LOS ANGELES –– The Kings checked almost all the boxes on Sunday except one vital item on their list: scoring a goal.
They fell, 1-0, to the Edmonton Oilers at Crypto.com Arena in a game during which they nearly tripled up the Oilers on shots on goal and were on the right side of every barometer but the score as they sunk into a 3-1 pit in their first-round series.
The Kings are now on the cusp of being eliminated by Edmonton for the third consecutive season, with Game 5 in Edmonton on Wednesday. They have eked out just one goal in the past 120 minutes of the series, across which Edmonton has scored seven times.
David Rittch made his first appearance of the series and largely lived up to his “Big Save Dave” moniker, stopping 12 of 13 shots he faced.
Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal that was assisted by Hart Trophy winners Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. While the Kings have equaled the Oilers’ 10 five-on-five goals in the series, they have been out-scored 8-0 with the man advantage. Stuart Skinner earned his first career shutout, making 33 saves in the process.
The closing stanza saw the Kings open up their game and even earn a power play, albeit one on which they managed zero shots on net. For every puck that did reach Skinner, the Oilers’ second-year netminder had an answer.
At the second intermission, the Kings had the Oilers’ shot total, dominating in terms of possession time and shot quality alike. Yet they trailed by the game’s only goal.
The middle frame was hermetically sealed early with neither team generating much offense but scant even-strength opportunities gave way to the game’s first power play when Andreas Englund’s holding penalty sent the Oilers’ skill players over the boards.
Draisaitl and McDavid worked to set up a bomb from the blue line by Bouchard that made it 1-0 for Edmonton 11:49 into the period. McDavid weaved into the slot, dishing to Draisaitl at the right faceoff dot, where he typically launches a sharp-angle one-timer. Instead, he one-touched the puck to Bouchard for a slapshot from above the right circle and his first goal of the series.
The Kings played their best 20 minutes of the playoffs to open Sunday’s match, displaying greater energy and competitiveness while avoiding the penalty box and dictating substantial stretches of play. They’d enter the dressing room just as they exited it, however, tied at zero.
What they did establish was a physical edge, out-hitting the Oilers by double digits in a period during which they also out-possessed them. Drew Doughty was particularly active, sending McDavid to the ice after his dazzling zone entry and later crunching Zach Hyman into the left-wing boards. Yet it was the Kings licking their wounds when the final horn sounded, now needing to win three consecutive games to stave off another extended summer.