How the L.A. Kings crap out in the 1991 playoffs?

[The Panther]

1990-91 was an interesting season in that it was the final year of the 21-team NHL, and it was the final year of Gretzky's prime. (It was also the biggest year of Brett Hull's career; the Blackhawks were first overall; MacInnis scored 103 points; Roenick and Fleury over 50 goals; Belfour and Roy were dominant, etc.) Pittsburgh would go on to win the Stanley Cup.

It was Gretzky's third season in L.A. The first season had been strong (2nd in Smythe), peaking with L.A. knocking off Edmonton in the playoffs before being swept by Calgary, which went on to win the Cup. The second Gretzky season had been a big disappointment, with the team falling in the standings down to 4th, and the season only being partly salvaged by their unlikely toppling of Calgary in the playoffs (before being swept by Edmonton, which also went on to win the Cup).

So, the Kings were losing in round two, but at least they were losing to the eventual Cup winners.

In Gretzky's third season, things seemed to fall into place. Wayne found his rhythm with new wingers Sandstrom and Granato, and the Kings as a team shaved an incredible 83 off their goals-against totals from the prior season, improbably ending up the 4th-best defensive team in the NHL. Yet they still scored 340 goals, third-best. The Kings finished third overall, but actually had the best goal-differential of all NHL teams that season, and they were 1st in the Smythe for the first time.

They were a consistently good club all season, but they were really heating up in the latter half. From New Year's Eve to the end of the regular season, the Kings went 28 - 11 - 5, which was the best record in the NHL over the final 44 games.

In the first round of the playoffs, they drew fourth-place Vancouver, a .406 team. The Kings managed to win the series in six games, but it wasn't easy or pretty. They actually trailed 2 games to 1 early, but rallied to win three straight.

Then, they met Edmonton for the third year in a row. But this was not the same Edmonton team as a year earlier. The Oilers had struggled to finish at .500, and no longer had any top scoring players. In addition, they had gone to game seven overtime vs. Calgary (an absolutely brutal physical series), so the Kings were definitely more rested, and had home-ice advantage.

The Oilers won the series in six games, with three of their four wins in overtime. The Kings clearly lost the even-strength match-ups, which had been their strength all season. Gretzky failed to score, putting up only five assists. Still, the goal differential in the series was only 21-20.

Why did L.A. lose this series?

And, if they had won, would they have beaten Minnesota and gone on to the Finals vs. Mario and the Penguins? (That would have been a great way to end the 21-team NHL.)

 

[double5son10]

They got Tikkanened, and the Oilers got real solid goaltending from Fuhr & Ranford.

 

[Big Phil]

I don't know why Gretzky had trouble with the Oilers in 1990, 1991 and 1992, but he did. He certainly didn't in 1989. Was it in his head? Did the Oilers have a bit of a re-birth in the playoffs as they were still the defending champs? Who knows. I know Messier struggled that whole season with injuries, and I assume in the playoffs too as this is pretty much the only postseason in Messier's career where you could say "Why didn't he do more?"

But it was the overtimes that killed them. Also, Hrudey vs. either Fuhr/Ranford is not a good match up. And once the Kings traded away Nicholls in 1990 (a horrible trade) it exposed a lot in that team. In other words, if Gretzky wasn't carrying the Kings on his back, they weren't winning. And he didn't have one of those series in 1991 vs. Edmonton. So there wasn't the help to get them over the top. Witness 1993, Gretzky carried that team to the final, and after a dominant Game 1 with 4 points, he had only 3 in the final 4 games all of which they lost. It isn't as if Robitaille or Kurri or Hrudey or anyone stepped up in the games Gretzky wasn't playing out of this world.

And I think the same thing happens in 1991. That's how big the Gretzky-Nicholls tandem was in 1989. Nicholls did well in the playoffs that year as well, they just ran into the best team in the NHL.

 

[Sentinel]

As it's usually the case with a better team losing to a worse team, the answer is: goalies.

 

[The Panther]

Goaltending has been pointed out as a factor. And yeah, Kelly Hrudey did not generally perform well vs. Edmonton in the playoffs, but that I think that more of a thing in 1990 (when he was brutal!) and 1992.

In the 1991 series vs. Edmonton:

.899 Fuhr
.920 Ranford (in 94 minutes)

.896 Hrudey

So, just statistically, there isn't a huge difference between the save percentages of the Oilers' and Kings' goaltending in the series. And the Oilers never scored more than 3 goals over three periods in any game.

My theory here was that something might have gone wrong with L.A. very late in the regular season, or early against Vancouver, as I don't think they were particularly good in that series.
If you follow the YouTube links, the whole L.A. - Vancouver series can be reviewed starting here:


Anyway, there aren't many highlights on YouTube (that I can find) of the 1991 Edmonton - L.A. series, aside from the series winning goal. I did see the whole series back when I was a baby-faced youth, but I can't really recall how good/bad Hrudey was...

 

[popo]

Goaltending has been pointed out as a factor. And yeah, Kelly Hrudey did not generally perform well vs. Edmonton in the playoffs, but that I think that more of a thing in 1990 (when he was brutal!) and 1992.

In the 1991 series vs. Edmonton:

.899 Fuhr
.920 Ranford (in 94 minutes)

.896 Hrudey

So, just statistically, there isn't a huge difference between the save percentages of the Oilers' and Kings' goaltending in the series. And the Oilers never scored more than 3 goals over three periods in any game.

My theory here was that something might have gone wrong with L.A. very late in the regular season, or early against Vancouver, as I don't think they were particularly good in that series.
If you follow the YouTube links, the whole L.A. - Vancouver series can be reviewed starting here:


Anyway, there aren't many highlights on YouTube (that I can find) of the 1991 Edmonton - L.A. series, aside from the series winning goal. I did see the whole series back when I was a baby-faced youth, but I can't really recall how good/bad Hrudey was...

Every highlight package from the '91 playoffs. I think there are separate Youtube feeds of it for each round as well for a smaller video to navigate through. Old TSN clips so if you grew up in Canada in that era, the faces are very familiar.

 

[CrosbyIsKing87]

I think that Kimgs team was the best of the Gretzky era. It was a potent, balanced team that was good at both ends.I remember that people were always questioning their goaltending as being a weakness. Hrudey could be lights out one night but bad the next. I remember watching some of the Edm-LA games in the playoffs that year and it seemed like the Kings just could't get the key goal at the big moment - or the key save if you want to look at it that way. Obviously when you lose three OT games in a series you are right there. I really thought LA would beat Edmonton because of the reason you mentioned above - the injuries Edmonton had. Messier, Lowe were hurt badly. Wasn't Simpson out with a back injury? Don't forget about the "shadowing" that the NHL allowed back then. Tikkanen was stapled to Gretzky's side the whole time he was on the ice with his stick up around his waist or in his legs, yapping at him the whole time. Tikkanen was very effective at that, although it was a cheap way to defend. It was basically constant interference on your best player. I guarantee that's why he only had 5 assists in the series. They just had to hope other guys would step up or that you would get the calls and score on the PP. If you watch the footage you'll see the kinds of stuff that the refs allowed. It was a joke sometimes. Mario had to deal with it too except it was Jan Erixon, Guy Carbonneau, or Dave Poulin doing it.