Will The Kings Ever Get Past The Edmonton Oilers? | SDP

Will The Kings Ever Get Past The Edmonton Oilers? | SDP

I want to move to the Edmonton series because Jesse Jesse was like, “Oh no, Jesse was Jesse read the future.” What did I say? So in game three, there’s less than five minutes to go in the game. In fact, I think there was four. Evander Kane scores to tie the game up. It’s four all. And the refs look at it and they go, “Wait a second. Did he kick that puck in?” No, it didn’t. No, he didn’t. He kicked it to his own blade and got it underneath Darcy Keer and it’s a goal. Darcy Keer, by the way, Vzna finalist. Okay, man. Crazy, man. So then, and this is where I have to give Jesse credit and he was like legitimately good. Like Jim Hiller’s like, “Hey, wait a second. That’s probably goalender interference.” Now, if I am Jim Hiller, I don’t know what goalender interference actually is. Because if we’re being honest with ourselves, does anybody know what goalender interference actually is? However, Mhm. he challenges with 4 minutes to go. Mhm. And they go, “Yeah, no, that’s a goal.” And here’s your power or here’s your penalty. And 10 seconds into that penalty, Evan Bousard rips a goal home and it’s f in 10 seconds of game play, it goes from 43 to 54. In and this was game three of a series. They’re winning two nothing. It is the biggest 10second change of fortune I think I’ve seen I’m trying to remember the last time the only other 10-second change of fortune I’ve seen I mean maybe it wasn’t even 10 seconds was there was a hit that uh if you were paying attention to the Caps and Hab series Wilson absolutely rocked Kier and it immediately led to a goal and turned around a game that the Caps were losing but this was bigger and Jesse said on the pre-show uh earlier this week he said that’s going to lose them the series And I and I thought at the time I was like they hadn’t won a game yet. I was like they had not won a game. They did. But they had when Jesse said it they’d won a game. Yeah. They won that game. So I was like that’s going to cost them the series. I thought I thought okay that might be but then game then the then the fourth game happens and Edmonton wins and I’m thinking and I brought it up again with Jesse without Eol. Yes. I bring it up with Jesse on the prestream and and Jesse’s like yeah it’s weighing on them. Last night I said to him, I said, “How much is that weighing on this series?” And Jesse, you basically said it was everything. Yeah. No, that was that was the series. Like I think I think you can point to like that is literally where things began and end for the for the LA Kings. And like I think I’m on the opinion that Jim Hiller shouldn’t be the coach of the LA Kings. You think you fire him? Not just specifically for that instance, but if if Kings fans, like you probably know this, when you watch the Kings play hockey, they get a lead and then they just kind of sit back and they play prevent defense. We are just hold on and not do anything and hope that we just keep this lead and we’re going to stop playing hockey. They literally stop playing hockey when they get leads. And that’s a coaching that’s a coaching thing. like he he makes that challenge, he costs them the series. But the biggest mistake he’s made is the way he coaches hockey games and that is against a team that is all offense, all we can beat you however we want if we can just score goals. He sits back and lets the Edmonton Oilers come to them and he never figured out how to stop that. Here’s here’s what I would say. So this it’s two-pronged. I’m not going to make this about the Leafs, but they’re the team we follow the closest and their video staff is very highly praised. The Oh, we didn’t even talk about the freaking lineup card thing from the Leafs game. Maybe we’ll get to that. Um, the video staff for the Leafs, they get into Mark Zavard’s ear and Savvy talks into his weird little sleeve microphone and he relays the message to Craig Barube. There was a play this series where the Leafs considered challenging for offside and you see Bub going to Mark Zavard and going all what are we doing what are we doing here and it’s ultimately Bub’s decision but he’s like what are we doing what are we doing and Savvy ultimately goes no and like you can see a mouth no now I don’t know if it was a no there’s not enough no it was on side we don’t know but it’s a very collaborative effort But Bub makes that challenge, gets it wrong, and it costs the Leafs a goal. He wears that. Mhm. He ultimately wears that. That’s on the head coach, the guy who’s making the decision. Is it fair? Ah, it’s the way it is. I can tell you that much. So Jim Hiller’s eating it. What I would say, not in his defense, but what I would say just cuz it’s true, this is the fourth straight year the Oilers have eliminated the Kings. It’s not a hat-tick anymore, by the way. It’s called a turkey. It’s called a Jesus. Oh, yeah. Like in bowling, it’s Yeah. Yeah. different goalies, I think, every year. Like Keer, they had Talba, I think. Yeah. They had Corpusalo. Yeah, Corpuso. And they might have had someone else. I just I can’t remember. There’s four. Mhm. There’s four of them. And one of them was during like the ends of co. Who can remember that? Well, who can remember? You’ve had multiple coaches. You had a different starting goalie, I think, every year. Your decor looks entirely different. Um, you know, Copitar and Deno have gotten older. Biffield has gotten older, but in a good way. Um I like what do you do? What do you do? Like ah they got to make changes. It feels like they have and they cannot beat the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are one of the strangest. They’re No, they’re the strangest team I’ve ever watched. Well, they’re the strangest team of my lifetime. They are deeply flawed, but so overwhelming. Could easily win a cup with it. Well, and and so let me let me just run you through because I obviously I did the stream, but like just for anybody that missed this game cuz I think we need to talk about that. If you missed this game, the first six minutes featured four goals. It’s insane. Byfield scores at 119. Henrik for the Oilers scores at 304. Brandt Clark scores at 337. So that’s 25 seconds later, guys. And then a minute and a half later, Ryan Nan Hopkins on the power play like and then by the end of the period, Darnell Nurse had also ripped one home with the sickest picture I think ever coming out of him. Yeah, dude. Very, very cool. So good. And then the period 2 starts and there’s nothing. And I remember I said on the stream, I’m like, listen, we were so spoiled in period one. I feel like we’re getting robbed in period 2. Uh, you get another Oh, sorry. It was Zack Heyman scored in the first. Nurse scored in the second. You got to talk into your mic. Sorry. Uh Zack Heyman scored at the end of the first. It was Nurse that scored in this second. He took off his headphones cuz his ears got hot. My ears my ears got sweaty. Uh it did. Uh 90 seconds later, it’s a rush chance. Trent Frederick scores. Hey, there with half a leg. There he is. And then Jordan Spence scores a minute and a half after that. So you got Brandt Clark, Jordan Spence, you got your young guys doing their thing on the back end. You’re never going to win that game. And it’s you’re never gonna win that kind of game against the Edmonton Orers. And the the Kings have like proven they’re not that type of team. No, they can score. They can’t though. Not Not in these games where they got to come back and win. They’re good at like getting a lead and sitting on it. And when the other team can’t penetrate their wall, but like Hiller continually in that series shortened his bench. He he relied on the three kind of top lines. He only ran kind of three lines throughout that thing. Kind of two at some points. like he and the Edmonton Oilers on the other side when they got going from game three on they were running all four lines like evenly. McDavid and Dry settle did not have great series points-wise. I don’t know if you have their totals but they’re they’re not they’re not up there in terms of points that the Edmonton Oilers scored this uh this playoff series in the first round. And just some numbers to back up uh the the Kings in this type of hockey when the Kings trailed after the first period. McDavid had 11 points. And so had 10 games. 11 11 and 10. How many goals? Uh two and three. Two and three. Okay. Bashard had four. It was the goals. The goals number I was trying to remember. Not the points numbers. The goals numbers. They were all around these. My bad. Um but the the Kings this season during the regular season, they only had two wins when trailing after the first period. Oo. All season long. What? All season long. All season long. They had a 143 points percentage when trailing after the first period, which is 28th best in the league. So there couldn’t have been many games, but they didn’t trail a lot while after the first period. Some they were tied a lot. They were ahead a lot. But in the games where they trailed after the first period, they weren’t good. They had they don’t they can’t play this game. And their head coach haded them playing runand gun Oilers style hockey against the Oil Oilers cuz they got them into that game. The Oilers did. They mastered it after game three. Okay, but imagine though. Imagine before this series starts, we’re doing our preview and I’m like, “Hey guys, here’s a hot take. Uh, LA Kings have a Vzna caliber goalender.” When we now know that cuz he’s he’s one of the finalists. Okay, the and they’re going to limit to they’re going to limit McDavid and Dryidle combined to five total goals this series. No chance Edmonson wins. Zero 0% chance Edmonton wins that game, that series. Yeah. And yet here they are. Bard, they could have five goals in Bard with four goals. Nan Hopkins with three. Connor Brown with three. Zack Heyman with two. Yep. What is that? That’s depth. Evander Kane had two. And I think we underrate how much him coming back. As soon as he came back, they started winning. Huge difference. Dude, I was watching AB stars last night. I’m like, Landisk’s on the top PP unit. Like two guys who did not play this regular season. Cory Perry, two goals. Matias Yanmark two goals. Trent Frederick, Adam Henrik, Darnell Nurse, Victor Arvitzson, they all had goals. Man, that’s a lot of goals. That’s a hurricane, dude. Like, what do you do? What do you do? It’s nuts. You should leave uh Stuart Skinner on White A. Yes. Just like let him stay there. He’s not a part of the team anymore. Uh Calvin Pickard has been great. He like, you know, there’s your starting goalender for the rest of the playoffs. I encourage everyone to just check out Calvin Pickard’s Hockey DB page. Bring it up. What a What do you want to say? No, just cuz what a frigin journey. Like this guy, he shouldn’t be starting playoff games in the second round in 2025. Like it’s a miracle. Like, oh, so first of all, second round pick, 49th overall 2010. 2010 was drafted 15 years ago. How old is this guy? 33. Uh, just turned 33. He had one of the worst seasons I’ve ever seen. Well, he had a 904 save percentage, but this is when save percentages were much higher. He showed some promise as a young goalie for the ABS. 67 and three record, 76-1 record, 932 save percentage, 922%. That year where the Avalanche were just awful. Everyone got injured. He magically becomes their starting goalie due to injuries. He’s 1531 and two just going out there and getting shelled every night. Kept that save percentage high though. He goes to the Leafs the next year, plays one game, isn’t great, but he plays 33 games in the minors. Champion and he wins a championship. Oh, I bet he was like playoff MVP. Nope. backup to Garrett Sparks as they win the I almost said Stanley Cup. Calder Cup. Uh goes to Philly the next year. Plays 11 games. Is hot ass. He put up a 42 and2 record. Lord knows how he did it. He had an 863 save percentage. And he just spent the next few years as a journeyman. The COVID year was so friaking weird. He he’s he plays six games in Vienna. Crazy. And he plays for Vienna of the Austrian League and Detroit and Grand Rapids in the same season 15 total games. Still spends time in the miners. Spends time in the minor with the Oilers. And he’s good in the minors, but like starting playoff games in the second round in his 30s. Yeah. No, the the Bakersfield won the 22 23 season where he played 38 games for them. Yes. Like that’s very recent memory. Yes. 2 years ago he played 38 games for Bakersfield. He played and now he’s starting for the Oilers. He played 81 AHL games between the 21-22 season and 2223. Yeah. By the way, 81. I I know Steuart Skinner played more games than him last year in the playoffs, but he also had a better save percentage than Stuart Skinner last year in the playoffs. And he was playing better with than Skinner. He was in the the Canucks series last year better than Skinner. And then they went back to Skinner anyway. Yeah. And I was like, which was the right call, which ended up being the right call, but at the time I was like, this is crazy. Why are they doing this? I don’t think they can do that this time. Here we are in the the year of McDavid 2025. Yeah, Calvin Pickard has not lost. He is 4 and 0 in these playoffs. The Oilers got four wins against the Kings and he was in the net for one, two, three, four of them. Hockey is silly. This is why we watch. It’s so faking fun. Jim Hiller shouldn’t have a job. Do you think he I I mean he he’s coaching the team the wrong way. back to that and and he cost them the series with that challenge and I think overall the coaching strategy from the Kings hasn’t been great. LA overall though like like what do you do like cuz it’s still a good team. There are some aging players but you had Kopitar in another great year. Dowy when he came back was really great. They have the right mix in theory of veterans and young guys. Brandt Clark, Jordan Spence, uh Quinton Biffield, like they uh you know, they’ve had good I mean I don’t know if that if they have any great players coming up now, but like it’s and it’s also Los Angeles. It’s not like you’d have hard times selling people on coming. Who led the Kings in scoring and how many points did they have? I have no idea. Probably Hon. Oh, you want me to look out? No, I’m asking. No, no, I have it. I have it. Oh, I have uh Biffield. It was not Biffield. Oh, no. He was very good. Adrien Kempe who had a great series. He had a great series, great season. Tied for the team lead in goals with 35 with Kevin Fiala and he led the team in points with 73. They are a really strong solid all-around team. Strong throughout the lineup. They in I if you’re going to go up against a team with a super duper star, two of them every year, I don’t think you can get by just being very solid throughout. You You need to even a team that bleeds goals like the Oilers do. you like I I’m trying to think back of the last time like it felt like a team neutralized the Oilers guys and I think back to like I don’t know Mar like Mar Taves the the the Kings just you Mc Mabe I mean Mabe sorry McDavid McDavid on national television last year doused Mirro Hastinan in gasoline and set him on fire and wasn’t even arrested for and you’re going at him with like a geriatric Drew Dowy and these kids and it’s not enough like you’re the Kings are such a good team and that crazy Joel Edmonson contract honestly. Yeah. I honestly think if they didn’t run into the Oilers first round every year they they probably I don’t know get a a couple conference finals out of it. That’s for me right now sitting here with the where the Kings are at. It sounds like cope for to defend what they’re doing because they haven’t won a playoff series since 2014 and like some of that is you’re coming off the championship, you always have to pay the tax bill. Like eventually when you are that good through that era, everything comes due, all of your superstars are gone, blah blah blah blah. But that’s more than 10 years ago. Colorado probably kills them. We’re sitting in 2025. LA and Chicago have not recovered from the early 2010s fully. No. And and they have zero series wins to show for all of this. It’s like it’s time for something. You like you need to be winning. You need to make do you need to make major changes to your veteran guys? Do you need to talk to Copitar and Dowy and go guys, I know you’re lifelong kings, but would you consider cuz we need to get assets and we need to I know that’s a crazy thing to say, but do you have that question? They got a Vzna nominee and cap space for Pierre Luke Dubois. Like h they’re a really frustrating team. Mhm. Cuz I look at them, they’re one of those teams where I go, “Yeah, generally speaking, I think you’re making all the right choices. It’s not enough. It’s not even good to beat Edmonton. It’s not even you lose the same opponent four straight years.” That is a like come on. Hey, you can’t like the part of the reason we’ve been yelling and screaming for the Leafs to blow it up for so long is this keeps happening often against the Bruins, but it’s not them every four straight years. Oh, I’d be sick to my stomach. Like, it’s probably Rob Blake who’s got to pay for for the bill. I think so. It might be. Maybe it’s just a promotion and you bring somebody in as GM. Somebody’s got to pay for that cuz he hasn’t listen’s been bad. Eisermanman’s been bad. Rob Blake’s just not good enough. Not good enough. You need an edge. I think I think I’m on to something with the top end talent there because like they have a great collection of very good players. I think they’re hoping Biffield turns into that. Like but he didn’t even hit 60 points. Like you need a 100 point guy. Mitch Mner if the Hey, maybe if that’s what you’re going headtohead with every freaking year, you you just don’t there’s no combination of five or six men you could throw out there to combat that. And even when you somewhat neutralize it, that means you’re taking the rest of the Oilers lineup for granted and they’re going to light you up like they did in the series. Like Connor Brown’s going to show up, Zack Iman’s going to show up, Evander Kane. Conor Brown was great last year. He was spectacular. And that was a guy who was dead to rights last year. He’s healthy. Yeah. He wasn’t even like that good during the regular season. Like he had a very mediocre season, but he he man and he brings intensity when they start. He was screaming like he was so excited. You started this thing. You’re like, “Oh, Jesse said they cost the series and that thing.” I picked the Kings to win the series five. But I don’t think you picked Jim Hiller to pick that to to make that. But I just want to acknowledge that I was very wrong on this series. And same with like I had Tampa in five. Like picks have been bad this year. Yeah, but that’s the joy of the play. It makes me feel better that your picks also suck. No, we we are we’re all here sucking together, dude. Group suck. Group suckfest. Group sucket. Yeah. Okay, now great episode title. That’ll be great for SEO. Group suckfest.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake discuss the Edmonton Oilers eliminating the Los Angeles Kings for the 4th straight season. Will the Kings ever get over this hump?

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