When two teams have played each other 31 times over the last three years and three months of this season, does familiarity breed contempt?
“Nah, it’s always fun…what gets old is all the meetings before the games. Stuff changes but not much so you sit through the routine,” said Los Angeles Kings’ defender Mikey Anderson, well aware the Kings and the Edmonton Oilers might be on a collision course (2 vs 3) for a first-round playoff matchup for a fourth straight spring as both clubs try to chase down Vegas in the Pacific.
No secrets. Phil Danault plays against Connor McDavid. Anze Kopitar matches up against Leon Draisaitl 5-on-5; the Oilers powerplay has often been the determining factor, especially in the playoffs, with the Oilers’ being much better.
Even in this game Monday, both clubs went 11 forwards and seven defencemen. Los Angeles has done it much of the season with Kyle Burroughs as a No. 7 with Drew Doughty (broken left ankle) out. And the Oilers chose to sit fourth-line winger Jeff Skinner for a second straight game Monday, a major tell about his overall effectiveness with the coach Kris Knoblauch—a healthy scratch against a major rival. He dressed big Josh Brown as a seventh D instead.
‘Here we go again’
“Yeah the pre-scout against the Oilers is ‘here we go again,’” said Kings’ coach Jim Hiller, who took over from the fired Todd McLellan last Feb. 2 as the interim head man and got the job full-time after the playoffs.
If the Washington Capitals are the surprise team of the weaker Eastern Conference with their .709 points percentage halfway through the season—just give the Adams trophy for coach of the year to Spencer Carberry—then the Kings, who have played all season without their best defenceman but are No. 4 in points percentage (.663) have stunned everybody in the tougher West.
They entered the Oilers game Monday night with three losses in their last 18 games, since a sobering 7-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 25 when the Sharks scored five goals in the third period. The Golden Knights are tied with the Capitals at .709, with L.A. fourth, as we said, and the Oilers and Dallas are deadlocked in fifth at .655.
The Pacific Division is a grind.
“Reminds me of the old Smythe division with the Oilers, Calgary and Winnipeg going at it,” said Jimmy Fox, the former Los Angeles winger who played for the Kings in the iconic Miracle on Manchester playoff game in the spring of 1982 and then took his talent to the broadcast booth to be the TV colour commentator with Nick Nickson now and fellow Hall of Famer Bob Miller before that.
Right now, the Golden Knights are six points clear of the Kings and Oilers, but L.A. has only played 40 games to the Oilers 42 and Vegas’s 43 in the Pacific.
The team that finishes first could be playing either the Canucks or the Flames in round one. Four straight first-round playoff head-to-heads would match the four the Oilers had from 1999 to 2003 against Dallas, with the Stars winning all four (three with Eddie Belfour in net, the fourth with Marty Turco). The only series the Oilers won was the first in 1997 (round one on Todd Marchant’s OT goal). They also lost a second-rounder in 1998 to the Stars. Dallas and Edmonton both missed playoffs in 2002.
Loss of Drew Doughty a crushing blow for Kings
Losing Doughty on Sept. 27 could have been a crushing blow for L.A., but the left-shot Vladislav Gavrikov, possibly the second trade deadline target in 2022 if the Oilers hadn’t got Mattias Ekholm, has seamlessly moved from left side to right to play with Anderson.
And Joel Edmundson, who collided with Zemgus Girgensons last week and somersaulted over the Tampa player, landing heavily on his back/neck and is currently out, has done a nice job in the second pairing with young Brandt Clarke, now running their PP with Doughty out.
How big a gulp did Hiller have when Doughty fell hard into the boards in an exhibition game, his ankle twisting violently after a collision with Vegas winger Tanner Pearson? Surgery was required with a four-month recovery, at least.
“It was pretty emotional seeing Drew go down. He’s such a competitor and he’s so tough. You knew when he left the ice he was really hurting. You could see it in his expression,” admitted Hiller.
“The whole team was down. You know if Drew’s leaving the ice like that he’s going to be out a while but I’m proud of the guys for rallying. We had Gavrikov move from left defence to right, with increased ice-time. Drew’s skating now (by himself, not with the team), so we’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel,” said Hiller.
Warren Foegele switches sides
What’s made the Kings such a tough out is the fine job GM Rob Blake did over the summer, adding players and subtracting others. He lost Viktor Arvidsson (free-agency to the Oilers) but he grabbed Oiler winger Warren Foegele as a fellow free agent on July 1. Foegele, a staple on the second line with Quinton Byfield (5-on-5 and on the PK) has 23 points for the Kings, all even-strength, and is plus-19.
Blake also traded forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, a very bad fit with a huge contract to Washington for goalie Darcy Kuemper—a deal that’s actually worked well for both clubs.
Kuemper (12-2, .921 save percentage for the Kings) had been passed by journeyman Charlie Lindgren on the Caps’ depth chart, not a good fiscal thing with his $5.25 million AAV contract. And Dubois was an expensive ($8.5 million AAV) square peg in a round hole in L.A. but has 33 points in 43 games for the Caps.
Blake also wanted some toughness in the top nine and brought in Tanner Jeannot from Tampa after they bought him out. Jeannot has played some with Foegele, who had three points in his first meeting with his old club late last month in L.A.
“I saw the (Western Conference) banner (rafters at Rogers Place). Nice to see I had some part in that,” said Foegele. “Knobber (Oiler coach) Kris Knoblauch really gave me an opportunity last year to play meaningful minutes, taking pride on being on the PK (with Ryan McLeod). That’s happened here (Kings) too.”
Anything to break the ice?
“Just some heckles,” said Foegele, who was on the ice in overtime against the Oilers in the L.A. 4-3 win on Dec. 28. He didn’t get much of that action here, not with McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman up front. But there was talk of his OT usage post-game just after Christmas in California.
“There was some (verbal) friendly fire out there,” laughed Foegele.
What’s Hiller like as a coach? Under McLellan, the competitive Kings played a 1-3-1 system, very little forechecking, clogging the neutral zone effectively (two forwards, one D, with Doughty often chasing back pucks on the Oiler dump-ins). Hiller has given the team a little more forecheck, but they still play a tight defensive structure in the middle of the ice.
“He’s very smart, he’s detailed. I think Jim being an assistant coach before, got a good sense of the room, when to be hard on us, and when to ease off. He’s been a big part of the run we’ve had,” said Foegele.
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