Kings Stick With Rittich as They Face Elimination in Edmonton
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It’s do or die time for the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
A loss to the Edmonton Oilers will end their season with a whimper, making it a third straight elimination at the hands of the Oilers.
After running with Cam Talbot for the first three games of the series, Jim Hiller opted for David Rittich in Game Four and it looks like he’ll keep the net for Game Five.
Rittich allowed just one goal in Game Four so it’s no surprise Hiller is going back to him.
Of course, we can’t ignore that Rittich only faced 13 shots.
He did his job and deserves the start, but he wasn’t tested much in Game Four.
If Edmonton gets more than a single power play and doubles their shot count, a likely outcome, it will be interesting to see how Rittich handles the game.
It’s those power-play opportunities that will be most important for the Kings in Game Five.
They’ve been completely unable to stop the Oilers power play and a game with 4-5 penalties for the Kings could spell disaster.
Especially when the Kings’ power play firing blanks in this series.
The focus then moves to the Kings’ depth, and in particular Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala. Two players who are expected to be difference-makers that have done nothing in this series.
If the Kings can pull off a comeback in this series, special teams must improve and those two players need to find their game.
It was an optional skate in Edmonton, so we didn’t get a look at line combinations, but we’re expecting similar lines to Game Four.
This means that Dubois will start as the listed 4C, with Dubois flanking Blake Lizotte opposite Trevor Lewis.
There’s been a lot of criticism for these combinations, and for good reason.
The Kings can’t simply replicate their performance from Game Four and expect to take this back to LA.
They need to be better, need to test Stuart Skinner. It can’t be 30+ shots from the perimeter without much follow-up.
The Kings have to penetrate the interior of the ice and be willing to get dirty goals.
If the don’t, this series ends in Edmonton and will bring up several questions about the future of several members of the management group.