The Edmonton Oilers have the best power-play attack in the 2022-23 NHL season, but that will be hard to tell based on how their special teams performed in Monday night's 6-3 road loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Oilers were given six chances to score with the man advantage but flunked on each of those opportunities. Conversely, their penalty killing also did not have it, allowing the King to feed Edmonton's net with four power-play goals on seven chances. Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft was understandably unhappy with the form Edmonton's special teams showed up with, and he expressed his dismay following the game (h/t Ryan Frankson of EdmontonOilers.com).
“I didn't think we were sharp enough. I thought we had some very good looks that we got and we weren't sharp enough on some of our offensive opportunities. That's going to happen some nights. Our power play has operated at the level it has this season. That's going to happen. How about the penalty kill, step up and take care of the other team's power play? If that would have happened, I think we wouldn't be talking about our lack of production. The penalty kill, I believe, has taken a step here over time, but tonight we got touched up. It's the way it goes, but it was the difference in the game.”
So far this season, the Oilers are still No. 1 in the league with a 31.0 percent success rate on the power play, though, they also are just 27th overall with a 72.7 PK%.
The Oilers will look to atone for their poor outing against the Kings when Edmonton takes on the Anaheim Ducks on the road this Wednesday.
