LOS ANGELES — No matter how good Darcy Kuemper is, sometimes the Vezina finalist just can’t bail the LA Kings out of tough games.
In Game 5 of Round 1, after the Kings lost two pivotal games in Edmonton, LA didn’t put up much of a fight in possibly its most important game of the season to this point. Typically a lights-out team at home, the lights just seemed too bright for Jim Hiller’s group.
The Oilers only scored two 5-on-5 goals, but MoneyPuck still gave them a 6.47 expected goal tally, telling of their overall dominance. Kuemper faced 45 shots and saved 43, allowing goals from Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on the empty net.
“We probably give [the Oilers] more odd-man rushes in the first period tonight than they might have in the whole series to this point,” Hiller said. “We’re just not going to win that way.”
The Kings’ lone goal came right off the faceoff during their second-period power play, as Andrei Kuzmenko deflected an Anže Kopitar point shot past Calvin Pickard, but it wouldn’t take long for the Oilers to storm back and eventually take a 3-2 series advantage.
“I think we’re all frustrated with the effort we gave,” said Kings blueliner Joel Edmundson. “Throughout the whole season, we’ve been playing hard at home. We love playing in front of these fans, a huge game for us and we come out like that.”
LA appeared to over-pass in the offensive zone, sit back defensively and let Edmonton go to work in tight near the crease. The Kings only put up 22 shots, and killed both of the Oilers’ power play opportunities, but couldn’t muster much else.
Talk of Troy reporter Kasey Kazliner was at Game 5 and broke it all down on Skate of Thrones, TOT’s LA Kings podcast.