The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-0 on Monday night, scoring twice in the third period while holding the Oil without a shot during a 4-minute power play following a Trevor Lewis high stick.
But as frustrating as his power play was in the loss, Oilers Coach Tom Renney was more frustrated to see the Kings' power play so frequently in the second period — on top of not seeing Edmonton's once outside of that double-minor.
Via the Oilers, Renney said after the game:
RENNEY: "They're good at home. As with the game in Edmonton, they're a desperate team and they're certainly going to stick with their game plan, and hope you're your opponent — us, in this case — makes the odd mistake to give them a chance, and that's what we did. It's tough sledding out there and we killed a couple too many penalties."
Q. You had trouble drawing penalties … [audio garbled]
RENNEY: "I'm not sure [why]. Maybe [they] need Hollywood in the playoffs. I'm not sure."
How strange … we can't seem to recall Renney decrying beneficial calls for big market teams when he was head coach of the New York Rangers.
(Yes, and just like every effective nefarious scheme to fix the season so the Los Angeles team can make the NHL playoffs, the Kings have two games to go and haven't clinched yet.)
But as Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun notes, Renney's frustrations with the troublesome officiating duo of Tim Peel and Mike Leggo are the result of weeks of irritation with the refs:
For the 11th time in the last 20 games, the Oilers were given one or fewer power plays. By comparison, only twice in the last 20 games have their opponents been limited to one or fewer power plays. Only once in the last 20 games have the Oilers been given more power play chances than their opponents.
That inability to draw calls could speak to the effort level of a non-playoff team in the last few weeks. But on Monday night, the Oilers had some legit gripes about non-calls and missed calls in a tightly played game against the Kings.