EDMONTON — Whatever it is, however it happens, it always seems to happen this way.
When you lead the whole game, when you’re on your toes more than your heels, when your game is assertive, in the end you get “The Bounce.”
When you trail — “chase the game” as hockey people love to say — the chase seldom lands you the quarry.
We’ll never be sure whether Quinton Byfield made a super-skilled play to deflect that puck right onto Anze Kopitar’s stick in overtime, or if a puck that was destined for an icing call just banked off the kid and fluked its way on to the clutch captain’s blade for a game-winning breakaway goal.
And it doesn’t matter, really.
We know Byfield is a fantastic looking young player, and his superior play in Game 2 earned him “The Bounce” — whether planned or pure luck.
The Los Angeles Kings won their fourth consecutive overtime game over the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-4 score, a game the Kings deserved to win. They never trailed in Game 2, and now head home with a level series and a fresh breath of life that would have been scant, had they lost this one.
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“Since the third period of Game 1, just some really tough bounces are happening,” observed Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner. “That’s not saying that it leaked into tonight, it’s just that they’re getting some good puck luck right now. We’ve also had our fair share of puck luck as well.
“That’s how hockey works sometimes. Luck wasn’t on my side tonight.”
If you’re thinking that the Oilers could have used one more save from Skinner on this night, that is fair.
Whether it was a Kevin Fiala shot from the hashmarks that found its way through four legs and past Skinner, a Drew Doughty breakaway where Doughty lost control of the puck and it slid home five-hole, or the marvellous Adrian Kempe rifling one home and then juggling another past Skinner with some unbelievable skill, Skinner had to find another save somewhere.
“Hockey players make great plays,” said Skinner. “Kempe got a stick on (the 2-0 goal), that’s great hand-eye coordination by him. You know, that’s a good goal. You’ve just got to move on and move forward. Sometimes those types of things happen.”
Just an NHL sophomore, Skinner can look down on his game from 30,000 feet with the eyes of a veteran. Time will tell if he ever becomes a great goalie, but we can say already, he is elite between the ears — a patch of space that is most difficult to conquer in this position.
“Games like this where you feel like the universe is against you, the puck’s just not working well for you, it’s part of life. Part of playoffs too — I hope that I get to feel this again at some point, if we get on a stretch here.
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“The takeaway for tonight is just kind of, wash it out. I know who I am. I know my game and I’m going to get back to work.”
When the Edmonton Oilers play very well, they very seldom lose. When they play only OK, they can still squeeze out their share of wins, and this one ended up in overtime after the Kings blew leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3.
In the end, Edmonton did some good things — but L.A. did more.
The Oilers needed a hero, either in goal or in OT, and they had neither in Game 2.
“I still liked the way we played,” said big Mattias Ekholm. “We still had the puck a lot and were managing that in a good way. Obviously, we would like to keep (the goals against) a little bit less, but I like our game.
“(Kopitar’s winner) was a fluky bounce and it ended up right on his stick. You saw some of the goals that they scored last game (two off of Oilers boots), and you saw some goals that they scored tonight. Not to take anything away, but they seem to be fluky goals somehow.”
Early in a series — and as the Oilers are hoping, a lengthy playoff run — the positive takeaway is the play of young Dylan Holloway, who sniped a pair of goals Wednesday. Holloway has emerged as a bonafide NHL performer since his latest — and likely final — call-up from AHL Bakersfield.
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He’s skating like a player who knows he belongs, handling the puck with the confidence of an NHL regular.
“You can tell the difference in just the time I’ve been here,” Ekholm said. “In the beginning I thought he was thinking maybe a little too much. Now he is trusting his instincts. He has a heck of a shot and he showed that twice tonight.”
A big, lightning fast left-winger who emerges in April is a Godsend for any team. And a team with cap issues going forward, Holloway is reshaping the Oilers’ summer contract plans, knowing now that he’ll be an 82-game regular next season — based on the fact he has four goals in his past five NHL games.
“Feeling confident, playing with Janne (Mattias Janmark) and Sammy (Carrick), two great players, made nice plays. Credit to them,” Holloway said. “Sammy plays with a lot of grit and Janne is so smart. (I’m) trying to get puck in deep and bang bodies.”
It was just the third career playoff game for Holloway. Or the second, really, when you consider he played 3:27 of a game against Colorado in the Western Conference Final two years ago.
In the end, the Oilers will feel this morning exactly how the Kings felt after Game 1. They lost a game they didn’t give themselves a good enough chance to win, and know exactly where the answers lie:
In the mirror.
“I think there’s a lot to clean up,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “They are a good team, they’re going to get their chances, but we were giving them some opportunities we didn’t need to.”
