Kings fall to Oilers in a Game 4 shutout, moving to the brink of elimi…
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The Kings needed a change in fortune Sunday, so they made a change in goal.
And while that changed the way the team played, it didn’t change the momentum of its best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series, with defenseman Evan Bouchard’s second-period power-play goal giving the Edmonton Oilers a 1-0 victory to send the series back to Canada for Game 5 on Wednesday with the Oilers holding a 3-1 edge.
The loss was only the sixth in 20 games for the Kings at home since the All-Star break. Two of those have come in the last four days against the Oilers, and Sunday’s loss could wind up being the last game at Crypto.com Arena this season with the Kings needing to win in Edmonton to avoid elimination.
Read more: Frustrated Kings have no answer for high-scoring Oilers in Game 3 blowout loss
“It’s frustrating. Probably disappointing is a really good word,” interim coach Jim Hiller said after the Kings played their best game of the series, yet had nothing to show for it. “We haven’t played this kind of game. This is the game we’ve got to take with us to Edmonton now. It’s the only choice we have.
“We didn’t get it done even though we had a pretty good crack at it.”
Given the stakes, Hiller really had no choice but to start David Rittich in goal. The Oilers overwhelmed regular goalie Cam Talbot in the first three games of the series, scoring 17 times.
It wasn’t all Talbot’s fault; seven of the goals he gave up came against the Kings’ once-vaunted penalty kill, which ranked second in the NHL during the regular season. Still, Hiller had to do something to change the direction of the series, so he gave Rittich his second career playoff start.
Rittich had previous success against Edmonton, going 5-5-1 with a 2.73…
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