The Edmonton Oilers will look to revive their playoff hopes when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday evening.
The Oilers were surging at the end of March and early April, but hit a dead end with two straight losses to the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. The two defeats left the team in 11th in the West and four points behind the final playoff seed with 10 games to go. In their latest defeat against the Kings, the Oilers gave up two crucial powerplay goals against.
"Penalties, again, a bit of a problem. Shorthanded situations, giving L.A. that. They just scored the one five-on-five goal but had numerous opportunities," Oilers Head Coach Ralph Krueger stated about why his team lost. "It was our penalty kill that got beat today. We're disappointed, of course. They pushed hard, they battled hard. We couldn't create the offence we would have liked to and never really found our rhythm here today."
He added that "In front of both nets [the Kings are] one of the best teams in the league. That's why they're the Stanley Cup Champions and I think it's really a measuring stick that we're looking at to try and compete even harder against teams like this. There were phases where we had a semblance of the game going that we wanted to see but we couldn't sustain it."
Forward Sam Gagner added, "Discipline is a huge factor. LA is a good team. They are a hard team to beat when you are undisciplined and taking penalties. For us it's about finding ways to raise our level. These are important games. These are games you want to be a part of down the stretch, fighting for your playoff lives. These games are more intense and we have to raise our level pretty quick.
The Ducks are coming off a huge shootout win over these same LA Kings despite blowing a 3-2 lead in the third period.
This is the first of three matches between these clubs; they meet again on April 21 and 22 in Edmonton in a strange schedule situation.
Prediction: Anaheim wins 3-1.
Start Time: 10 PM EST
TV: SNET-EDM
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