LOS ANGELES — Zach Hyman spoke softly, with confidence.
“Just got to keep doing the right things over and over again, and eventually it’ll work out.”
Darnell Nurse smiled, perhaps sensing the doubt dripping off of the reporters’ questions.
“We just continue to play the same way we’re playing. The results will come.”
And their head coach Jay Woodcroft, pulled out this old chestnut:
“For us, it’s just keep hammering away at the rock. We know that it will split eventually.”
The Edmonton Oilers are trailing the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in a series in which the Kings have led for a grand total of eight minutes and 15 seconds. Edmonton is ahead in shots share (57 per cent), Corsi (62 per cent), scoring chances (56 per cent) and high danger scoring chances (57 per cent), per Natural Stat Trick.
The Oilers have had 10 expected goals at even strength, but put only five of those shots behind goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
All of that will win you the Corsi Cup — and a tee time when Round 2 begins — though for now, the Oilers are still in “this-dam-is-going-to-break” mode.
“In the end, we think if we continue to stack good things on top of good things over the long haul — which is what we’re prepared for — the right team comes out on top,” Woodcroft said. “If you look at the scoring chances, it’s not close. Can we bear down in certain situations? Yeah.”
Remember the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when Winnipeg won three overtime games and swept the Oilers? That year, the time spent in the lead through three games was 50:48 for Edmonton to the Jets’ 10:46 — and Winnipeg won every game.
The Jets got three overtime goals, while Edmonton’s stable of scorers delivered none.
This series is eerily similar, with Korpisalo playing the role of Connor Hellebuyck in goal.
Whether you’re about the eye test or the underling numbers, there is no question who is in control of the five-on-five minutes in this series. But when four of your Top-6 forwards — Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kailer Yamamoto and Hyman — go three games without an even-strength point, it is clear that any even-strength advantage is not being capitalized on.
“It’s three games,” said Hyman, who has scarcely been seen yet in this series. “In hockey, you can go three games without scoring a goal. I think you’ve got to keep going, keep doing the right things and eventually they’re going to go in.
“You get enough guys going to the net, we’ll got a greasy one eventually.”
It’s easy to stick with the plan in an 82-game regular season, but not so much in a playoff series where the same opponent is thwarting you the same way every night.
I’m betting we see McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a line together in Game 4, likely with Hyman, the go-to Plan B for Oilers coaches dating all the way back to the Todd McLellan days.
And, of course, the Kings won’t change a thing. Why would they?
“This time of year, it’s a test to see who can continue to play their game the way that they want, play it for longer, and hope that that gets you over the hump,” Nurse said. “We’re not frustrated. We just continue to play the same way we’re playing. The results will come.”
“We’ve been there before, right? We’ve been in a series like this,” said Hyman, referencing their seven-game win over the Kings a year ago. “I think it’s encouraging. You’re playing well, you want to continue to play well.
“It’s another thing if we weren’t playing well and you’re down in the series. But you’re playing well, you’re doing the right things and different moments in the game, you know, haven’t gone our way. But we’re excited about the opportunity that we have tomorrow.”
Outwardly, Woodcroft is leaning on his team’s territorial advantage, confident in his club’s ability to grow expected goals into actual ones. Win Game 4 and it’s a best-of-three series, with two of the games set for Rogers Place in Edmonton.
“Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he said. “We feel prepared, we’re doing numerous good things that we want to build on, and then there’s other parts of our game that have to get tightened up a little bit.
“But we’re right there. We’ve lost two games in overtime. Short-handed in both overtimes.”
The runway, however, is shortening. Korpisalo is comfortable and looking very much like a goalie in front of whom a series can be won.
The time has come for the real Oilers to show up.
For Nugent-Hopkins to create. For Hyman to score greasy goals. For Yamamoto to finish something.
For McDavid to put this team on his back, the way he did in Game 6 a year ago.
There are too many weapons here to merely rely on power plays to score your goals.
It’s Game 4. Whoever wins this game, wins the series.
