The Los Angeles Kings have already taken a 2-1 lead over the Edmonton Oilers in their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series, and now to make matters even worse for the Oilers it sounds like reinforcements may be on the way for the Kings.
Although there has been no official announcement regarding his status at this time, signs are pointing to the fact that Kings forward Kevin Fiala may be set to make his return from a lower body injury that has kept him out of the series thus far.
Fiala was on the ice for the Kings’ morning skate on Sunday and was in a red no-contact jersey, but indications are he will skate in warmups before tonight’s Game 4. That likely means that Fiala is a gametime decision, but either way this is a sign that he is extremely close to a return to the lineup.
Fiala was an effective offensive player for the Kings during the regular season, appearing in 69 games and recording 23 goals while adding 49 assists for a total of 72 points over that stretch of play. His return would be a big boost to the Kings offense, and would come at a time when the Oilers desperately need a win to even up the series again.
The Stanley Cup playoffs were marred by controversy on Friday night, and although the final decision has already been made and there will be no changing the past now, we probably aren’t done hearing about this particular call for a while.
On Friday night, the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings clashed in Game 3 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series and the game would end in controversy after an overtime goal courtesy of the Kings’ Trevor Moore. There was no doubt that Moore scored the goal, but several slow motion and close up replays appear to indicate that a stoppage in play had been warranted prior to him scoring the goal.
The end result though was the NHL ruling this a good goal, something the Oilers obviously do not agree with. Following the conclusion of the game, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft was asked to share his thoughts on the controversy and he made it pretty clear how he felt. Although not one to ever stir the pot, Woodcroft made it clear that he felt the league had made the wrong call.
“It’s a play where the greatest player in the world is two feet away,” said Woodcroft. “His arm comes straight up in the air because he knows it hit the stick, otherwise he wouldn’t put his arm up in the air… he would keep playing.”
Woodcroft also pointed to the slow motion replays that appear to indicate that there was indeed a high stick that should have stopped the play.
“It appears to me in the video that the puck is going straight up in a trajectory and deadens, in the end I’m going to go with the greatest player in the world who was three feet away,” concluded Woodcroft
The player being referenced here is of course Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and judging by Woodcroft’s comments it would stand to reason that McDavid himself, and likely the rest of the Oilers lock room. isn’t too happy about this call either.
The National Hockey League has a major controversy on their hands stemming from a call made during Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers, and it is one that could potentially play a pivotal role in determining who advances in the first round of that series.
On Friday night, the Oilers and Kings, who were already tied up at 1-1 on the series coming into this one, battled it out in a hard fought game that needed overtime to determine a winner. The game winning goal would come on a Kings powerplay just minutes into the overtime frame when Trevor Moore managed to beat Jeff Skinner to give the Kings a 2-1 lead in the series.
Here’s a replay of Moore’s game winning goal:
If you’re thinking that Moore’s goal doesn’t look all that controversial you would be right, there’s no doubt that the puck crossed the goal line and there’s not much of a case to be made for goaltender interference. The issue isn’t with the goal itself but with a high stick that occurred only moments before, one that the Oilers feel should have resulted in a stoppage of play.
The alleged high stick in question came from the Kings’ Gabe Vilardi, and here’s a look at the replay as shown on the broadcast last night:
The NHL’s situation room in Toronto would take several looks at the play but, according to several NHL insiders, the league would determine that there were no camera angles that showed Vilardi had conclusively touched the puck.
The league’s ruling has been called into question with some arguing that the replay does show conclusive contact between stick and puck, arguing that the momentum of both shifted at the moment of contact. When viewed in slow motion, Vilardi does appear to look up after the puck makes contact with his stick. If the player felt that contact and reacted by looking up, it would lend credence to the argument that contact was made.
A close up of this same replay also appears to show the shift in momentum from both puck and stick.
Whether the NHL got this one right or wrong won’t change anything now for either the Kings or the Oilers, but it will certainly be discussed at great length should the Kings emerge victorious in this series.
Did the NHL make the right call on Friday night? Or could this prove to be a series defining mistake from the league?
The Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers are about to get very familiar with one another, with the two teams set to clash in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As is always the case when it comes to the playoffs, fans are eagerly anticipating this meeting between the two squads and on Saturday we received more details regarding when the teams can be expected to play.
The series will kick off this coming Monday when the Kings travel to Edmonton to face the Oilers who have earned home-ice advantage in this series. The Kings will play in Edmonton again on Wednesday before the Oilers travel out to Los Angeles for the third game of the series on Friday. That will then lead into the second game in Los Angeles on the following Sunday, and following that we get into the theoretical games.
Should the game move beyond the 4 mandatory games, we will see a Game 5 on the following Tuesday, Game 6 on the following Saturday for quite a wide gap between 5 and 6, and a Game 7 on the following Monday should it be needed.
Here is a full breakdown:
Monday, April 1710:00pm EST@ Edmonton
Wednesday, April 1910:00pm EST@ Edmonton
Friday, April 2110:00pm EST@ LA
Sunday, April 239:00pm EST@ LA
Tuesday, April 25TBD@ Edmonton
Saturday, April 29TBD@ LA
Monday, May 1TBD@ Edmonton
The NHL has listed the start times for these games in ET, so do keep that in mind before tuning in to any of these games.
