as much as we can, it’s a big factor and they got two tonight on the power play, so that was a big factor as well. But other than that, I think we’ve got to keep playing aggressive.”
It’s a fine line, to be sure. Play right on the edge without crossing it, for fear of giving Edmonton another man-advantage opportunity that could more than likely pay out.
But it’s a level the Kings will have to start finding. And quickly.
“I just think we’ve got to play more assertive right from the start,” Kopitar said. “I mean, it’s the start that we didn’t want tonight.
“More desperate and a lot more assertive.”
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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