"Real impressive": McDavid shouts out Oilers' perfect PK after series win
The Edmonton Oilers are headed to the second round after dispatching the LA Kings in five games.
After such a great moment, you’d think the focus would be on how the team feels heading into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive season, but there was another thing on their mind — the penalty kill.
Edmonton absolutely dominated the special teams battle with LA, scoring nine power-play goals on just 19 chances. More impressive than that, somehow, was the team’s play while down a man.
The Oilers killed off all 12 penalties they took in the entire series, leaving the Kings’ power play stunned.
“That’s real impressive,” captain Connor McDavid told reporters after the game. “The job that those guys did killing off big ones along the way… I thought everyone on the kill was moving their feet and doing their job and sacrificing their bodies.”
"That’s a big step for our group, a lot of good signs. But it’s still only one series."
Connor McDavid on closing out Round 1 in five games. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/38LtSXPkxV
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 2, 2024
Stuart Skinner might have the best view in the house of the Oilers’ penalty kill strategy. Though he was sure not to give away the secret to its success against the Kings, he handed it to his teammates for making his life much easier while down a man.
“We were just so connected,” Skinner told media after clinching the series. “We had a lot of good chemistry going on in this series where we were just kind of flowing in the right spots and the right times.”
Another player who knows a thing or two about Edmonton’s special teams is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who plays as both a regular on the power play AND the penalty kill. To be involved with the two units that became critical to this team’s success in this series was something special for the longest-tenured Oilers player on the roster.
“It’s fun to be on both sides of it for sure,” Nugent-Hopkins told the media. “Special teams was huge for us this series and we just can’t wait to keep building on it.”
The Oilers will now turn their attention toward the winner of the Nashville Predators-Vancouver Canucks series. The Canucks currently hold a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 scheduled for Friday night.
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