When Adam Keefe signed up to play for the Belfast Giants in 2011, he couldn't have imagined how lifechanging that decision was going to be.

He had been hoping to follow in his older brother Sheldon's footsteps and make it to the National Hockey League (NHL), the ultimate goal of every Canadian who laces up the skates.

Sheldon, four years older than Adam, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1999 and went on to make his NHL debut the following season, but ultimately his playing career was curtailed because of injury.

"It's hard to get to the NHL and I was lucky enough to play at least some exhibition games and play at that level and get a taste of it," said Adam.

"Ultimately, I fell short and was getting a little tired. I was getting a little older and I wanted to see the world and experience something new.

"With our last name being Keefe, it was always a kind of a bucket list thing to visit the homeland.

"Finally, the opportunity came through a Facebook message from the coach of the Giants, Doug Christiansen. It was my first chance and I jumped on it.

"I thought it would just be a one-year deal and I’d probably go back home and do ultimately what I did here, probably in Toledo."

However, the younger Keefe sibling would never make that trip to Toledo.

He won Elite League in his first season with the Giants and captained the side to another title victory in 2014.

By then he was well established as a leader and a fan favourite, a team-mate that you could rely on to drop the gloves and defend his brothers on the ice.

Keefe's transition to coach in 2017 was a seamless move for the Giants. It kept the line of succession in place, despite no prior experience in the role.

What followed has been the most sustained run of success in the club's twenty-five-year history.

Ten trophies - four league championships, five Challenge Cups and a Play-off title - in six full seasons (two were lost due to Covid-19), including a Grand Slam in 2023.

"I just fell in love with the city and winning and the fans here. Obviously, I met my wife and have two girls, so I'm locked into Northern Ireland.

"It's been a great experience for me and a fun one."

Giants' fans echo mutual support for 'the heartbeat' of the Belfast side and they recently showed their appreciation at Adam‘s testimonial when his number 47 shirt was retired, the ultimate honour for a player.

‘I wasn’t going to mess with him much more’

Sheldon made his first trip to Belfast for the event. Since his playing days came to an end, Adam's older brother made his way up through the coaching ranks all the way back to the NHL.

He was head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2019-2024 and has just finished his first season in charge of the New Jersey Devils, leading them to the play-offs.

Sheldon’s first impressions of Belfast have been favourable.

"I love the city, just walking around and being here in the building and getting a feel for the hockey part of it.

"You can see why there's so much passion here for Giants hockey and why Adam fell in love with the city and the team."

Growing up together just outside of Toronto, both Keefe brothers were soon on the hockey pathway.

"I don't know about brotherly rivalry so much," explained Sheldon.

"I mean, there's maybe enough separation with four years that I think I had my way for a lot of the time.

"But it maybe contributed to some of the edge that he ended up developing in playing.

"Certainly, as Adam got older, it was very clear I wasn't going to mess with him much more.

"We were playing hockey, fighting in the basement, competing in the driveway and on the street and he quite often was playing with my friends and having to try to compete."

Adam agreed, "A lot of times it's him and his friends playing street hockey and you're four years younger than those guys.

"You got to work extra hard and sometimes you're going to get knocked down.

"So, if you want to stay in there, you got to learn to fight back and I certainly did that.

"Obviously, he's provided a great example for me and set a very high standard that is difficult to try to keep up with.

"He took care of me through critical years when I was a teenager and set me on a good path.

"Then to follow his career while I was trying to make the NHL, to follow his coaching career and see that he just kind of kept winning right from the time he started.

"Then ultimately to claw his way back to the NHL as a coach becoming one of the youngest coaches in the league and then to coach arguably the biggest hockey club in the world. That's very special."

'His life is all about the hockey'

Adam's success as a coach has come as no surprise to Sheldon. In his words, "life's been all about hockey".

"I think we can both say we would be a little lost without the game.

"If I look at my own transition into coaching, when you maybe first get into it, for me, at least, I didn't know what I was doing at all.

"But you're relying on your competitiveness, your passion for the game, your work ethic, all the things that help you play at a high level, and that gives you a strong foundation.

"I knew Adam was going to commit and be all in on everything that he's doing and while learning and refining any skills that you need as a coach, you're going to have the respect of your players because of everything that you put in to help them and the team.

"He's been an absolute competitor and a guy that will do anything to win for his entire life."

Sheldon has helped Adam out with player recruitment and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Belfast as a playing destination.

"I've followed enough to know the standard of the Elite League and that it just continues to improve and get better and better.

"Seeing the arena and seeing the city and community, it would be a great draw for players to come and get the life experience but still play great hockey.

"As I watch the young kids playing as well, there is lots of excitement about growing the game here too."

Despite enjoying his Testimonial weekend where the Giants once again gave back to the community raising over £109,000 for the Northern Ireland Hospice, the new season is never far from Adam's mind.

"Champions League is right around the corner.

"August is going to come around pretty quick, and nobody cares about last year.”

If you can’t beat them, hire them.

That’s apparently the conclusion the Kings came to in their search for a general manager because they chose Ken Holland, the architect of an Edmonton Oilers team that knocked the Kings out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round in each of the last four seasons.

Holland, 69, will replace Rob Blake, who stepped down last week. The Kings made the playoffs five times in eight seasons under Blake, a former Hall of Fame defenseman, but lost in the first round each time. The team hasn’t won a playoff series since the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, a record 11-year drought for the franchise.

“As we did our due diligence, we identified Ken as the absolute best option and acted decisively to make him our general manager,” Kings president Luc Robitaille said in a statement Wednesday. “His track record of success is undeniable and after our conversations with him, we were clearly convinced he was the right person for us at this time.

Read more:Luc Robitaille expects Jim Hiller to return as Kings' coach

"He has the experience to lead us on the proper path that will help us win now and compete for the Stanley Cup.”

Holland is also a Hall of Famer, having been inducted in 2020 as a builder following three Stanley Cup victories in 22 years as president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. He also won 10 division titles and four Presidents Trophies in Detroit, where the Red Wings won more regular-season and postseason games than any other team during his tenure.

Holland is the fifth-winingest general manager in NHL history with an all-time record of 1,145-644-272 over 26 seasons with the Red Wings and Oilers. He also served on several management staffs for Hockey Canada, winning gold medals in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

He joined the Oilers as president of hockey operations and general manager in 2019, guiding the team to five consecutive playoff berths, two Western Conference finals and last year’s Stanley Cup final, where it lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games. Among his best moves in Edmonton were the free-agent acquisitions of Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Corey Perry and the trade that brought Mattias Ekholm in Edmonton at the 2023 deadline.

Holland left the team when his contract expired last June.

Blake told the Kings last winter he was considering stepping down after this season, giving the team ample time to search for a replacement. According to media reports, Robitaille had narrowed the number of candidates to three last week before meeting with Holland.

Read more:Kings general manager Rob Blake steps down in wake of latest playoff ouster

One of Holland’s first chores as general manager could be deciding the fate of coach Jim Hiller. Hiller’s team tied franchise records for wins (48) and points (105), and set one for home wins (31) in his first full season as head coach. That allowed the Kings to place second in the Pacific Division, its highest finish since 2016, and claim the home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Once there Hiller was outcoached, with Edmonton rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win the best-of-seven series in six games.

Hiller has two more years remaining on his contract, but Robitaille said the new general manager would have the option of bringing in his own coach. Hiller served as an assistant coach for one season in Detroit during Holland’s time with the Red Wings.

Holland was also linked to the New York Islanders’ open general manager job this spring, but the British Columbia native still has a home in the province and wanted to remain on the West Coast.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

A day after parting ways with his general manager, Kings president Luc Robitaille expressed confidence in his head coach, saying he expected Jim Hiller would be back with the team next season. Yet the final decision, he added, would be with the new GM.

“Your general manager, you want to give him the freedom. You don't want to lock up a new person that's coming in,” he said. “But the record of what Jimmy's done this year is really, really good. It would be really hard for any GM to say, ‘Well, this guy shouldn’t come back.’

“I think Jimmy is a great coach and I fully think that this guy's coming back, for sure.”

In his first full season as an NHL coach, Hiller equaled team bests for wins (48) and points (105) and broke the record for home wins (31). But he had made several crucial mistakes in the playoffs that hastened the team’s exit, leading to another record: The Kings have gone a franchise-worst 11 seasons without winning a postseason series.

Blake was general manager for eight of those seasons. Yet those playoff failures weren’t necessarily the trigger that led to his departure. Robitaille devoted most of a 28-minute meeting with the media Tuesday to his former general manager, saying the two have been discussing Blake’s future with the Kings for most of the last six months.

“We met on over the weekend, we took a couple days to go over the season and go over everything, what happened in the playoffs and so forth,” Robitaille said. “At one point we both realized and agreed that it was time to probably bring a new voice, just to get us to that next level.”

Read more:Kings general manager Rob Blake steps down in wake of latest playoff ouster

Robitaille and Blake, both Hall of Fame players, were teammates with the Kings and worked together in the front office for more than a decade. That made the mutual decision for Blake and the team to part ways especially difficult, Robitaille said.

“It's never easy because there's a friendship part,” he said. “He's going to leave a big hole. So it's a hard thing. It’s been a hard weekend.”

Robitaille said the search for a new general manager has already begun and the process will be wide open, with the team considering candidates both inside and outside the organization.

“We don't have a timeline, but obviously we understand the urgency,” Robitaille said. “We know what's coming up.”

Once hired, the new general manager will start the job with a lengthy to-do list. Decisions will have to be made regarding a number of players, starting with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who led the team in minutes played. He is an unrestricted free agent, as are forwards Andrei Kuzmenko, Tanner Jeannot and Trevor Lewis.

Gavrikov, who made $5.875 million this season, is due for a raise and is Kuzmenko, who came over from Philadelphia at the trade deadline and immediately energized the Kings’ power play. Kuzmenko, 29, made $2.75 million in the final year of his contract.

In addition, winger Alex Laferriere is a restricted free agent and forward Adrian Kempe is extension-eligible July 1. Robitaille said the team has already reached out to some of those players and offered to begin negotiations.

The team will have money to spend since the NHL salary cap will rise significantly over the next three years, going from $88 million this season to $113.5 million in 2027-28. Robitaille said the team won’t be afraid to spend that money.

“We're committing to win,” he said. “If you want to win in this league, usually you spend to the cap. But it's not about spending to the cap. It's about being wise, doing the right decision and so forth. We're not just going to throw money, just to throw money. You’ve got to do it right.

“But this team is committed, yeah.”

Robitaille thought the Kings had the the talent to make a deep playoff run this season, especially after they beat Edmonton handily in the first two games of their first-round series. But things took a turn late in Game 3. With the Kings leading late in the third period, Hiller challenged an on-ice call, arguing that the Oilers’ Evander Kane had interfered with goaltender Darcy Kuemper on the score-tying goal. The protest was disallowed, the Oilers were awarded a power play and 10 seconds later they took the lead.

Edmonton would not lose again, eliminating the Kings in the first round for the fourth consecutive season.

Hiller also shortened his bench in the playoffs, overusing a core group of veterans while under-utilizing his bottom forward line and his last two defensemen. As a result, some players were gassed by the end of the series.

Read more:Why can't the Kings beat the Oilers? A familiar pattern emerges in playoff elimination

“This one hurt big-time,” defenseman Drew Doughty, who leads all skaters in average ice time in the playoffs, told reporters during Monday’s exit interviews. “In past years, I’m not going to say that we could maybe win, but this year, truly, I felt like we were going to win this series.

“Everyone bought into what we were supposed to do. This is the best team we’ve had here in a long, long time. Unfortunately, it didn’t get done.”

Hiller took over as interim coach midway through the 2023-24 season and led the Kings to the postseason — as well as a first-round playoff loss to the Oilers. That earned him the job on a permanent basis, with Blake signing him to signing him to a three-year contract with a fourth-year option last May.

“Jim did a tremendous job,” Robitaille said. “The general manager that's coming in is going to have to make his own decisions and so forth but we had a really good year. It's the best year — equal to, I think, ‘74-75 — in Kings’ history.

“But it's sports and you want to win the last game of the season. That's our goal.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Kings and long-embattled general manager Rob Blake have mutually agreed to part ways, the team announced Monday, four days after the team’s fourth consecutive first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

“On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Rob for his dedication to the L.A. Kings and the passion he brought to the role,” president Luc Robitaille said in a statement. “Reaching this understanding wasn’t easy and I appreciate Rob’s partnership in always working toward what is best for the Kings.

“Rob deserves a great deal of credit and respect for elevating us to where we are today. He has been an important part of the Kings and will always be appreciated for what he has meant to this franchise.”

The search for new GM will begin immediately, the Kings said.

Read more:Why can't the Kings beat the Oilers? A familiar pattern emerges in playoff elimination

Blake, 55, was a Hall of Fame defenseman whose 20-year NHL playing career included two stints with the Kings. He spent several of those seasons playing alongside Robitaille, who brought Blake back to the Kings as assistant general manager ahead of the 2013-14 season, which ended with the team winning its second Stanley Cup.

Less than four years later the team fired general manager Dean Lombardi, the architect of its two Stanley Cup champions, and promoted Blake, who quickly went about expanding the team’s player-development program, adding strength and conditioning coaches, a sports dietitian, a psychologist and other specialists, making it one of the most robust in the NHL.

Yet the Kings haven’t won a playoff series since.

This spring’s early exit from the postseason may have been the most painful of Blake’s team as general manager. The team tied franchise records for wins (48) and points (105) while breaking the record for home wins (31), giving it home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But after dominating the first two games at home, the Kings were swept in the next four.

That extended another franchise record, marking the 11th straight season the Kings have failed to win a postseason series.

Unlike Lombardi, who was frequently visible around the team and available to the media, Blake, who was in the final year of his contract, rarely spoke publicly. Additionally, he has long been a target of fans critical of his roster construction and poor trades, such as the one that brought Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Kings in the summer of 2023 in exchange for Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, Gabriel Vilardi and a second-round draft pick. Dubois signed a cap-squeezing eight-year, $68-million contract with Blake, then promptly proved to be a bust, setting career lows with 16 goals and 24 assists.

But Blake fixed that last summer, moving Dubois to the Washington Capitals in exchange for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who had a career season and is one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy. Blake also made an important deal at the March trade deadline, acquiring forward Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers, who also agreed to split the remainder of Kuzmenko’s salary.

The trade immediately improved the Kings’ offense and rescued an impotent power play, helping win 17 of its final 22 games to place second in the Pacific Division, the best finish of Blake’s term as general manager.

But that luck — and Blake’s time with the team — ended in the playoffs.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the summer is starting early for the Kings after a first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

This one is a little different, though, because this was a season that had inspired rare promise before it ended Thursday in the same painful monotony as the last three, with the Oilers going on and the Kings going home.

And that’s particularly disappointing since the Kings tied franchise records for wins (48) and points (105) and set one for home victories (31) this season. Yet it ended with the team breaking another record: it has now gone 11 seasons without winning a playoff series, the longest drought in team history.

A postseason in which the Kings seemed primed for a long run lasted just six games, the last a 6-4 loss to the Oilers at Rogers Place that leaves the organization once again shuffling off into the offseason plagued by doubt, frustration and one big question.

What happened?

“Having the season that we had, the group of guys in this locker room, and know, to come up short again? It sucks,” said captain Anze Kopitar, who scored the team’s final goal of the season. “It's frustrating. This one hurts a little more.”

Hurts a little more because the Kings lost more than a game and a series Thursday. They lost a golden opportunity. Rarely has a postseason set up so favorably for the team.

After acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko at the trade deadline, the Kings went on a tear, winning 17 of their final 22 games, averaging better than 3.7 goals a game. The once-punchless power play became potent; goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper went 15 games allowing two or fewer goals, the second-longest streak in the NHL’s expansion era; and the team sprinted past the Oilers to place second in the Pacific Division, its best finish in nine seasons.

No team finished the season hotter nor healthier than the Kings.

Read more:Kings' season ends in another playoff loss to Oilers: 'This one hurts a little more'

That also meant the Kings, who had the best home record in the NHL in the regular season, would have the home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. And if they finally got past an Edmonton team that limped into the postseason wounded, they would have faced Las Vegas in the second round and a team from a quartet of Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado or St. Louis in the Western Conference final.

The Kings were a combined 8-4-1 against those teams in the regular season. It wasn’t outlandish to think the Kings had a shot at the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s all going according to plan,” one team executive whispered early in the playoffs. And then it wasn’t, with the Kings once again tripping over a familiar hurdle.

“One hundred percent it’s a missed opportunity,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We had great buy-in from our players. We believe we could have won the series. We believe we should have won the series. We didn't.

“So that's the bottom line.”

The Oilers have proven to be the kryptonite to even the most Superman-ish of Kings teams, with Edmonton the place the Kings postseasons go to die.

The teams have met in the playoffs 11 times since 1982 with the Oilers winning nine of those series, including the last four in a row. The last time the Kings beat Edmonton in the playoffs, in 1989, Wayne Gretzky led the team in points, current general manager Luc Robitaille was in his third season as a player while Kopitar, the only player on this year’s team who was even alive then, was still in diapers.

This year’s loss may be the most painful of the lot though.

The Kings had the home-ice advantage, one of the league’s top three goaltenders in Darcy Kuemper and the top power play in the playoffs. They led in every game.

Yet they still lost in six.

The turning point in the series came in late in Game 3. After dominating the first two games at home, the Kings were leading the first game in Edmonton with about seven minutes to play when disaster struck. After the Oilers’ Evander Kane tied the game on a controversial goal, Hiller challenged the call, claiming goalie interference. He lost, Edmonton was awarded a power play, and 10 seconds later the Oilers went in front to stay.

Read more:Kings rally to take lead, only to collapse in third period of Game 3 loss to Oilers

In Game 4 the Kings led with less than 35 seconds to play when Quinton Byfield failed to make a simple clearance out of the Kings’ zone. The Oilers pounced on the mistake to tie the game, then won it in overtime. They never lost again.

“You can pinpoint Game 3, we didn’t close out,” Kopitar said. “Definitely Game 4. It's a completely different series if we go home up 3-1 versus 2-2. But could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.”

The Kings simply wore down, especially on the blue line. That’s why they gave up a playoff-worst 15 goals in the third period and overtime in the series. The Oilers scored just 12 times in the first and second periods combined.

Yet asked in his postgame news conference if he regretted how he used his defensemen, Hiller was curt.

“No,” he said.

And with that he walked away from the podium for the final time this season.

Then there’s the offense. Kopitar and Adrian Kempe combined for 19 points in the series, but had just one goal and two assists combined after Kane’s tying goal in Game 3.

“The chances were there. We just couldn’t convert,” Kopitar said. “Credit to their goalie, he made some good stops. Credit to their team. The last couple of games they played a solid checking game and made it harder on us to generate stuff.

“We fought and came up short.”

That’s beginning to sound redundant.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

For the fourth time in as many years, the Kings’ season came to an end with a first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The coup de grace came Thursday in a 6-4 Oilers’ win at a raucous Rogers Place, which has become a house of horrors for the Kings.

Edmonton got goals from (take a deep breath) Adam Henrique, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse, Trent Frederic and Connor Brown. For the Kings, Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Anze Kopitar scored.

The Kings haven’t beaten the Oilers in the postseason since 1989, but this year’s loss may be the most painful of the nine playoff series they’ve dropped to Edmonton. The Kings tied franchise bests for wins (48) and points (105) this season and won a team-record 31 times at home during the regular season, finishing ahead of the Oilers in the Pacific Division standings for the first time in seven years.

They seemed primed for a long run in the postseason but once again, they couldn’t get by Edmonton. They Kings went out like warriors though, carried out on their shields after a wild end-to-end final game that saw the teams combine for at least 10 goals for the third time in the series. There were 51 scores overall, an average of 8.5 a game.

So much for conservative playoff hockey.

With their backs against the wall the Kings set the frenetic pace early, with Byfield scoring 79 seconds into the game, one of four goals in a manic and exhausting first 5 minutes and 55 seconds. Only one potential Stanley Cup elimination game in the last 60 years has seen the first four goals score more quickly.

Read more:Edmonton Oilers rally to win Game 5, put Kings on the brink of elimination again

Byfield’s goal, his third of the series, came on a breakaway that saw him beat Leon Draisaitl up the slot, deke Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard to his left, then slip the puck behind him and into the net. It was the second-fastest goal to begin an elimination game in franchise history, trailing only Wayne Gretzky’s score in the first minute of Game 7 versus Edmonton in 1989.

That should have been a good omen since that was the last time the Kings beat the Oilers in the deciding game of a playoff series. It wouldn’t happen again Thursday.

Edmonton evened things on Henrique’s deflection in traffic less than two minutes later but Clarke needed just 33 seconds to put the Kings back in front on a snap shot from inside the right circle. That lead was short-lived, too, with Nugent-Hopkins equaling things for the Oilers on a wrister from the edge of the left circle less than six minutes into the period.

Hyman then put the Oilers in front for the first time on a play that began innocently enough, with Nugent-Hopkins sending the puck off the boards on a faceoff deep in the Kings end. The carom found Darnell Nurse at the point and he sent a one-timer on goal that Kings’ goalie Darcy Kuemper had a bead on before Hyman got his stick up, redirecting the puck into the back into the back of the net. That gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead with more than seven minutes still left in the first period.

Read more:How Koreatown seniors have become Kings' playoff good luck charm with harmonica national anthem

Nurse, given plenty of space in the high slot, doubled the advantage on a wrist shot that got just under the crossbar late in the second period; Frederic made it 5-2 just 96 seconds later on a tip-in from the crease at the end of an Oilers’ breakaway.

But still the Kings would not quit, with Spence scoring two minutes before the second intermission to keep the score close. The Kings pulled Kuemper for an extra attacker with 4:18 left and were rewarded when Kopitar scored with 53.3 seconds to play, but the Kings would get no closer thanks to Brown's empty-net goal, Edmonton’s fourth of the series, in the final two seconds. That left the Kings to begin focusing on next season while the Oilers move on to play Las Vegas in the second round of the playoffs.

Neither the Kings nor the Oilers made things easy for Kuemper, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He faced 121 shots in the final three games and 207 in the series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark pushed the Kings to the brink of playoff elimination, scoring off a rebound early in the third period to give the Oilers a 3-1 win in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff at Crypto.com Arena. The Oilers, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, can end the Kings’ season for a fourth straight season with another victory.

“It's hard right now. Obviously everybody's frustrated,” captain Anze Kopitar said. “But we’ve got to put it behind us. We’ve got to go win a game on the road, and that's what we're going to focus on.”

Janmark’s goal marked the fourth time in five games the Kings have given up a game-tying or go-ahead score in the final 13 minutes of regulation. It was also the third consecutive come-from-behind win for the Oilers, the first time they’ve done that in the franchise’s playoff history.

Evander Kane had Edmonton’s first goal while the lone Kings’ score came from Andrei Kuzmenko, both in the second period. The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal in final minute.

The final score wasn’t a true reflection of the game, which the Oilers dominated.

“They were stronger,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller, whose teams lost in regulation for just the seventh time in 44 home games this season, including the playoffs. “They beat us in every area except for the specialty teams. They were just better in every way ... we can't look to one part of our game and think that was acceptable.”

Well, except for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was brilliant, and deserved a far better fate after turning back 43 shots. He’s faced 93 in the last two games but the Kings have scored just four times behind him.

“Darcy was stellar tonight, as he's been the whole season,” Kopitar said. “He gave us a chance.”

The Oilers were stronger during the opening 20 minutes during which they took the first 11 shots, building a 19-4 advantage for the period. But Kuemper, who on Monday was named one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, proved why, leaving Edmonton with nothing to show for all that effort.

That allowed Kuzmenko to put the Kings in front 3:33 into the second period. The winger parked himself in front of the net and was shielding Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard when he reached out to redirect a pass from Kopitar near the blue line. The goal, the Kings’ eighth power-play score of the series, came eight seconds after Darnell Nurse went off for tripping. It also marked the fourth time in five games that the Kings scored first.

Kopitar's assist was his seventh in five games while Adrian Kempe, who also assisted on the goal, has six.

However the lead lasted less than three minutes before Kane tied it on a wrist shot from the high slot. That goal came seven seconds after the Kings killed off a tripping penalty to Drew Doughty.

Read more:Kings fall to Oilers in a Game 4 shutout, moving to the brink of elimination

Edmonton then went in front to stay 7:12 into the final period when Janmark scored off the rebound of a shot by former King Viktor Arvidsson that Kuemper had pushed out to his stick side, not knowing that Janmark was perched just inside the circle.

Now the Kings fly to Edmonton on Wednesday knowing that a season in which they tied franchise regular-season records for wins (48) and points (105) may not have more than 60 minutes left. A win, though, would bring them back home for a winner-take-all seventh game on home ice, where the Kings had the best regular-season record in the NHL.

“We've proven we're a pretty good hockey team,” Hiller said. “So you're a pretty good hockey team, go there and take it back. Because they just took it away from us.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

What started as a best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff is now a best-of-three series after the Edmonton Oilers rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit to beat the Kings 4-3 in overtime Sunday, evening the series at two wins apiece.

The winning goal came from Leon Draisaitl, who beat Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper on the power play with 1:42 left in the extra period. Kuemper deserved a better fate on a night he stopped 44 shots.

The teams will meet again Tuesday for Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena, where the Kings have won a league-leading 33 times, including the playoffs. Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday in Edmonton. Game 7, if needed, would be Saturday in Los Angeles.

“They feed off the crowd. At the end, they had more energy, and obviously they came back,” Kings center Phillip Danault said, pointing to the raucous sold-out crowd at Rogers Place. “Obviously it takes a lot of energy. We have to find a way to seal the deal. You have to make those plays when it counts.”

None of that appeared necessary after the Kings, who won the first two games, took a 3-1 lead into the final 13 minutes of regulation. They were 29 seconds away from winning when Evan Bouchard blasted a slap shot by Kuemper from just inside the blue line, capping a wild third-period rally. It was Bouchard’s second goal of the period and his fourth of the playoffs.

It was also the third goal the Oilers have scored after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker, and it marked the third time in four games the Kings have blown a lead in the final 13 minutes.

Read more:Kings must overcome power of rabid Edmonton Oilers fans after faltering in Game 3

The Oilers have outscored the Kings 12-5 in the third period and overtime in the series.

Afterward, Jim Hiller was asked about the Kings' play in the third period of the series, and he was not pleased.

“Next question, please,” he answered.

“They’ve got a pretty good team,” he said. “They'll come at you. ... It ebbs and flows.”

The Kings’ goals came from Trevor Moore, Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala. Danault had two assists. Corey Perry had the other Oilers goal; Draisaitl assisted on Edmonton's first three goals.

The Kings haven’t beaten Edmonton in a postseason series since 1989 — and haven’t eliminated anyone in the playoffs since 2014, when they won their second Stanley Cup.

The Kings set the tone early, peppering Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard with 10 shots in the first 10 minutes before Moore beat him from the center of the right circle on the 11th shot. The goal, 10:35 into the first period, marked the third time in four games the Kings had scored first.

Foegele, a former Oiler, doubled the lead 91 seconds into the second, spinning into the crease to collect a pass from Danault, then shoving the puck under Pickard.

Read more:Kings rally to take lead, only to collapse in third period of Game 3 loss to Oilers

The Oilers’ pulled that goal back on a power play less than three minutes later when Perry took three whacks at the puck before getting it by Kuemper. Fiala restored the two-goal lead later in the period, reaching up to bat down a high pass from Alex Laferriere, then deflecting the puck into the net off the Pickard's stick side.

But the Oilers wouldn’t quit, cutting the deficit with 12:09 to play on the first of Bouchard’s two goals. That set the stage for a desperate push from the Oilers, who put 15 shots on net in the final period, the last Bouchard’s tying goal that sent the game to overtime.

Draisaitl, who led the NHL in goals this season, ended it 44 seconds after Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was called for tripping. It was Draisaitl’s first overtime playoff goal.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The streets of Edmonton were awash in blue and orange, the colors of the city’s hockey team, on Friday.

From the Southgate Centre, on the city’s southern edge, to the downtown financial district, it seemed as if everyone, from students and shopkeepers to cabbies and the cable guy, were wearing Oiler sweaters. And with reason: Their team, a Stanley Cup finalist a season ago, was fighting for its playoff life against a Kings team it had dispatched with ease each of the last three playoffs.

The Kings won the first two games in the best-of-seven series so Edmonton desperately needed a victory at home to get back in the series. It got that in uncommon fashion, scoring four unanswered goals in the final seven minutes of a 7-4 win.

But the Oilers didn’t do it alone. The atmosphere, said winger Evander Kane, who scored the goal that started the final rally, played a big part.

“It was nice to get in front of our own fans,” he said. “You come back to Edmonton, there’s some buzz in the city. There’s some buzz in the morning. We kind of got re-energized a little bit.”

The Kings still lead the first-round series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Edmonton. Both teams will then return to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday. But a fifth game was looking unlikely until a bizarre sequence that began with 6:42 to play erased a 4-3 Kings lead and changed the complexion of the series.

Read more:Kings rally to take lead, only to collapse in third period of Game 3 loss to Oilers

It started with Kane scoring on a scramble in front of the Kings’ net to tie the score, although the goal took some time to sort out since it appeared Kane, playing for just the second time this season, kicked the puck under Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.

After a lengthy video review determined Kane used his stick to score, the Kings called a timeout and rather than playing it safe, they challenged the goal, claiming Kane had interfered with Kuemper. When they lost that challenge, Edmonton was awarded a two-minute power play and needed only 10 seconds of it with Evan Bouchard scoring what proved to be the game-winner on a tipin from the crease.

The Oilers, blanked on the power play in the first two games, had two goals, both by Bouchard, with the man advantage Friday. The Kings also had two power-play goals and are now seven for 12 in the series with the man advantage while the teams have combined for 30 goals overall in the three games.

So much for the conservative nature of playoff hockey. And this series might have turned on Jim Hiller’s challenge, which was the furthest thing from playing it safe.

“We take a timeout. We understand the situation. We don’t want to give them a power play but clearly we felt that, we felt that, that challenge was in our favor. The league disagreed,” the Kings' coach said. “The next step would have been for us to kill a penalty and that didn’t happen either. It’s a tough stretch for us, there’s no question. That’s hockey. That’s playoff hockey, especially.”

Connor McDavid and Connor Brown each scored into an empty net in the final 1:40 to account for the final score. It was the second time in three games that Edmonton scored four times in the final period to erase a deficit, although the Kings came back to win the first time.

“I'm pretty happy that we're playing the game well enough that we're leading them in the third period,” Hiller said. “So I'll take that. That's the way I look at that.”

Another way to look at that is the Kings have collapsed twice, failing to close out games they led handily. Friday they erased a two-goal deficit and twice broke ties to take the lead twice, only to give it all back.

“Yeah, it sucks,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “But we're still in a good place. You get to come back in two nights and get another stab at it, which is the best part.”

Be careful what you wish for because the next stab at it will also be on the Oilers’ ice, in one of the loudest buildings in the NHL.

Hockey in Edmonton is special, more a religion than a game. And any night the Oilers play in the postseason is church night.

Rogers Place was again a raucous cacophony of noise Friday while outside thousands of people who couldn’t get a seat in the temple — some carrying signs that read “We Believe” — began lining up more than three hours before gametime for a spot in the “Moss Pit,” an open-air fan zone named after Joey Moss, a longtime club employee.

Their prayers were answered with a comeback that appeared to benefit from a little divine intervention. It’s more likely the Oilers simply fed off the size and fervor of the crowd, which inspired the home team while intimidating the visitors.

“The crowd was emotional,” Hiller said. “The crowd was great. The energy, we expected. I would have wished that we did a better job of just weathering that.”

Anderson agreed.

“We knew they were going to come out hard. It's their home rink,” he said.

The Oilers finished strong as well, climbing back into a series that appeared all but over until the final seven minutes Friday.

Afterward Edmonton’s ICE District, a town square centered around the hockey arena, continued buzzing until well after midnight. A pickup truck with a faux oil derrick flanked by two large Oilers flags, drove laps around the area while fans in the de rigueur orange and blue team sweaters milled about, too excited to leave but too exhausted to do much more than blow on horns and block the sidewalks.

“What a game,” one young man repeated aloud to no one in particular.

The Oilers will play again on Sunday, the traditional Christian Sabbath, and the faithful will once again file into Rogers Place to offer hosannas at decibel levels loud enough to make your ears bleed. If their prayers are answered, the series will return to L.A. even at two games apiece.

If not, Friday’s game might prove to be a false miracle, unworthy of either praise or condemnation.

“It feels good right now to get that win,” said Leon Draisaitl, who had two assists, including the pass that set up Bouchard’s game-winner. “But it’s not going to do much if we don’t follow it up, right? We’ve got to follow it and take this back to L.A. 2-2.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Edmonton Oilers played like they couldn’t afford to lose Friday. And they didn’t, scoring two goals 10 seconds apart late in the third period to beat the Kings 7-4 in a wild first-round playoff game that saw both teams overcome deficits.

The Kings still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Edmonton. But the Oilers’ win means the series will return to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Tuesday.

Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown each had two goals for Edmonton, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Evander Kane also scored.

Read more:Why Andrei Kuzmenko has become a 'difference-maker' for the Kings vs. the Oilers

McDavid’s goal and Brown’s second goal were empty-netters after Bouchard scored on a power play to put Edmonton ahead with 6:32 remaining. Edmonton scored four unanswered goals in the final seven minutes.

The Kings’ goals came from Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore, with two of those scores coming on the power play.

But the game turned on a decision by Kings coach Jim Hiller to challenge Kane’s tying goal in the third. The unsuccessful challenge gave the Oilers a power play, leading to Bouchard scoring what proved to be the winning goal.

“We understand the situation,” Hiller said. “But clearly we felt that that challenge was in our favor. The next step would have been for us to kill a penalty. That didn't happen either.

“So it's a tough stretch for us, no question. That's hockey. That's playoff hockey.”

The Oilers, desperate to get back in the series, benched goalie Stuart Skinner, who allowed 11 goals in the first two games, in favor of Calvin Pickard. But Pickard fared little better, giving up four goals on 28 shots.

Still, Edmonton played with urgency, taking its first lead of the series less than three minutes in when an unguarded Nugent-Hopkins took a Zach Hyman pass directly in front of the net and pushed the puck under Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.

Bouchard doubled the lead six minutes later, firing a slap shot past Kuemper from the top of the circles three seconds after the Kings’ Andrei Kuzmenko went off for interference. It was Edmonton’s first power-play goal in six tries in the series.

The Kings responded with three unanswered goals.

Kempe started the rally late in the first period, deflecting a left-handed shot off Pickard from the center of the right circle with the teams skating four on four. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs, matching Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy for the NHL lead.

More importantly, it took momentum away from the Oilers, allowing Fiala to even things early in the second period with a power-play goal from nearly the same spot from where Kempe scored. Doughty’s power-play goal less than five minutes before the second intermission then put the Kings in front for the first time.

The Kings were 0 for 12 with the man advantage in last season’s series loss to Edmonton, their third consecutive playoff series loss to the Oilers. This year, against the same team, the Kings have converted seven of 12 power-play opportunities.

After Brown pulled Edmonton even again, Moore scored nine seconds later when he drove to the net and poked the puck past Pickard.

Things got really wild in the third period, with the Oilers scoring four goals in less than seven minutes. Edmonton also scored four goals in the third period of Game 1.

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Kane tied the score again, scoring off a mad scramble in front of the net, then waiting several long minutes for a replay review to confirm he pushed the puck in with his stick, not his skate.

Hiller challenged the goal, arguing there was goaltender interference.

“We got a good look at it. We had plenty of time,” he said. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It cost us big time.”

Bouchard needed just 10 seconds to make the Kings pay, scoring Edmonton’s second power-play goal on a tip-in from Kuemper’s left. Kuemper made 29 saves.

“It sucks,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “But again, I look at it, we're still in a good place. You get to come back in two nights and get another stab at it, which is the best part.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.