April 27, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers powerplay went 25/55 (45.4%) in the first three editions of the now traditional first round matchup between them and the Los Angeles Kings. Last year, the Oilers went 9/20 (45%) on the powerplay and didn’t allow a single powerplay goal to the Kings. The tables have turned in the matchup between these Pacific Division foes this year. The Kings powerplay is running hot (7/12, 58.33%) through three games, and the Oilers did not score a powerplay goal until Game 3.

The addition of Andrei Kuzmenko has changed the Kings’ powerplay. According to Derek van Diest, the Kings went 16/67 (22.3%) in the 22 regular season games that Kuzmenko played for them. They started absolutely rolling after April 8. They went 8/24 (33.33%) from that date to the end of the regular season.

They are deploying a five forward unit with Kuzmenko, Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, and Quinton Byfield. Not many teams use five forwards on the powerplay, but that isn’t the only reason that the Kings are having success against the Oilers penalty kill. Let me break it down in more detail for you.

The Oilers run a penalty killing system that asks the high forward to cut off a passing lane between the point man and the half wall rather than a shooting lane. The low forward stays in the middle of the slot to cut off any cross-ice passes. If the high forward gets beaten with a pass, then the low forward races out to cut off the new passing lane between the point man and the player at the half wall on the other side of the ice, and the original high forward moves to the slot to become the new low forward. The video below demonstrates what it looks like:

The Kings are using a different tactic than most teams typically use. They are positioning their half wall players below the faceoff dots. This creates a significant problem for Oilers forwards. The high forward ends up getting sucked way too low. That means that he has to cover more ice to get to the slot when a switch occurs, which gives the Kings more time to make passes.

It also puts the forward covering the cross-ice pass in an awkward position because the “high” forward ends up lower in the zone than the “low” forward. He can’t get pulled too low because that puts him further away from the passing lane he needs to cut off if the puck goes to the point; but being too high in the zone to anticipate that play creates a soft spot in the slot. The result is a bit of confusion when switches happen.

The other subtle thing the Kings are doing is positioning the net front player on the strong side, which is the side the puck is on. That seems pretty simple because that’s where a net front player should be to screen the goalie; but it also presents a dilemma for Oilers defencemen. The defenceman on the puck side has to challenge the puck carrier on the half wall or below the circle. That leaves the weak side defenceman to cover the net front player. If the net front player is on the strong side, then that leaves the back door wide open. The weak side defender has to cover the immediate threat in front of the net, but he also has to be aware of any backdoor passes.

For this strategy to work effectively for the Kings, they need to get the Oilers forwards moving. They will inevitably end up out of position at some point due to the amount of ice they have to cover. Puck movement is how they make that happen. Working it low to high then low on the other side of the ice is the general flow until they see an opening they like. Here’s one play that they’re running using this set up:

The puck moves from the left corner, to the point, then to the right corner. That opens up a pass into the slot or a cross-ice pass. This was the play they ran on Kopitar’s powerplay goal that made it 5-2 in Game 2:

The puck went from Kopitar in the left corner to Kempe at the point, then to Fiala below the right circle. Fiala hit Kopitar with a cross-ice pass, and Kopitar buried the one-timer. Vasily Podkolzin and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins couldn’t get to their spots in time. Nugent-Hopkins ended up being unsure of how to proceed, and Podkolzin was caught in no-man’s land. Darnell Nurse cautiously approached Fiala because he knew he had to protect the passing lane to Kuzmenko in front of the net in addition to challenging Fiala. He ended up not being a threat to any Kings player on that play. Ty Emberson had to move to cover Kuzmenko in front, which left the cross-ice pass to Kopitar wide open.

Sometimes, the Kings will ditch the idea of using a bumper player and send one player behind the net and one player low in the slot. That just stacks the traffic even lower in the zone, which can create issues for the Oilers defencemen.

Andrei Kuzmenko has scored two powerplay goals starting from behind the net in this series. One was a play where he drifted back in front and scored off a rebound off the end boards, but he finished a pretty passing play that opened the scoring in the series:

The puck went from Kopitar to Kempe to Fiala as usual. Byfield followed the puck across the front of the net. Jake Walman floated out towards Fiala to challenge him. Josh Brown was left to defend Byfield and Kuzmenko, who snuck around to the back side of the crease. Brown identified Kuzmenko, but he made the decision to go over there a little too late. Kuzmenko tapped it into a wide open net. Once again, the forwards here (Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark) couldn’t get into the passing lanes because of the amount of ice they had to cover in too short of a time period.

How can the Oilers stop it?

The Oilers don’t need to come up with a whole new penalty killing system to slow down the Kings powerplay. Essentially, the Oilers just need to be more aggressive on the penalty kill. The biggest thing they need to do is have the strong side defenceman be more aggressive in challenging the puck carrier. That will force Kopitar and Fiala to make quicker decisions with the puck on the perimeter, and it will force them to retreat or reverse course in some cases.

It will also remove that responsibility from the forwards. The forwards have been tasked with applying pressure from above the player from the passing lane to the point. The pressure coming from the defencemen will allow the Oilers forwards to stay a bit higher in the zone and prioritize protecting their passing lanes. The forwards should be more focussed on protecting the passing lanes between the point man (Kempe or Drew Doughty depending on which unit is out there) and the two players on the walls (usually Kopitar and Fiala). The high slot isn’t a priority for zone coverage against the Kings because they are stacking four players low in the zone. This will require more active movement from the forwards, but it’s easier to do so knowing that they don’t have to pressure the puck carrier low in the zone because that responsibility shifted to the defencemen.

The Oilers did a pretty decent job of this in Game 3. Both of the Kings’ Game 3 powerplay goals were scored late in their respective powerplay opportunities, and one was scored off the rush. We could see this strategy in action by the Oilers on Doughty’s powerplay goal in Game 3:

Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson did a good job of staying fairly high and not getting sucked too low. Nurse challenged Trevor Moore when he got the puck along the wall at the right circle. Warren Foegele made a great screen on Calvin Pickard and the point shot found its way into the net on this particular play, but you can see that the Oilers’ aggressiveness on the penalty kill has limited the Kings’ chances down low.

The Oilers will need to continue being aggressive on the penalty kill if they want to slow the Kings powerplay down and win the series. The other thing the Oilers will need to find a fix for is the Kings’ new strategy of using pick plays to gain entry into the offensive zone. Brandt Clarke backed his behind into Podkolzin at centre ice before the Doughty goal in Game 3. Earlier in the game, Kempe carried the puck into the Oilers zone before making a pass to Fiala at the right circle. Then he proceeded to use his body to shield Nurse from being able to challenge Fiala, and Fiala scored. Those pick plays walk the subtle grey line between normal hockey play and interference, but the Kings got away with it in Game 3. It will be something to monitor in Game 4 on Sunday night.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers prevail with wild finish in Game 3