Don’t be fooled by the comeback, Edmonton Oilers weren’t good enough

Perspective is everything, so trying to sort out the utter madness of Game 1 between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings depends almost entirely on what you wanted to see.

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For all of the people watching that logic-defying four-goal third-period comeback through rose-coloured glasses, it was all the evidence they needed to know that Edmonton’s best will be more than enough to hand Los Angeles a fourth-straight first round exit.

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They saw an overwhelming show of force that turned a lost cause into an absolutely chilling message: when Edmonton goes into an offensive frenzy there is nothing Los Angeles can do to hold them off.

All of that is reasonable.

Coming back from 4-0 down late in the second period, and from 5-2 with 15 minutes to play, and from 5-3 with two minutes to play, is just another chapter in a track record of resilience and tenacity that dates back years.

“They never give up,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said of his team.

“They’re resilient, they stay composed. We’ve seen a lot of adversity over the last two playoffs and guys stick with it. They’re a mature group that can handle a lot of adversity. They’ve seen a lot and they don’t get too rattled when things aren’t going well.”

He’s right. As bad as it hurts to see that historic comeback washed away by a fluke goal with 41 seconds left, there is plenty to feel good about heading into a pivotal Game 2. There is every reason to believe the Oilers, now that they’ve found their footing after a traditionally-slow start to a playoff series, are full speed ahead.

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The Kings absolutely need to be worried about what happened in the third period, how they reacted when the Oilers started swarming, because they should expect to see more of it in Game 2.

“I like that we stayed with it even though there were a lot of opportunities to quit,” said Zach Hyman.

“We still lost but I think we can take some positives out of that. We don’t quit. We believe in ourselves and we have some realty talented players who can will us back in a game.”

All of that is true. But there is also another perspective that cannot be ignored here.

There were some fatal flaws in Edmonton’s game that aren’t going to go away just because Connor McDavid went full Connor McDavid and had a goal and three assists in Edmonton’s five-goal outburst.

Los Angeles was the better team for 40 minutes and just lost a little bit of focus. It’s easy to let your foot off the gas when it’s 5-2 and it’s easy to get a little rattled when the other team scores a late one with the goalie pulled to make it 5-4. If they hit the empty net on a couple of those looks nobody is talking about any comeback.

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The Oilers didn’t have a prayer for most of Game 1. They had six shots through the first 30 minutes. They fell behind 4-0. They gave up two power play goals. The Kings were in complete control most of the night. Three wild minutes doesn’t change any of that.

“Not a good third period by us, we sat back too much, we gave them too many opportunities,” said Kings defenceman Drew Doughty.

“But we were the better team for more than half of that game.”

He’s right, too.

The Oilers need to sort some stuff out for Game 2 or this series might get away from them.

Sure, the Oilers can be an offensive powerhouse and they showed it in Game 1. Five goals is a winning formula every night. But six goals against in a playoff game is not acceptable at any level.

Edmonton needs more from goaltender Stuart Skinner. There weren’t any glaringly bad goals, but you can’t give up six in a game and say you played pretty well. The goaltending question heading into the series didn’t go away in Game 1.

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In fairness to Skinner, he was at the mercy of a defence that wasn’t any good, and hasn’t been all year. Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs, Edmonton finished 14th in goals against this year and it showed in Game 1.

While it would have been nice if Skinner mixed in a few key saves to bail his teammates out, every goal against could be traced to the kind of defensive lapse that you can’t have in the playoffs. From missed checks around the net to sluggish back checking, Edmonton was way too loose.

“We could be sharper, obviously, we gave them too many opportunities and they were better than us on special teams,” said Zach Hyman. “As a group we can collectively be a lot sharper.”

Not having Mattias Ekholm and Troy Stecher is looking like a big problem. Going with five defencemen (Josh Brown played 4:54, and 2:33 of it was on the PK) isn’t sustainable over a seven-game series.

And Evan Bouchard needs to cut those giveaways out of his game or the Oilers aren’t getting past the first round. You can’t play a guy 28 minutes if he’s continually picking up primary assists on the other team’s goals.

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So, yes it was a great comeback and yes the Oilers and feisty and resilient bunch, but you can’t ignore the elements that dug that 4-0 hole in the first place.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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