Edmonton Oilers special teams the difference so far in the playoffs

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If there is one area of the series that played the biggest factor in the Los Angeles Kings finding themselves up against the ropes in Game 5 of the Western Conference opening playoff round, it’s been special teams.

Not only have the Edmonton Oilers been on fire with their power play, but their penalty kill was perfect on the way to taking a 3-1 series lead and setting up the opportunity Wednesday to put away the Kings for the third straight post-season.

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Heading into Game 5, the Oilers sat at a 48 per cent success rate on the man-advantage in that span, going 24-for-50 against the Kings over their three playoff meetings.

And over the first four games of this series, the Oilers went eight-for-15 on the power play, while the penalty kill didn’t allow a single goal in 11 opportunities for the Kings.

“I think that’s something that you know can be a difference in these games,” said Mattias Ekholm, who plays on the Oilers top penalty-kill unit and second power play, while boasting a team-leading plus-44 in the regular season. “And usually it is when the playoffs are so tight. If you can get one goal on the power play or if you can get an extra kill on the penalty kill, it’s huge.

“In that regard, I think we’ve done a good job so far, but we know that they’re a dynamic group over there so we’ve got to be ready for the challenge (Wednesday) night again.”

Ready or not, the Kings were preparing to take the charge from the Oilers, full-steam, once again, whether they were a man up, or a man down.

“We’re aware of all the things they do, they just have some really good players that will knuckle up on their own page but come up with something different in the middle of the power play,” said Kings defenceman Drew Doughty. “It’s hard to adjust to those things, we’ve just got to be smarter, be in shooting lanes and then rely on the goalies to make simpler saves. I think a lot of the power-play goals they’ve scored, our goalies have had no chance on them, to be honest.

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“So, we need to take away those passing lanes, those backdoor tap-ins and let the goalie make the save.”

Sound strategy, as far as theory goes. It’s the implementation that’s proven difficult for the Kings, even though their penalty kill was ranked second overall this season at 84.58 per cent.

“We’ve got good players out there that are playing well and in synch and working for pucks back,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “I think that’s the biggest thing for our power play, when we’re working hard to get pucks back and keeping second and third pucks alive and giving our power play a chance and time to be in-zone, eventually we’re going to break a penalty kill down.

“That being said, they’re a good unit over there, they’re a good PK, they have been all year long but we’ve been finding ways to score goals.”

They scored one in Game 4 to win 1-0, three in Game 3 on the way to winning 6-1, one in Game 2’s 5-4 overtime loss and three in a 7-4 win to open the series.

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“I think we’re just connected, I think that’s the key,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. “We’re connected, we’re all on that same page, we’re moving the puck really well, we’re not forcing anything, we’re kind of just taking what’s available and that’s what the power play’s all about.

“You have one extra guy, so something’s going to be available and we’re lucky that we have a bunch of different looks that we can go to and different threats, and I think we’ve just been giving them every single look that we have, really, and we’ve been able to score a bunch and it’s been a big part of the series.”

And one that’s seen the Oilers penalty kill improve from middle of the pack, at 15th overall with a success rate of 79.46 per cent, to the top of the list of playoff teams at 100 per cent, while their power play went from fourth overall, at 26.34 per cent, to first in the playoffs at better than double that rate, at 53.33 per cent.

So, the question is, how do the Oilers get on more power plays over the course of these playoffs?

“You’ve got to have the puck more, have the puck in the O-zone more. And getting through their 1-3-1 (format) will allow you to do that,” Hyman said. “And when you’re threatening more, that kind of puts the other team in a position where they have to take a penalty or it will be a scoring chance.”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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