How the Oilers gained the advantage in a war of attrition with the Kings

EDMONTON — For the second straight game, the Edmonton Oilers rallied in the third period and turned what seemed like a probable loss into a dramatic win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Though there were slight differences in how they snatched enthralling victories from probable defeats — the latest, a 4-3 overtime decision on Sunday in Game 4 to tie their first-round series — there’s an overarching theme.

The Oilers are gaining a massive advantage in a war of attrition, and it could have them in the driver’s seat as the series shifts back to Los Angeles for Game 5.

“They’re relying heavily on four D and nine forwards. That’s tough,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “I thought we just wore them down. They like to absorb pressure. That can be taxing at times. You saw that tonight.”

Leon Draisaitl completed the comeback by scoring the first playoff overtime goal of his illustrious career after setting an NHL record for a single season with six of them as part of an MVP-calibre campaign.

Draisaitl riffled a loose puck by goalie Darcy Kuemper at 18 minutes, 18 seconds on a power play, capping nearly two periods over which the ice was tilted toward the Kings’ end.

Evan Bouchard recorded his second straight multigoal game, becoming just the fourth defenceman in league history to accomplish that feat. This time, each of his two tallies came in the third period, the latter with 28.4 seconds on the clock, to help the Oilers extend the proceedings to an extra frame.

The Oilers dominated the third period and overtime, outshooting the visitors 33-13 from the second intermission onward.

“It felt like we were playing into that direction an awful lot,” Draisaitl said.

Natural Stat Trick charted the expected goals in all situations in overtime as 2.34-0.6.

“They never really had a look,” McDavid said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Deployment sure helped their cause.

It’s not like the Oilers’ key players didn’t get much ice time. Bouchard played almost 36 minutes. McDavid and Draisaitl got almost 31. Brett Kulak was used 29:26.

But almost every skater was kept in the mix.

Vasily Podkolzin and Ty Emberson were the only Oilers who didn’t reach double digits. Though Emberson didn’t see the ice just from 11:08 of the second period onward, Podkolzin got shifts in overtime at least.

The contrast with what the Kings did was drastic.

The Kings’ top four defencemen of Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Joel Edmundson and Vladislav Gavrikov all played at least 31 minutes. Edmundson led the way with 36:16. Brandt Clarke and Jacob Moverare, the No. 5 and 6 blueliners, played 11:58 and 2:26, respectively.

Up front, the fourth line of Jeff Malott, Samuel Helenius and Trevor Lewis played fewer than six minutes. Malott and Helenius were used 2:27 and 1:44.

This wasn’t a one-off, either. The Kings have operated with this type of usage throughout the series.

“You just keep trying to wear the other team down,” veteran winger Corey Perry said. “If we keep rolling our four lines and putting the puck in and winning individual battles, bigger things happen for us.”

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch used the word “fresher” when comparing his charges to the Kings’.

“We were faster just with the amount of minutes our guys are playing compared to theirs,” Knoblauch said. “You saw in overtime how much faster and quicker we were.”

It’s what helped the Oilers take over the game when the Kings had it under control.

The Kings dictated the first two periods and were rewarded with a 3-1 lead. It looked like the Oilers were in big trouble.

“We were the second-best team for the first half of the game,” Knoblauch said. “We did not execute very well. They outplayed us. We stepped it up.”

It turned out that the second half was what mattered more.

Bouchard’s first goal was an odd one that pinballed off Doughty. He was then the beneficiary of Quinton Byfield failing to clear the zone on his tying goal.

Perry had one of his best performances as an Oilers player. Draisaitl gushed over Perry after the game, calling him “one of the smartest hockey players that I’ve ever seen.” The 39-year-old had an assist on Draisaitl’s winner.

McDavid darted around the ice with his usual flair and notched three helpers.

Draisaitl was in on each of the Oilers’ four goals. He extended his playoff point streak against the Kings to 18 games. He has 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points during that span.

Reuniting those three forwards for the third period helped spark the comeback.

Draisaitl’s goal was just the second overtime marker scored by the Oilers in Edmonton since he joined the team in 2014-15. The other came off David Desharnais’ stick in 2017. The Oilers improved to 2-7 in overtime games at home in the McDavid-Draisaitl era and 6-11 overall.

“We’re a tough group to close out in games,” McDavid said. “We’ve got some good players that make plays coming down the stretch.”

It’s no coincidence the Oilers have scored nine goals in the third period, plus Draisaitl’s OT tally, through four games. They’ve been gradually depleting the Kings’ energy reserves.

To suggest the Oilers would be winning a war of attrition a week ago would have been ludicrous. They entered the playoffs with Mattias Ekholm ruled out for the series and Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Jake Walman all missing time down the stretch. And there were major question marks about the statuses of Evander Kane, Trent Frederic and John Klingberg.

Meanwhile, the Kings were about as close to healthy as possible. That was supposed to be their main edge.

Slowly, however, the Oilers worked players back into the fray and are looking more revived by the day. The Kings appear increasingly fatigued because as many as five players are seldom used.

Those in the Oilers dressing room are starting to notice. Knoblauch joked that he wished the Oilers could play on back-to-back days to take greater advantage of the situation.

That won’t happen, of course. What they’re hoping, instead, is that they continue to benefit over a best-of-seven series that’s nearing its conclusion.

“Certainly, they play four D and nine forwards an awful lot,” Draisaitl said. “The longer this goes, we’ve got to continue to chip away at it and make it hard on them if that’s the game they want to play.

“I don’t know if it’s in our favour, but we’ve got to make sure we do the little things to make it hard on them.”