The coworker from New Jersey who also participated in this Beverly Hills event is a big fan of hockey. And he thought that it would be great to go to an NHL playoff game while out here in Los Angeles.
He asked me, and I went ahead and agreed. That would be cool.
So we saw the LA Kings host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their first round series. The Oilers entered this game leading the series, 2 games to 1.
Both of us were rooting for the road team.
It was a slow-paced, largely defensive game. It felt like the Kings were actually outplaying Edmonton for most of the early part of the game. They had the better shots, and enjoyed a stunning advantage in terms of amounts of shots on goal. However, they were not able to convert those opportunities into points.
Also, it seemed to me that they were a bit careless with some of their passes, and creating turnovers. Otherwise, this game felt like it should be going in favor of Los Angeles.
In the second period, however, the scoreless deadlock was broken when Edmonton broke through and took a 1-0 lead. They were able to hold off the Kings for the rest of the period and, indeed, managed to keep them off the scoreboard for the duration of the game.
They were able to do so despite having been beaten, and even almost dominated, in just about every aspect of the game. It was one of those situations where a team seems to be winning every aspect of the game except on the scoreboard.
Edmonton won, 1-0. They then were able to expand their series lead to 3-1, with a chance to eliminate the Kings in Game 5 in Edmonton, which they were able to do.
This was my first NHL playoff game in something like twenty years or so. It was also my first NHL playoff game on the West Coast.
What a game!
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