EDMONTON, Alberta _ The Los Angeles Kings had filled their equipment bags and emptied their locker room but Rogers Place still echoed with cheers of fans whose patience had been rewarded when the Edmonton Oilers make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The Kings likely will not join the Oilers in the postseason party, their already slim odds shrinking to microscopic size after a 2-1 loss.
"This was a big one for us to kind of stay with it," left wing Tanner Pearson said Tuesday in the somber and nearly deserted visitors' locker room. "It's kind of a gambling situation right now with us."
The Kings have seven games left and are 11 points behind the St. Louis Blues, who hold the second Western Conference wild card spot. "Seven times two is 14, so we're going to fight," center Jeff Carter said, and while his mathematical skills are good there's not much to support his optimism.
This was the 39th game this season in which the Kings scored two goals or fewer, and the 25th time in which they scored one goal or none. That they have trouble scoring is nothing new. That they can't squeeze more offense from Marian Gaborik_who was a healthy scratch_or Anze Kopitar or Tyler Toffoli is old and stale.
"Teams are tightening up defensively and we're just falling that one behind and not being able to get back in it," Pearson said.
That was the case Tuesday against the young, swift Oilers, who have finally created the right balance of size, skill, and reliable goaltending.
The Oilers had an apparent goal disallowed in the first minute of the game on a valid goaltender interference call but kept pushing and succeeded at 14:44 of the first period. Connor McDavid increased his league-leading point total to 89 when his attempted pass to Patrick Maroon on a two-on-one break deflected off Kings defenseman Derek Forbort and upward, beyond the reach of goaltender Jonathan Quick.
The Kings pulled even at 17:11, on Jarome Iginla's fourth goal in 12 games since he was acquired from Colorado. He began the play by hitting Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom and then went to the slot, where he lifted a shot past Cam Talbot.
But when defenseman Eric Gryba unleashed a long shot that deflected on its way to the net and eluded Quick at 7:03 of the second period, the Kings had no answer. They got a break when another apparent Oiler goal was waved off_this time because the officials said they had blown the whistle with a delayed penalty pending_but even that wasn't enough. Their best scoring opportunity was a shorthanded shot by Carter, which was stopped by Talbot's blocker. "I thought I had some room low blocker. I think I just caught the top of his pad," Carter said.
They mustered a frantic push in the final minute, with Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin and Jonny Brodzinski forcing Talbot to make saves, but they couldn't get that second goal, an all-too familiar problem. "It's kind of been the theme around here," Carter said.
Pearson agreed. "If we played the way we did the last 10 minutes you give yourself a good chance to win a hockey game," he said.
But they didn't win and they're now hanging on by a thread. "At the start of the year, I think if you looked at our roster, not a whole lot of people would have predicted that we'd be in the position we are right now," Kopitar said.
Earlier in the day, he told the Los Angeles Times the responsibility of becoming the team's captain_a role that carries great significance in hockey _ has been "a new challenge," though he said it hadn't hurt his game. The numbers suggest otherwise. In the first year of his eight-year, $80-million contract Kopitar has 11 goals and 46 points in 69 games and is minus 12 defensively.
"I wouldn't say a burden. It was definitely a change. It's definitely some adjustments that I needed to make," he said. "I'm still learning. I don't know if you can learn that overnight. It's been, not a burden, but a new challenge that I think I'm in the process of getting the handle of it and I'll get there."
Maybe he will get completely comfortable in the role next season. Looking toward next season is about to become their next theme.
