The Edmonton Oilers just got off a thrilling Game 3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. This was sorely needed as the Oilers lost both games in L.A. to start the series. To say those games in L.A. were bad would be an understatement. In both games, the team had stretches where they had absolutely nothing going, the goaltending and penalty kill being bad, and were just flat-out being outplayed in every single category.
How the Oilers fared when it comes to shots
So, let’s do a bit of a deep dive into those games and see where the Oilers really struggled. It’s been a while since I’ve done this but since it’s the playoffs I think it’s a great to bust it out again. However, I will add something different. I will include the Oilers 5v5 shots they had to see how they fared compared to the Kings.
Just a refresher as always: @NHL_Sid, @PapaNurse and I track the games. NHL_Sid started this shot-tracking project last season and was kind enough to let both PapaNurse and I work alongside him. These stats are coming from this project where we manually track each 5v5 shot attempt and shot on goal (blocked shots do not count).
Here are the stats from the games I tracked. (Note: y = Yes, bt = Behind The Net, rr = Royal Road (across the slot in the offensive zone essentially; High Danger Chances come from here typically), r = Rush, ff = Face-off, f = Forecheck and c = Cycle)
The figure above within the black area shows shots that are considered scoring chances.
Game 1: 6–5 loss
Oilers shot attempts: 34 (3 omitted)
Kings shot attempts: 31 (3 omitted)
Oilers 5v5 xG: 1.92
Kings 5v5 xG: 1.59
Note: The number within the brackets indicates how many shots came off that shot type.
Kings Shots:
| Shot Type | Assist Type | Chances | Goals | Odd-Man Rushes | Screens | Rebounds | Tips |
| Rush (14) | 6 | 1 | 2v1 | 3 | |||
| Cycle (5) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Forecheck (8) | 1 BT | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Face-off (1) |
Oilers Shots:
| Shot Type | Assist Type | Chances | Goals | Odd-Man Rushes | Screens | Rebounds | Tips |
| Rush (10) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Cycle (13) | 2RR | 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Forecheck (3) | 2 | ||||||
| Face-off (5) | 1RR | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Edmonton giving L.A. too many chances
The Oilers (to a degree) played okay for the most part 5v5. Obviously, special teams killed them as they allowed two goals on the penalty kill but the bigger story was Stuart Skinner. Allowing that sixth goal in regulation right after the Oilers tied the game to make it 5–5 was truly unacceptable.
Not only was that bad, this was the Oilers storming back, rather than Connor McDavid doing it all by himself. Half the team was flat out disengaged. They could not set up a solid forecheck at all. While they did get some body traffic on Darcy Kuemper, they did not really resort from it as they scored zero goals on those screens and only one out of the nine they had they had a high danger chance off of a tip.
The Oilers best chances came off their cycle game, an area that’s been a trait of the Kris Knoblauch era. Again, most of these came right in front of Kuemper but mostly due to McDavid’s play setting up for Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry for easy goals for.
The Oilers also allowed the Kings to get a bit too many HD Chances off the rush. All in all, while the almost comeback was sweet, they needed to play better the next game.
Game 2: 6–2 loss
Oilers shot attempts: 31 (3 from NZ/DZ)
Kings shot attempts: 28 (2 from NZ/DZ)
Oilers 5v5 xG: 1.41
Kings 5v5 xG: 1.52
Oilers Shots:
| Shot Type | Assist Type | Chances | Goals | Odd-Man Rushes | Screens | Rebounds | Tips |
| Rush (7) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Cycle (16) | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Forecheck (2) | 1BT | ||||||
| Face-off (3) | 1RR | 1 | 1 |
Kings Shots:
| Shot Type | Assist Type | Chances | Goals | Odd-Man Rushes | Screens | Rebounds | Tips |
| Rush (11) | 8 | 1 | |||||
| Cycle (8) | 1BT | 4 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Forecheck (3) | 1 | ||||||
| Face-off (4) |
Just like last game but a bit worse. This time Edmonton basically had no HD chances for and allowed a ton of quality chances off the rush for the Kings. The penalty kill, again, was awful where they allowed three goals. The power play generated nothing and most of their chances were just perimeter play. Skinner, again, allowed in a very weak Quinton Byfield goal which gave the Kings all the momentum for the rest of the game. Not good enough.
Conclusion
The Oilers played a hell of a lot better in Game 3 like mentioned earlier and fixed some of their mistakes that killed them on the road. However, the penalty kill still has no answer for the Kings’ power play and although Calvin Pickard won, there were still instances where he looked lost (that fourth goal against in particular).
Game 4 will be massive for Edmonton. If they win, they’re guaranteed a six-game series and another one at home. As the saying goes, the series hasn’t started until the home team loses and Edmonton needs to carry that into next game. Win it and go to L.A. tied, hopefully stealing that one.
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