Oilmen from Edmonton
The shocking end of the regular season by the “oilers” did not help at the beginning of the confrontation with the Californians. Edmonton burned 1-2 in the series but managed to outplay their opponent with active shooting competition and the second away match in extra time 5-4, making up for the loss 3-0. In the last match in their own arena, Woodcroft’s actively attacking squad probably won, but in this case they lost three times – 6:3.
Kings of Los Angeles
The Californians have not yet managed to repeat the feat from the first meeting, when in extra time they made up for the loss from 1:3 to 4:3. The “Kings” also prefer open and offensive hockey, and now they have no choice but to play with pressure, because the result in the 2-3 series is not in their favor. McLellan’s wards have nowhere else to go, as the opponent is the most reckless in his zone of all playoff participants, who is unlikely to give up his usual style of play.
Forecast
The home rink for Los Angeles will be like an opportunity to even the points in the series. It’s hard to believe that in this position the hosts will close and be overly careful, because then the always hungry goal attack from Edmonton will simply eat them with its pressure. One of the most unreliable defense lines of the participants is likely to break in the reporting match, relying and counting primarily on active actions in a foreign zone, and the “kings” have nowhere to go and I expect 3 goals from them, as happened in 3 out of 5 meetings of the current series.