April 24, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

Through 20 minutes of Game 4 on Sunday, things didn’t look good for the Edmonton Oilers, as the visitors fell behind 3-0 to the Los Angeles Kings. I would like to believe that Head Coach Jay Woodcroft’s words in the dressing room during the intermission were so passionate that they peeled the paint off the walls. However, I have no evidence to support this claim, except for the fact that, led by the Oilers stars, the team made a strong comeback in the second period.

During the first intermission when the odds of winning last nights game seemed stacked against the Oilers I thought about two things. The first thing I thought of was the hard working Oilers of the late 1990s, who won a game in overtime against the Dallas Stars in 1997 after trailing by three. Thinking about that calmed my own fears of this series being on the ropes. The other thing I thought about was that the Oilers players needed to not be afraid of losing and to be totally present and in the moment.

Woodcroft made a goaltender switch from Stuart Skinner to Jack Campbell to start the second. Campbell came off the bench and was in that Zen state of being totally present, stopping 27 of 28 shots. The only shot that beat Campbell was a partial breakaway from Matt Roy in the third period. On that play, Leon Draisaitl fell down at centre ice, losing his man, and Darnell Nurse went for a big hit on Moore, which created an odd man situation for the Kings that they made no mistake on.

The Oilers roared back in the second period with two goals on the power-play and one at even strength. Evan Bouchard got it started on the powerplay with a 93 mph, bomb, one timer, off of a Leon Draisaitl feed. Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers within one by burying a Connor McDavid pass. This goal was a result of relentless forechecking that brought so much pressure to the Kings defence that veteran Drew Doughty blew a tire. Connor McDavid collected the puck and put it right on Draisaitl’s tape and Leon made no mistake. The Oilers tied it on the power-play as Leon Draisaitl one timed another one past Joonas Korpisalo. Ryan Nugent Hopkins froze Drew Doughty buying Draisaitl enough time to get open. The Nuge slid a pass to Draisaitl who once again one timed it by Joonas Korpisalo to tie the game and the Oilers went to the dressing room tied at 3. All of Oil Country took their first deep breath and regained belief.

Roy’s goal at 4:28 of the third seemed like a nail in the coffin with the way Korpisalo was playing. And if that wasn’t enough Viktor Arvidsson was sent in all alone on a breakaway with 5:50 left in the third. Campbell went into full splits like former Oilers goalie Matthew Garon and shut the door on Arvidsson. Campbell gave the Oilers the save of the series and a chance to tie the game one more time.

With just over 3 minutes to go in the third Mattias Ekholm flew out of the Oilers zone and gave McDavid a pass just outside the Kings blueline. McDavid drew three Kings players to him and sprung Evander Kane on the left wing and Kane cut to the middle and fired a wrist shot high glove and beat Korpisalo bar down. For the third time in four games off to overtime to decide a winner we went.

In the previous two overtime games the Oilers took penalties which ended both games in losses but on this night it was the Kings who took a penalty in the overtime. Adrian Kempe took an undisciplined cross checking call when he drove Evan Bouchard into the boards face first. This was the first sign from the Kings of some undisciplined play which was something that hurt the Oilers in previous games. Credit to the Kings penalty killers for managing to kill off the Oilers’ power-play. After they killed that off I started to have doubts again if it was going to be the Oilers night. The play went back and forth and I started to think the game was going to go into multiple overtimes and end on a fluky one. Korpisalo seemed pretty dialed in and he was going to be hard to solve again and the next powerplay was sure to be a Kings one.

At the 9:30 mark of overtime Evan Bouchard took the puck behind the Oilers net and head up, fired a dart up to Zach Hyman at the Kings blue line. Hyman walked in with Drew Doughty closing on him but before Doughty could fully close on Hyman fired a wrister from from the dot and blew it by Korpisalo.  After Hyman scored the winner he catapulted himself into the boards for his celebration that was reminiscent of Georges Laraque. Impossible was possible in Game 4.

I have two questions heading into Game 5. First, who starts in net? On one hand Skinner is the teams starting goalie and hasn’t played bad in the series. On the other hand, Jack Campbell came in and made 27 saves in relief. Campbell made the save of the series when he stopped Arvidsson’s breakaway. A case can be made for both goalies to start and I don’t think we will know before tomorrow’s game who Jay Woodcroft will choose. The other question I have is will there be any other lineup changes heading into Game 5?

With Klim Kostin and Vincent Desharnais getting stapled to the bench in the third and overtime in Game 4. The Oilers were already playing 11 and seven and shortened their bench going 10 and six. As the series continues having a really short bench is less than ideal. So does Woodcroft elect to go back to a traditional 12 and six rotation? Does Dylan Holloway make an appearance in the lineup and get into his second NHL playoff game or does Woodcroft go to veteran forward Devin Shore? 

My dad would tell me as a kid about the importance of winning the odd numbered games in a series. With the Kings already winning two of them Game 5 is a pivotal game. If the Oilers can win Game 5 for the first time in the series they can put the pressure on the Kings.  It will be important for the Oilers to play a disciplined game and take the officiating out of the question.

   Related:  https://heavyhockey.com/2023/04/23/nhl-officiating-is-officially-the-story-of-oilers-kings-series/

The Oilers did a pretty good job of this in Game 4 with the exception of a Hyman slash. It is going to be electric in Edmonton tomorrow for the game. Game 5 will be another test of our nerves and if the Oilers can find a way to win it they will have three days to get ready to close this series out Saturday back in Los Angeles. 

Oil Country, you know what to do tomorrow night. Raise the roof at Rogers Place and bring the noise that gives everyone in the building their superpowers with the ability to run through brick walls.

Lets Go Oilers!!