LOS ANGELES — What do the Edmonton Oilers take from a game like that, with so much negative followed by so much positive?
How do you learn, when you go down 4-0 with six shots on goal in the opening 30 minutes, then storm back against the stingiest team in the league to tie the game at 5-5, scoring twice with the goalie pulled?
When the Kings played their game, it wasn’t close as to who the better team was.
Then, when Edmonton found its game, the chasm between the two teams was perhaps even wider. The Kings couldn’t handle the Oilers’ offence.
“They’re a really good team and they play well in this building,” said Edmonton winger Zach Hyman, a fresh scrape on his chin still leaking some blood 15 minutes after the game had concluded. “Having said that, we gave ourselves a chance to win the game. We stayed with it, even though there’s a lot of opportunities to quit. We could take some positive out of that.”
This was nearly the Miracle on Manchester, in reverse. El Foldo on Figueroa, with Connor McDavid playing the part of Daryl Evans, notching two assists and the game-tying goal all in the final 12:17 of the third period, part of a four-point night for the Oilers captain.
But a miracle comeback fell short on one of the flukier game-winners you’ll ever see, as Phillip Danault chopped a fluttering puck into the rafters of Crypto.com Arena with 42 seconds to play in regulation. It plunged like a Beckham blast underneath the crossbar and past a stunned — and fully screened — Stuart Skinner.
“It’s a house league shot. Like a little rainbow shot,” said Kings centre Quinton Byfield.
“I got all of it,” countered Danault, with a sly smirk.
It was the kind of loss that the Oilers can live with, and they’ll have to.
They’ll carve some positives out of that two-minute five-on-three they killed in the third period, and the fact they erased deficits of 4-0 and 5-2, and spend the off day Tuesday telling themselves they played 20 minutes of decent hockey and nearly won Game 1.
Had the Kings lost this one, however, it would have been devastating.
You can’t take a 4-0 lead at home and lose, and alas, the Kings did not. But they’ll still be a tad nervous about the way they lost control of this one.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Hyman said. “Looking at the score clock, we had six shots (on goal) halfway through the game. Regardless of how hard it is to get on the inside, you can be better at getting pucks there and then battling for position and working your way into the paint.
“They’re a good defensive team, but we can be better.”
An Oilers team that has never fared well in Game 1s of series still manages to win its share of the rest of the games. But it’s a bad habit to get into.
“This group has been through games like this numerous times,” Hyman said. “Think back to Game 1 against Calgary (a 9-6 Game 1 loss) a couple years ago, then in Colorado (8-6 for the Avs)… Sometimes games aren’t scripted like you think they’re going to go, and you have to find a way to win.
“Obviously we fell short today, which sucks. But we have a history of bouncing back, and I’m sure we’ll play a lot better in Game 2.”
One place to look for improvement will be Evan Bouchard’s defensive game.
With the score 2-0, he gave two pucks away that ended up behind Skinner — a difference-making swing in a one-goal game.
Bouchard was a huge part of the offence, with three assists. And he played 27:44, a yeoman’s night for the Oilers’ most important blue-liner.
But he’s too good — too valuable to this team — to simply be an ‘offenceman’ like Sandis Ozolinsh once was. He has to be better in his own end — at least break even back there — for his mastery in the offensive end to truly have an impact.
This 6-5 game was a ton of fun, but like all series, this one will boil down to a 2-0, 2-1 or 3-2 game — maybe two — and the team that wins those will move on.
If your best players are as loose as some of the Oilers’ best were Monday, the playoff road will be short.
