The L.A. Kings are running out of time to prove that this year is different

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It’s a different year, they’ve claimed. A different team, they’ve insisted. A different result they’ve long built and planned for.

If it is truly different for the Los Angeles Kings than the previous three springs, where the Edmonton Oilers bounced them out of the playoffs, then they must prove it Thursday night in Game 6, where the Oilers and a raucous Rogers Place crowd will be awaiting them.

There is no other objective left for the Kings than to bring the series back to Los Angeles and play in their first Game 7 since the first time these teams clashed in this four-year run that has wound up one-sided. If it’s anything like their ill-timed, awful Game 5, they might as well save themselves an airplane ride.

But there’s no white flag being flown. Too much pride, at least that you can imagine. The question is whether the Kings have enough left in them to thwart an Oilers team that’s gotten stronger as the series progressed and heads into Game 6 full of confidence following a dominant, lopsided road performance Tuesday.

“They have the momentum,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said Wednesday before they left for Edmonton. “It’s our job to go up there and take it back. Simple as that.”

Can they? The first half of the series saw the Kings hold serve at home with a resilient finish in Game 1 after blowing a late lead and a terrific, well-played Game 2. But the two come-from-ahead losses in Edmonton reflect blown golden opportunities to have the Oilers on the brink of elimination — something they haven’t done since 2022 when they had a 3-2 series lead going into Game 6.

This franchise was supposed to have come a long way from that gritty group that played above their heads and led the Kings to think a new era of prosperity was ahead after a three-year rebuilding effort. Instead, after a 3-1 Game 5 thumping that wasn’t as nearly as the score might seem, they’re in danger of running in place.

“I don’t think you have to rally the troops,” Hiller said. “You’re (at the) end of April. When you’re playing until the end of April, you’ve got troops that can rally themselves, that believe in themselves, or else you’d be done already. We just need to play better. We have to understand what we didn’t do well, maybe why we didn’t do that well, and then just get back after it. Just get back after it.”

The Kings addressed their shortcomings last offseason by importing Warren Foegele — who was part of the three Edmonton teams that ended their seasons — and Joel Edmundson to give them a harder edge up front and within the defense corps. Tanner Jeannot was acquired by trade. Darcy Kuemper was a take-back bet to offload Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Those moves worked to varying extents over a regular season where they tied franchise marks of 48 victories and 105 points. Andrei Kuzmenko was a deadline pickup who worked down the stretch in diversifying their offense. And while the physical fourth-liner Jeannot hasn’t played in the series due to an undisclosed lower-body injury, the Kings got contributions from all and were seven minutes from a 3-0 series advantage.

Darcy Kuemper has been the Kings’ best player in this series. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

The series has flipped. And it’s been all Oilers since they dominated the third period and overtime of Game 4. Kuemper, a Vezina Trophy finalist in his first season back with L.A., has raised his game dramatically over the last five periods. He’s had 44-save and 43-stop outings to keep the Kings hanging around despite being severely outplayed. His teammates have gone in the other direction.

“He’s clearly been our best player,” Hiller said. “You don’t want to rely on him as much as that, but if there’s a player in a series you want to be your best player, I would argue you’d probably take your goaltender if you had a chance to choose. He’s in a good place.

“We know what we have to do, and if Darcy gives us those saves, we’re going to play better in front of him tomorrow.”

Along the way, Hiller has faced criticism for his decisions that led up to their dreadful Game 5. There was the risky challenge for goalie interference after Evander Kane’s score-tying goal late in Game 3 that backfired when Evan Bouchard scored the eventual winner just 10 seconds later on the resulting power play. A failed clear in the final minute of Game 4 that Edmonton capitalized on with Bouchard’s tying goal set the stage for more disappointment.

It is Hiller’s unwillingness to trust the depth the Kings were supposed to use as an advantage entering the series that has left a cast of veterans, along with young forwards Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere, looking more haggard as the series wears on. The Oilers were a step or two ahead throughout Game 5, compiling an overwhelming 46-22 shot advantage.

In the aftermath, the Kings discounted the sense that they’re gassed.

“I think guys are feeling good,” Kopitar said. “You know we’re getting rest days and all that. It’s not a factor.”

On Thursday, Hiller dismissed the idea that his club doesn’t have much left in the tank, after emptying it with the decision to shorten the lineup.

“I think as a playoff series goes on, people are all fatigued,” he said. “Probably banged up, and we don’t know the extent that they’re banged up, or they don’t know the extent we’re banged up. That’s all part of this process. You dig deep. And that’s where you turn into a winner. If you’ve done it before, you’ve been through it, you know what it’s like. If you haven’t, you got to ask more of yourself. And that’s how you get out to the other side.

“This is just the start of this. This is the start. This is round one. So you can imagine, as we move on, what that looks like. Yeah, there’s plenty there.”

The Kings returned to their Game 1 lineup Tuesday, re-inserting Jordan Spence on defense and Alex Turcotte to the fourth line. Turcotte drew a tripping penalty that they converted with Kuzmenko’s power-play deflection goal. Spence got the most action since Game 2.

And while Hiller extolled their virtues Wednesday — particularly lauding Turcotte and the fourth line’s play as the best among the forward lines — that doesn’t mean he will give them a longer leash. Turcotte played only 5:08. His linemates, Jeff Malott and Samuel Helenius, logged only 5:18 and 4:05, respectively. On defense, Spence played 8:17.

Unless there’s a sudden change in the game plan, Hiller will likely lean hard on nine forwards and three defensemen while Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has taken to employing his entire lineup. Even Connor McDavid has questioned that strategy. “They can coach their team and form their opinions about their team,” Hiller said. “For our team, I think with the exception of last night, we’ve played extremely well.”

The problem is the Kings haven’t played well at all since the second period of Game 4. And it might be too late to save a ship that’s continuing to take on water. The optimist with rose-colored glasses can spin it and say there’s nowhere to go but up. But that requires this Kings team to show it isn’t like the others that faded in past rounds against the Oilers.

A win on Thursday will be a first step toward changing minds. Fighting off elimination in Edmonton is a daunting task, but not impossible unless they no longer have it in them.

“I think we’ve got a blueprint there,” Hiller said. “Obviously, we didn’t get to the final buzzer with the win, which is what we really needed to do. But we gave ourselves a really good chance because we were there. If we can execute better in a few situations or block an extra shot — it’s not just offensively, it’s defensively — then maybe it’s a different story.

“Those games were well played by us. We’ll go back with the intention of playing the same game and get a different result.”

Different, they say. Has to be. Change should be afoot if it isn’t.

(Top photo: Harry How / Getty Images)

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