Yannick Peterhans-USA TODAY Sports

2024

Originally posted on Inside The Rink | By Stephen Vani | Last updated 5/1/24

Let April 28th 2024 be remembered as the day the Edmonton Oilers won a Playoff game by the score of 1-0.

Yes, the dreaded boring and low-scoring game that you sometimes need to win in order to have Playoff success. But it wasn’t boring for Los Angeles, they played like a team that was desperate. Not just in the shots department, they also came out hitting everything that moved. It’s true that a lot of shots taken by the Kings were perimeter shots, and that’s a credit to Edmonton’s defensive play. But when the shot total is 33-13, you still need help in the goaltending category. After a Game 2 performance that made fans skeptical, Stuart Skinner came out of a weekend in California, allowing only 1 goal.

The only negative thing I can say about Sunday night’s win is the start time. Being an Oilers fan in Toronto, an almost 11pm start time was BRUTAL(sigh). But it’s been nice to now have a couple of nights where I can go to bed slightly earlier. The two day break is over, let’s finish a series. The keys to the game are…

Killer Instinct: They’re one win away from advancing to the next round, and back to playing in front of their fans. Every Playoff game holds importance to it, but this one needs to be treated like a Game 7. Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty haven’t let Father Time slow them down yet. The Kings will look to their postseason pedigree to stay alive. Put the visitors away, don’t let them back in this series. The fourth win is always the hardest to get.

Big Save Dave?: Although David Rittich wasn’t as busy as Skinner in Game 4, he still made a couple of key saves that I can remember. With Cam Talbot being in net for all of Edmonton’s 17 goals prior to Sunday, I can’t imagine L.A. going back to him when Rittich was as solid as he could be. The man nicknamed Big Save Dave will try to do for the Kings in this series what Jack Campbell did for the Oilers in Game 4 if last year’s first round.

Even Strength vs. Special Teams: Edmonton has scored eight more goals than Los Angeles. But those 8 have been on the man advantage, where the Kings have struggled mildly. Both teams got just one minor penalty in Game 4, and they were both questionable. The difference is that the Oilers managed to score on their lone powerplay. I think the referees will now start ignoring almost everything. Edmonton can’t let it bother them; they need to just wait for their chance, and it will come to them eventually. If it doesn’t come, they’ll have to take matters into your own hands 5v5. They are capable of it.

This article first appeared on Inside The Rink and was syndicated with permission.

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