LOS ANGELES — The Edmonton Oilers have a long list of areas to improve on after back-to-back losses — a stark reality has them feeling disgusted.
“We’re pissed off right now going down two (games),” defenceman Darnell Nurse said. “We haven’t played to the standard or the level that we’re capable of playing at.”
The Oilers allowed six goals against for the second straight game of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings and, fittingly, fell 6-2 on Wednesday.
There was no miraculous comeback attempt spearheaded by Connor McDavid this time. He was held without a point, in fact.
No, this was an old-fashioned beatdown.
There’s a lot that must be fixed for them to have a chance to win this series — or even make it close.
“We have to dig in,” superstar forward Leon Draisaitl said, “and we have to be better.”
It starts with their work on the power play and penalty kill.
Last year, the Oilers knocked the Kings out of the playoffs in convincing fashion on the strength of their special teams.
They dominated on the man advantage by going 9-for-20, a downright ridiculous 45 percent clip.
As amazing as their power play was, their penalty kill was maybe even better. The Oilers didn’t surrender a goal while short-handed on 12 chances by the Kings. Winger Zach Hyman called the killers’ efforts “the story of the series.”
That whole story has turned into a tragedy.
“They’re just winning that battle right now,” Draisaitl said. “It’s all it is.”
“If we (want) an opportunity to turn this thing around, it’s special teams,” coach Kris Knoblauch said.
The Oilers gave up three power-play goals to the Kings on five opportunities on Wednesday. The Kings were 2-for-5 in the opener. Their five-forward look is giving the Oilers fits. It’s nearly impossible to win when an opponent scores on half of its chances on the man advantage through two games.
Those five power-play goals are already one more than the Oilers allowed through 25 games on their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring. It’s a startling difference.
“It’s the details to our game, whether it’s sticks, finding lanes,” Nurse said. “We haven’t been good enough on the penalty kill, and that’s to a man. Each of us knows, individually, starting with myself, that we’ve got to be better on it.”
And then there’s the power play.
It’s failed to score on five opportunities through two games after a 0-for-3 showing on Wednesday. Hyman had the best chance in the first period when he failed to convert on a pass from McDavid thanks to a sliding stop by Darcy Kuemper. That might have been the only good attempt.
“We know how they kill. It’s no secret,” winger Corey Perry said. “They pressure all over the place. You’ve got to make a couple good passes and execute.”
“We just have to cash in,” Draisaitl said.
The Oilers might have been able to get by and maybe even steal a game on the road if special teams were the only problem. Of course, they’re not.
They loaded up their top line with McDavid and Draisaitl, who were mostly flanked by Perry. Those three drove play but only came out even at five-on-five, even though Draisaitl extended his playoff point streak against the Kings to 16 games.
Evander Kane made his season debut after more than 10 months between games and, naturally, showed lots of rust. Kane’s line with Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was ineffective, and his cross-checking penalty on Brandt Clarke 6:55 into the first period led to Clarke’s opening goal.
The offence had its moments, but didn’t generate enough quality looks and certainly didn’t finish enough chances.
But the biggest concern of all was the way they’ve defended.
The Oilers allowed Kings forwards to walk right in and unload unfettered shots on three of their goals in Game 2. First, it was emerging star Quinton Byfield. Then, it was noted nemesis Adrian Kempe on the two occasions after that.
The Oilers have had no answers for the Kings’ top line of Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko.
“It’s mistakes,” Knoblauch said. “I don’t necessarily see L.A. making plays to beat us. I see mistakes, gift-wrapping opportunities.”
“If you look at the goals, a lot of them are self-inflicted — turnovers, running out of position,” Perry said.
They left goaltender Stuart Skinner defenceless at key times. He was pulled during a media timeout with 9:30 remaining in the third period after allowing five goals on 28 shots.
“What do you want him to do?” Perry said. “It’s not his fault. He made some good saves and played hard. He’s battling for us. It’s the play in front of him that we’ve got to tighten up.”
“No team in this league can survive giving up the amount of Grade A’s and high-danger chances that we’ve been giving up,” Nurse said. “We’ve been hanging our goalie out to dry on quite a few occasions.”
Knoblauch said he made the goalie switch to give Skinner a break and to try to spark his players. Perhaps the latter consideration wasn’t such an outlandish thought given how the Oilers rallied from three goals down in the third to tie Game 1 before Phillip Danault’s last-minute heroics.
Instead, Kempe’s second goal came on the first shot Calvin Pickard faced.
Skinner has now given up 11 goals on 58 shots in the series. He arguably hasn’t given up a soft goal yet, which is what Knoblauch conveyed after the game.
But the sheer volume of pucks the Kings have zipped by him means Knoblauch and goalie coach Dustin Schwartz might have no choice but to turn to Pickard in Game 3.
If the Oilers keep playing like this as the series shifts to Edmonton, it won’t matter who’s in net. There’s so much to get sorted out, and very little time to do so.
The Kings are outplaying the Oilers in just about every facet imaginable. As a former NHL coach told The Athletic before the series, “Sometimes, you just get sick of losing.”
That’s how the Kings are playing. They’re just a cut or two or three above the Oilers, who’ve got a long way to go to get to their best level.
“We’ve got a hunger to win as well, but we’ve got to ramp it up,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve got to dig in. We’ve got to start playing here. Obviously, it hasn’t been good enough.
“There’s hunger on their side. Of course, you can sense that. But it’s not anything that we’re not able to match. We just have to find it, and we’ve got to find it quick.”
(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)