LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 23: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers skates with the puck against Phillip Danault #24 of the Los Angeles Kings during the first period in Game Two of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Harry How /Getty Images
What’s worse than losing Game 2 of a playoff series to fall behind 2-0?
Losing it the way the Edmonton Oilers did Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Edmonton didn’t just lose, it got smoked. Rolled over. Pummelled. Embarrassed. Beaten down and left for dead.
If that 6-2 slap in the face was Edmonton’s best response after a 6-5 loss in Game 1, this is going to be a very short series.
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Game 2 wasn’t even close. Lack of goaltending, lack of offence and one of the worst penalty-killing displays you’re ever going to see combined to leave the Oilers with one foot in the grave.
“We haven’t played to the standard or level that we’re capable of, to a man,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse. “It’s a pissed off group. We have to go home and take care of business. We have to raise our level.”
For all that’s going wrong in this series, it is Edmonton’s special teams that are poised to end their season.
The penalty kill, one of their greatest strengths in last year’s run to the final, remains an early weakness this year. The Kings scored on their first man advantage, again on their third, and again on their fourth to give them four goals on their first nine power plays in this series.
Edmonton’s power play, meanwhile, went 0-for-3.
“They’re just winning that battle right now, that’s really all it is,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “They’re beating us in that department. We have to fix some things and be better.
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“We haven’t (finished on the power play) there’s no going around that. We just have to cash in, dig in a little deeper and execute a little better.”
The penalty kill isn’t the only place the Oilers fell apart.
The 2-0 L.A. goal was a hopeless breakdown by just about every Oiler on the ice. Draisaitl focused on a hit along the Oilers half wall, turning his back on the puck. Darnell Nurse got caught on the wrong side of that puck. Connor McDavid and Corey Perry are nowhere to be seen in the defensive zone. And Evan Bouchard, the only player between Quinton Byfield and the Oilers net, literally backed out of the way so the Kings forward could glide in untouched from the top of the face-off circle and score.
Then, after Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson scored to make it 3-2, Arvidsson’s careless defensive-zone giveaway set up Adrian Kempe all alone in front of Stuart Skinner to restore the two-goal lead.
The end came when Adam Henrique took a totally undisciplined penalty and the Kings power play struck for a third time to make it 5-2.
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“Special teams is obviously a big part of it, the other is just mistakes,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “I don’t necessarily see L.A. making plays to beat us, I see just mistakes, gift-wrapping opportunities.
“If they make a heck of a play and are able to score goals you tip your hat, but I don’t think I’ve seen very much of that, it’s mostly gaffes that have cost us.”
Skinner got the hook during a TV timeout in the third period so Calvin Pickard can get some work in before his anticipated start in Game 3. Skinner stopped 23 of 28 shots in the loss and has allowed 11 goals in two games.
Alas, Pickard let in the first shot he faced to make it 6-2 Kings.
Evander Kane and John Klingberg made their post-season debuts, with Kane seeing his first action since Game 1 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final. They were both fine, but nothing that came close to tipping the balance of power in this series.
“We just have to be better,” said Draisaitl. “We have to dig in and we have to be better. This group has a lot of character in here. We’ll regroup, let this one go, go home and try to bring our best game.”
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