For the second straight season, the Kings were on the losing side of the handshake line after a first-round Stanley Cup playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
On a star-studded Oilers roster, it was unheralded forward Kailer Yamamoto, a former Jr. Kings player, who launched the Oilers to a second-round matchup against Vegas. His shot from the high slot snaked through a crowd and got past Kings goalie Joonas Korpisalo with 3 minutes and 2 seconds left in the third period Saturday and held up as the difference in Edmonton’s 5-4 victory in Game 6 of their playoff series.
“Our team, our organization has done a really good job of getting to this point,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We have some steps to take now and some lessons to learn. This team that we played two years in a row isn’t going anywhere. They’re going to stay in our conference, our division, and for us to move forward to get to where we want to go we’re probably going to have to play them again and again and again. And we’re going to have to find ways to beat them.
“I don’t think we should hang our heads. I think we should reflect and build.”
After following one of hockey’s finest customs and congratulating their conquerors in the handshake line, Kings players saluted the lively crowd at Crypto.com Arena. The team’s outstanding, 104-point regular season had given players and fans optimism they’d share a long journey toward the Stanley Cup championship, but the Oilers again were an insurmountable roadblock.
“The energy and intensity were there. It’s just small things that didn’t quite connect throughout the game,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said afterward. “They played a solid game and they were the better team in the series.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow right now but I’m sure we’re going to take away something from this one, too, and learn and move forward.”
The Kings improved their roster in many areas this season — but so did the Oilers, who scored on nine of 16 power plays in the series and were faster, stronger, and better able to convert high-danger scoring chances.
“The L.A. Kings are a worthy, formidable, tough out. I was proud of our group that we did some things that showed our maturity,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “Sometimes you have to go through something like this to see what you’re made of. I can’t compliment the L.A. Kings enough.”
The Kings had justifiably high expectations this season after trading for skilled forward Kevin Fiala and blending him into a group previously upgraded by the additions of Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson. They expected and got increased production from Adrian Kempe, who scored a career-best 41 goals and was a major contributor in the playoffs against Edmonton. They expected to see development from their young players and got mixed results, with Quinton Byfield stalled offensively but Gabe Vilardi stepping up when most needed.
When their goaltending plans went sideways because of Jonathan Quick’s struggles and Cal Petersen’s failure to seize a moment long reserved for him, general manager Rob Blake boldly traded franchise icon Quick and a first-round pick for Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. Although both can leave as free agents without compensation after the season, it was a good gamble for a team that believed it could contend for the Cup this season in the wide-open West.
That belief was well founded — until the Kings dropped to third in the Pacific Division and drew a first-round matchup with the late-charging Oilers, who have supported superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with improvements on defense and in goal since they rallied to beat the Kings in seven games a year ago.
The loss leaves the Kings with tough decisions about whether they want to and can afford to sign Korpisalo and Gavrikov. One way or another, they must solidify their goaltending, get bigger and smarter on the back line, and beef up their penalty killing in order to get past Edmonton — or any other team — next season.
The Kings had tied the score 4-4 at 7:46 of the third period Saturday, taking advantage of a gift when Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner whiffed on an attempted clearing pass and gave the puck to Danault, who was killing a penalty and might have been the most surprised person in the building but didn’t waste the golden chance.
Skinner apparently broke his stick on the attempt and had to get a new one from the bench while Kings fans celebrated their unexpected good fortune.
“I was hoping for a momentum change for sure, but we don’t control everything,” said Danault, who praised Edmonton’s lesser-known forwards such as Klim Kostin and Yamamoto.
The Oilers had struck first Saturday. While fans were still settling into their seats, McDavid redirected a shot by defenseman Evan Bouchard past Korpisalo 1 minute and 25 seconds into the game. The Kings responded at 8:13. Fiala, skating up the right side, fed defenseman Sean Durzi, whose shot from just above the left circle got through a screen and past Skinner for the equalizer. Fiala was awarded the first assist, with the second assist going to Byfield, the 20-year-old forward’s third assist and fourth point of the series.
The Kings stayed out of the penalty box, which they said they’d have to do in order to have any chance of staying with the Oilers, but Edmonton still found ways to score. Fourth-line forward Kostin used Kings defenseman Sean Walker as a screen to put the Oilers ahead 2-1 at 12:12.
Staying out of the penalty box proved impossible for the Kings. Late in a penalty called against Zach Hyman, Alex Iafallo was sent off for tripping. The Oilers made the Kings pay at 4:06, on a one-timer from Draisaitl that put Edmonton ahead 3-1.
Still resilient, the Kings responded at 6:36, during a power play of their own. Kempe settled a pass from Fiala and then ripped a shot into the upper-right corner of the net to cut Edmonton’s lead to 3-2. Kempe recorded at least one point in all six games of the series. Given another power play at 7:17, they cashed in on a shot by Fiala, set up by Drew Doughty and Arvidsson.
The Oilers weren’t finished either, keeping up the frantic pace with a shot by Kostin from the slot that left Doughty shaking his head after he banked a pass to Mikey Anderson that got past Anderson and allowed the Oilers to pull ahead.
Kostin’s second goal of the game and third of the playoffs, at 10:54 of the second period, gave the Oilers a 4-3 lead. It stayed that way until Danault’s gift goal, which was eclipsed by Yamamoto’s timely goal.
The Kings provided many thrills during the season and in the playoffs, but the outcome stayed the same. That has to change somehow, and they’ve got all summer to figure it out.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
