After nearly a week of waiting and anticipation, the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings finally took to the ice at Crypto.com Arena for Game 1 of their first round series, and while the late comeback was fun, the 6-5 final score was certainly not. The Kings take the opener in a mistake-fuelled series opener for the Oilers.

I don’t know how else to describe the disappointment I felt when the Oilers had the puck on their stick than to say their effort was most uninspired. Outside the final few minutes, there were countless instances of the Oilers parking themselves at the offensive blue line and being unable to do much beyond that. There was no extended pressure. There were no dangerous second and third chances. No matter the opportunity, the Oilers were stifled offensively for most of this hockey game. Outside of the third period, the Oilers looked lifeless offensively.

I don’t care who you are, having only 10 shots by the end of 40 minutes is as rough as it gets to watch. Not only did the Oilers look like they weren’t ready to play, but they didn’t get much better as the game wore on until it was almost too late. Instead of bouncing back from a slow start, Edmonton seemed unable to counter the Kings’ defensive style. It was like Edmonton couldn’t make the real-time adjustments they needed to get the job done, you know? In every aspect, from the crease outward, the Oilers were inferior, and it was horrible to watch them muster only so little until the third period. That cannot continue for long stretches, as we saw in Game 1, or this series will end up short in the worst possible way.

As painful as it is to admit, the L.A. Kings were better in all three zones on the ice for most of Game 1. Yes, we can talk about how Stuart Skinner allowed six goals on 30 shots, but that doesn’t tell anything close to the whole story. In fact, I’d say there were few skaters in away uniforms who can say they did their part on the defensive side of the puck. Yeah, goaltending was a problem — there’s no doubt we needed more saves than we got — but I’d be lying if I didn’t mention how porous the Oilers were defensively.

Even though the NHL boxscore has the giveaways listed as 12-11 for the Kings, I don’t kanow if I believe that number. From my side of the TV screen, I saw an Oilers team that struggled to manage the puck regardless of what zone it was, and I felt that a lot of the Kings’ chances came from poor puck management. I thought you could pick more than a few goals where the Oilers made poor decisions with the puck that resulted in extended zone time for the Kings, and because of that sloppiness, it wasn’t exactly surprising to see how many pucks wound up in the net. Suppose the Oilers are going to rebound on Wednesday. In that case, they’ll need to do a much better job of managing the puck because if they don’t, this L.A. team is way too good to give up as many secondary chances as they did in the opener, and they will burn us continually.

Not that anyone should have been surprised by the goaltending matchup, but Kris Knoblauch gave the keys to Stuart Skinner to lead the Oilers for Game 1, and it was a surprisingly contested decision on social media before the game started. I’m a big Calvin Pickard guy, too, but I didn’t ever really expect Knoblauch to go with anyone but Stu for the first night. That said, I don’t know that Skinner did himself any favours in the court of public opinion, not after giving up six goals on 30 shots on goal anyway.

Even with both goaltenders finishing the night with .800 save percentages, you’d have a hard time finding an Oilers fan who thought the team’s netminding was up to par. As much as both goalies gave up goals at the same rate, it felt like, for a lot of us, that the Kings got more timely saves at moments when the team needed them most. As much as it was miraculous that the Oilers almost came back to push the game to overtime, the game never should have gotten that far in the first place. In fact, you might suggest that scoring five goals on Darcy Kuember should have been enough to win. But even though we might and will argue about the goaltending from this first game, it’s impossible to say that an extra save or two at key times wouldn’t have made all the difference. 

1. How fun was most of the third period? I mean, the Oilers came roaring back from being down 5-2 to tying the game with less than 90 seconds to play. That was, of course, until Philip Danault ruined our dreams with the game-winning goal with 42 seconds left to play, it seemed like we were in line for one of the most fun comebacks I’ve ever seen.

2. Man, did it ever feel good to be back at Greta for the playoff viewing parties. Not only did we have a packed house full of excited Nation Citizens, but we had that place bumpin’ long before puck drop. I’ve said this before, and it bears repeating: Edmonton is so much fun when the Oilers are in the playoffs, and last night’s first playoff viewing party of this run was no exception.

3. I know the lost stings, but at least we can enjoy the fact that Connor McDavid registered four points, right? Anybody? Right?

4. Mattias Janmark scored a goal! On a goalie! With his stick!

5. Even though he hasn’t played since April 3rd against the Sharks, it didn’t take long for Leon Draisaitl to make his mark on the series with a goal and an assist in his first game back. While Draisaitl’s two-point night wasn’t enough to get the Oilers into the win column, it was incredibly nice to see him back on the ice and doing his thing. If the Oilers are going to rebound fr0m Monday’s loss, Draisaitl will need to elevate his game even further, but the good news is that if there’s anyone who can do it then it’s probably him.

6. It’s hard no to be disappointed in the Oilers’ special teams, given how they gave up two goals on five shorthanded situations while being unable to score on either of the two opportunities they had with the man advantage. Yes, I think it’s fair to suggest that the Oilers deserved more than two power play chances, but that’s not how the cookie crumbled this time, and I also don’t think the lack of PP goals is why they lost.

7. I can’t even enjoy that the Oilers won 52.3% of the faceoffs. What kind of world are we even living in anymore?

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