Edmonton Oilers

The Los Angeles Kings took Game 1 of their first round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 win Monday night at Rogers Place.

“In a tight game like that, you can’t afford to make mistakes like that, and it ended up costing us the game. The Kings kept the puck alive and Philip Danault wound up scoring on a deflection with 5:14 left. So I think it’s some adversity early in the series, but it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before and I’m sure we’ll have to deal with it again on the journey.” He blazed down the right side, cut toward the middle, and fired a wrister behind Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. Early in the second, Yamamoto notched his first career playoff goal. Moore played setup man late in the first, finding Alex Iafallo with a backdoor pass to make it 2-0.

Thanks, Mike. Final Score: 4-3 Kings. Wouldn't it be funny to know how many manhours were lost today in the time leading up to puck drop?

- Mike Smithwas back between the pipes and tasked with giving the Oilers a chance to open the series with a win, and in the early going, it was clear the team would need him because the Kings were shooting from everywhere. - Trevor Mooreopened the scoring (1-0) with a snipe from the slot after Iafallo found him with a pass he was able to tee off on. With the playoffs upon us, I dove into what’s working, what I’m excited about, and how Jay Woodcroft has turned this team around in a way I didn’t think was possible. - Can I just say how much I love it when Zach Hymangrabs the puck in the offensive zone and refuses to give it up? Even though I expected him to play tonight, the way the Oilers were playing mind games with us over the last couple of days had me second guessing myself. The pass may have hit a stick on its way from McDavid to Draisaitl but even that wasn’t enough to stop the magic. At the very least, the Oilers needed to get greasier in front of Quick because he was clearly in a zone where he was going to stop anything he could see. - In the dying moments of the first period, Connor McDavidgot his team on the board (2-1) with an end-to-end rush that saw him carve through the Kings’ defence before sniping a wrister past Quick down low. The problem, of course, is that Todd McLellan’s crew wasn’t about to just roll over and die after getting their teeth kicked in the second period, and the Oilers needed to be ready to handle the inevitable storm that was coming their way. To say that this was a dishearting loss would be an understatement, but the only thing you can do is shake it off and bounce back in game two. And just as we hoped, the Oilers hit the ice with all kinds of energy and that early jump resulted in a charcuterie board of shots on goal and power play chances that they would need to tie the game not once but twice. So when I heard Rogers Place ready to explode in the moments leading up to puck drop, I knew the wait was worth it and that the stage was set to make some memories.

The Edmonton Oilers played well enough to win, but made enough huge mistakes to lose, most notably a Mike Smith turnover in the third period that kicked off ...

He fired a 5-alarmer in tight in the first. He failed to cover Byfield in the slot on a nasty shot in the third. He came out a bit snarly and got off a few good outside shots in the first. He got a dangerous slot shot off a McD feed late in the game. He took a professional foul penalty on Kempe to deny him a breakaway chance late in the second. He got caught out of position and looked rusty on the first play of the game, leading to a tough shot on Smith. He got caught in the Red Light Zone — covering no one and blocking no passing lane — on the first L.A. goal. Threw a thundering hit on Spence half-way through the first, then blew up Byfield with a hit in the third. He broke in hard and almost scored on a short-handed chance in the third. He got beat off the boards in the third, forcing Nurse to take a desperation holding penalty. He threw a big hit early in the game. He burst down the wing to fire a horizontal dart for a Yamo one-timer in the third. Broke in on a breakaway early in the third.